On Democrats Questioning What Bush Knew Before 9/11:
"…what I want to say to my Democratic friends in the Congress is that they need to be very cautious not to seek political advantage by making incendiary suggestions, as were made by some today, that the White House had advance information that would have prevented the tragic attacks of 9/11. Such commentary is thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in a time of war." [Cheney Remarks, 5/16/02—aired on NBC Meet the Press, 5/19/02] [http://www.democrats.org/blog/display/00010527.html]

*ponders* I think this translates as: "No comment! And anyone who tries to make me comment will wish they were never born"

But you know, I could be wrong.

Possible Mathmatical Origin of "The Number of the Beast: 666":

Take the main roman numerals (the ones that get a new letter) 1 through 50 and add them up:

I = 1
V = 5
X = 10
L = 50
C = 100
D = 500 +
___________
666

So whether or not this is true Scott Flansburgh, aka The Human Calculator has suggested letters were put in place by the Romans to make math difficult so people wouldn't progress. Therefore 666 became an evil number because it implied intellegence and breaking their code.

So I did a google search on the "Origin of 666" and this is what I came up with:

The devil is both god (the god of flesh) and man so he gets the trinity of numbers for being a god and the number 6 which is the number for man, hence 666.

Its also suggested it connected to ancient Pagen Numerology and the Illuminati (I'm still working on reading about this one - their explination is long!! - and they also suggest that Phoenix is the ancient name of Lucifer, which I'm annoyed about, but must read). However my short term understanding is that there were 36 lesser gods and when the numbers 1 through 36 are added (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666) you get 666.

I have no idea why I latched on to this train of thought. I was just listening to the radio before my workout in case they gave out any bonus codes (I'm a sucker for dumb promotional games). Scott Flansburgh was a cool morning guest. His math theories and abilities were interesting and I love that his main work is teaching math to kids. But he randomly brought it up and my mind got hooked.

Anyway, I'm amused - thought I'd share.

Kevin recently blogged about the possible flag burning amendment. I think the conversation about this has been good. However commenting there myself has gotten me thinking again.

I have always been somewhat out of politics. I was a little involved while in High School, however as time went on I got jadded and frustrated. I don't watch the news anymore because its so depressing. I figure if anything important happens, someone will tell me about it. I also have some moral issues with activism. I don't understand it or agree with most of the activist practices. I took a class in grad school called "Art in Activisim" mostly so that maybe I could understand this mindset. I still don't.

I realize that my lack of involvment in government is part of what has contributed to what I see as the current problems. If I'm not informed enough, I won't vote, if I don't vote, I'm not heard and I can't complain.

For the Last month or so, as I have gotten more and more frustrated with this country, and Kevin and I have talked about what it is I can do about it. I'm actually a little proud of myself already. I have already begun taking active steps to be a bit more informed, to understand something about what is going on and to ask more questions about what I don't know.

I just don't think that being informed is enough. I have the time to volunteer, and it would be a good way to meet people in this new place too. I have looked into some of it. Its that moral aversion to activism that seems to always get in my way.

So now I'm brainstorming. What I want to know is: What do you do to be involved in making a difference in this country? Or what is it that you would like to do if you had the time/resources you would need?