Friends: If anyone feels so inclined, you can reach Jack Kinsella at

dailynews@omegaletter.com

You can also subscribe at his site: http://www.omegaletter.com

The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest

Vol: 35 Issue: 12 - Thursday, August 12, 2004

Special Member's Report: Combat Sit-Rep
by Jack Kinsella

We must be doing something right, because we are encountering stiff enemy
resistance on almost all fronts.  I thought today it would be appropriate
to give you the latest combat situation report from the field.

"Remember the Word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than
his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if
they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also." (John 15:20)

That is not to say that anybody is getting ready to ship me off to prison
or break my windows or beat me up.  I am not being 'persecuted' -- that's
what happens to civilians -- the Omega Letter is a combat vehicle -- so
what we are experiencing is more accurately termed an enemy
counteroffensive.

Since the Omega Letter made its debut on October 14, 2001, the Omega
Letter has experienced some pretty bizarre obstacles.  (Being forced to
immigrate to America in order to keep publishing still strikes me as
'bizarre'. Under Canadian law, the Omega Letter fits the definition of
'hate literature')

And there's more. America Online still won't deliver our mail.  AOL
automatically shifts the Omega Letter to the spam box, and in some cases,
rejects it entirely.

Yesterday, I received an email from someone with an AOL return email
address in which we were discussing abortion.  Evidently, either the
phrase 'pro-abortion' or my signature, 'In Christ' in my reply was enough
to trigger AOL's spam filters -- the email came back to me, marked
'rejected by the recipient'.

Additionally, I received an email from a subscriber, just this morning,
that said the following:

"Dear Jack,

Just wanted to let the OL daily briefing know, that the AOL news piece
regarding emails with Christian content not being sent to the email
recipient, is alive and well in Raleigh, NC.

Talked to my daughter who has AOL, and I have been sending the briefing to
her for like a month and a half.  Asked her this morning if she had been
reading it, and she told me she has never received not one single issue.

I asked if she was sure...she said yes.  She said that it doesn't even go
into her junk mail folder. . .  Just wanted to let you all know.

Sincerely, Linda"

So, evidently, it isn't just me, and it isn't an aberration. It is
deliberate.

We had similar problems with other ISPs, like EarthLink (owned by the
Church of Scientology), and a number of smaller ISPs with whom Mike has
done battle over the years.

You'd think that the Omega Letter was hard-core porn, if it weren't for
the fact hard-core porn seems to sail right through most ISP spam filters.
Obscenity-laced offers from sickos wanting to entice me to visit their
webcams show up in my email box a half-dozen times a day.

The porn messages manage to bypass my ISP (RoadRunner) without too much
trouble -- but RoadRunner was among the ISP's that Mike had to do battle
with in the early days in order to convince them to deliver the Omega
Letter to our subscribers.

The latest assault has been launched against us by our Merchant Solution
provider, 2Checkout.com.

We received an email from 2Checkout.com (with whom we've been doing
business for over two years) telling us that,

"Due to the recent changes in our "Prohibited Products Listing" following
risk utilization analysis it has been determined that we can no longer
support donation payments. As the reseller we will support only those
sites that offer a service or product. Donations will no longer be
permitted.

This e-mail serves as your 2-week notice that we will no longer be
accepting donations through your 2Checkout account.

Be advised that you should remove any donation payment links for
2Checkout, and that after this two-week period any donation payments for
this account will be cancelled.

Regards, 2checkout.com, Inc."

I replied to the email, asking why we would suddenly be singled out after
two years.  Especially since the 2Checkout admin page STILL makes the
following offer:

"Want to accept donations for your site?  Click here to grab code snippets
to add to your site."  Clicking on the 'here' link creates a donation
button, so what gives?

 I asked that of my correspondent at 2Checkout:

"You didn't explain why you continue to offer a donation snippet on the
admin page.  "Want to accept donations for your site? Click here to grab
code snippets to add to your site". Is it because we are a Christian
website that prompts you to try and ruin us?"

2Checkout's Mosborne's reply was interesting: "All vendors for whom we
have previously been accepting donations are being told the same thing. We
simply can no longer accept donations. It has nothing to do with whether
you are a Christian web site or any other kind of web site.  The pages at
2checkout.com will be updated."

(Really?  I just checked. The pages haven't been updated.  Anybody else
can still go collect the donation snippet for THEIR sites. Just not ours)

In exasperation, I emailed back saying;

"We will let you know when we have transferred all our subscribers to a
different merchant service provider, at which time we will close out our
account. Continuing to do business with 2Checkout under these restrictions
would put us out of business.

Jack"

The reply from 2Checkout was EXACTLY as follows:

"Thank you,

MOSBORN"

There are literally tens of thousands of websites that solicit donations
to help cover operating expenses -- 2Checkout is one of the largest
e-merchant solutions out there.

But according to 2Checkout's email to us, they don't want our kind of
business.  A suggestion that we take our business elsewhere prompted a
'thank you' from 2Checkout.  Mission accomplished.

I did a quick Google search.  Here are some of 2Checkout's clients who
collect donations through 2Checkout:

* Dollars for Dachshunds.

* Small Wonders [Animal] Rescue.

* Children's Cancer Programs.

* Parent to Parent of Miami.

* The Connecticut Association for Children and Adults with Learning
Disabilities.

* Burn Survivors Throughout the World.

* Tanya's Kidney Transplant Fund.

* The Lawrence Independent Living Resource Center for People with
Disabilities.

Since all these sites use 2Checkout to process donations, 2Checkout is
evidently not interested in collecting 5% plus from each of these
websites.

Not to mention the fact that Tanya won't get her kidney.  Dachshunds will
go broke. Children with cancer will have to some up with a new source of
revenue.  Parents in Miami won't get to meet.  Burn survivors throughout
the world will have to get used to it.

And in Lawrence, people with disabilities will have to learn to live
independently some other way.  Or, the Omega Letter has been singled out,
for as the very first email from 2Checkout said; "the Omega Letter has
been placed on 2Checkout's 'prohibited product list'."

The Omega Letter exists by subscription and by voluntary donation. I'll
let you in on a bit of secret business information.

The Omega Letter has NEVER had more than 400 paying subscribers, although
it reaches thousands every day through other newsletters and private email
lists.  The enemy knows how wide the OL reaches, and he knows that
donations are the backbone of our revenue stream.

(Putting out the Omega Letter is a full-time job for three people -- plus
software, server rentals, bandwidth, not to mention time -- do the math.
There's no much left over to pay the full-time help)

Over the last two years, 2Checkout has collected thousands of dollars in
credit card fees from us -- the majority of which come from donations.
Suddenly, out of the blue, they claim they have simply decided to cut that
revenue stream from their business portfolio.  Doesn't make sense, does
it?

You know what is contained in the Omega Letter.  So you have a pretty good
idea, as do we, what got the Omega Letter moved to the 'prohibited
products list'.

It has been clear from the start that the Omega Letter has been a prime
enemy target.  We've documented various egregious attacks over the years,
but not all of them. (We'd sound like paranoid looneys if we did)

Understand me, here. These attacks are not against us personally -- they
are against the Omega Letter. The enemy doesn't seem to like it, and does
everything he can to keep us under wraps.

ISP's won't deliver the Omega Letter.  Our internet connections keep
suddenly going dead without explanation. And now our ability to conduct
commerce on the internet is suddenly being curtailed -- for no apparent
reason.  (Unless you really believe that 2Checkout.com will allow
Dachshunds to go broke and force Tanya to do without a new kidney)

AND, for the first time since 1906, the first three named storms of the
season will make landfall on the East Coast. Alex already hit us, and
Bonnie and Charlie are pointed right at us.  [OK, so THAT'S paranoid!
:-) ]

The enemy thinks he has us, but we'll win this battle.   We are working on
a solution to our problem. We are searching out alternative ecommerce
solution providers.  We will keep you posted.  But we will have a dry
spell while we make the changes.

The enemy can't win, but that doesn't stop him from bringing the battle to
our doorstep. We will continue to fight back.

Each of you knows what the Omega Letter means to you in your own personal
walk with Christ, and how useful it is to your personal evangelistic
efforts.  We are under attack, and we need your prayers (and financial
support) while we rebuff the enemy effort to shoot the messenger before
the message can be delivered.

2Checkout will continue to process donations for us for nine more days,
until August 20.   After that, we will only be able to process
subscriptions until we have secured a new ecommerce solution.

It will take longer than nine days to set up an alternative solution, let
along do all the subscriber base transfers. And the setup fees will take
another bite out of us.

There are lean times ahead, but God knows what He is doing, and why. Our
job is to,  "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto
thine own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5)

So that's our situation report. These constant attacks are wearing, and
sometimes disheartening.  But it serves to confirm one thing to us. We
must be doing something right, so together, we'll keep fighting the war.

Until He comes.