12/6/04
The internet : The last remaining form of reliable news
Tenet in a speech last week ( note that the press was barred from attending):
*sigh*
Who gets the last lol?
- Jordan
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The right are often wrong
While
the people on the right often like to paint themselves as the party
with the high moral values, I often find it interesting that the
facts don't back the claim up.
Lets look at divorce
rates. The right goes on and on about the 'sanctity of marriage'
and how granting gay couples the right to marry and lead a loving
life, will somehow bring on the apocalypse. Yet when we look at
Divorce rates in our country we find an interesting thing. Which
of the 50 states do you think has the lowest divorce rate? If you
would believe the Republicans, it must be a red state. because they
are so interested in marriage and its sanctity right? Wrong. The
state with the lowest divorce rate of all 50 states is..... drum
roll please......
Massachusetts.
That's right. The epicenter of the gay marriage movement is also
the state with the lowest divorce rate in the nation. Think thats
just some coincidence? I don't think so. 9 of the 10 lowest divorce
rates are blue states. So where are the highest divorce rates? You
guessed it. 10
of the top 10 are red states. Do you see the irony here?
The bible
belt seems to be having sanctity issues.
But lets continue. How about teen pregnancy? For sure the moral
values of the republicans have taught their populations that abstinence
is the only way. For sure this is working in the youth. Right? Right?
Wrong. 10 of the top 10 highest teen pregnancy states are red. Heck
the top 15 are red. So much for moral values right? But hey it makes
for a good sound bite, and to the Republicans, that is all that
matters.

Sources
- Jordan
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Things
just got very interesting in Ohio.
While the Kerry campaign is certainly keeping
an eye on the situation in Ohio, it seems some laywers are
getting some real results. A great Daily
Kos diary (note this page now takes quote a while to load,
so I have put most of the information here) alerted me to an interview
on C-Span today where my new hero, Cliff Arnebeck (bio),
an attorney for Alliance for Democracy, who is going to file a suit
sometime between Friday and Monday. They only have until Monday
to recount and finish this up because, under federal law, December
13 is when the members of the Electoral College cast their votes.
This might be why why Blackwell keeps delaying the certification
of Ohio's vote. Mr Blackwell is playing a dual role as Ohios
Secretary of State (and thus its chief electoral official) and as
Co-Chairman of the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign there. As
Jessie
Jackson puts it "We need to investigate, coordinate,
litigate, recount and recuse," he said, referring to the legitimacy
of the Ohio vote. "Mr. Blackwell cannot be both the owner of
the team and the umpire." Blackwell has gotten some unwanted
attention on this issue. Just recently Conyers and other House
Judiciary Democrats asked Blackwell to explain alleged Ohio election
Irregularities. (PDF) This document is a MUST READ
for anyone interested in preserving Democracy. Pass it on to everyone
you know. They are asking him to explain the following:
But
I digress. Back to Mr. Arnebeck....
What Arnebeck is doing here is important. He is not demanding a
recount. He is saying that he HAS EVIDENCE that the election result
in Ohio is wrong. Let that sink in. Evidence of fraud that could
overturn the election results. This is big. Mr. Arnebeck claims
that he has proof that the Ohio election result is actually the
opposite of what has been reported. His proof will show that Kerry
won 51% of the vote in Ohio.
Listen for yourself. Go to www.cspan.org
under "Recent Programs" and click on "Washington
Journal Entire Program (12/02/04)", if you cant find it there
try this:
Open Real Player, go to open location, and put in this URL:
rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/c04/c04_wj120204_arnebeck.rm
Now I just tried it and the servers over there are being hit hard
so here is the relevant bit from a transcript:
The old bait and switch. Smells like Rove to me.
Please forward this information LIBERALY!
Big hat tip to LawStudent over at DailyKos.
UPDATES:
- Jordan
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12/2/04
Robin Baneth's $100,00 challenge
My
Fellow 'Americans':
I will send a $1,000 cashier's check to the first election official,
politician, statistician, professor, broadcast journalist, blogger,
editor, vote machine manufacturer, programmer, anyone who can convince
me of the superiority of non-paper trail voting to paper-trail voting.
I challenge you, READER; You, Keith Olbermann; YOU my right-wing
brother in Utah; YOU, Jim Baker, YOU, Tom Delay; YOU, David Corn;
YOU, Bill O'Reilly; YOU, Katherine Blackwell. You and you and you
and YOU. Knock this battery off my shoulder. Don't worry, I have
overdraft protection.
Please explain to me why no paper-trail machines are superior to
paper balloting? No matter how this gets spun, you know what ...
we are still talking about the fallibility and tinkerability and
FINANCIAL COST of machines. Why was vote tabulation not the major
issue in the 60s, 70s, etc. that it is today? We have gone backwards,
prehistoric even. A single machine error can turn an election, can
a single paper balloting error do this? Maybe dead people voting
can, but it takes work. The solution seems obvious so I am putting
my money where my fool heart is. My stomach is in knots and I cannot
sleep. My reasons are two-fold: 1) I WANT to give you my money so
I can feel good about this election, and 2) Republicans seem to
understand this over wimpy liberal therapy sessions.
I have ZERO confidence in this last election. I am not the only
one. I am digging in my family history to prove I have Ukrainian
blood. Damn, those people make me proud. Prove I should trust OUR
system....
Canada (the country with no voting controversy) votes with paper
ballots and they find out their results two hours after the polls
close. We use machines and we get Corn's patronizing article and
Blackwell's stonewalling. On and on and on. I now see Palm Beach,
Florida
now creatively proposes to stretch out the whole process
as a cheaper solution to fixing the machine situation we are supposedly
all fo heavily invested in Isn't this called early voting? Wow,
creative geniuses they are. Idiots. Here's an idea, let's get rid
of most of the machines and all Warren County, Ohio and Palm Beach
County, Florida election officials while we are at it. What are
the drawbacks? NONE. Unless I lose my challenge. I will keep you
posted.
- snip -
Would a paper trail kill anyone? This honor system no longer deserves
the benefit of the doubt. 57,000 reports to the GAO? Tossed out
poll tapes in Volusia County, Florida? This same county registered
-16,022 (that's right negative) votes for Gore. A media lockout
in Warren County, Ohio? THESE ARE FACTS. NOT CONJECTURE, FACTS.
Forget that every irregularity favors one candidate over an other,
I won't get into the stats and strange mathematical anomalies that
just seem to muddy a picture that is very clear to me. If you win
I will fax all our congresspeople to "SAVE THE MACHINES with
your arguments."
Please stop defending the insanity. I defy anyone to justify that
no paper trail is better than a paper trail. Did you know Diebold
makes ATMs? You know, those ATMS that print receipts?
- Jordan
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12/1/04
fas·cism (n)
14 identifying characteristics of fascism.
1.
Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans,
symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere,
as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people
in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored
in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to
look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions,
assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the
need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic
or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists,
etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is
given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic
agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively
male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles
are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia
and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
6. Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes the media are directly controlled by the government, but
in other cases, the media are indirectly controlled by government
regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship,
especially in wartime, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion
in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious
rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even
when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed
to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often
are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating
a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power
elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to
a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely,
or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher
education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other
academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the
arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the
arts.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power
to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police
abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism.
There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited
power in fascist nations
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends
and associates who appoint each other to government positions and
use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from
accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national
resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright
stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other
times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even
assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control
voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation
of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries
to manipulate or control elections.
If you get a chill reading this then you should read more. Here is where I found it.
- Jordan
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I
received this from a credible source today:
This is from John Schmidhauser former Congressman (D. IA). Who now
lives in Carpinteria CA.
On Friday I received a phone call from a good friend who works at
CBS - I've known her for years and she is a producer for some of
the news programs, one well known one in particular. She tipped
me off that the news media is in a "lock-down" and that
there is to be no TV coverage of the real problems with voting on
Nov. 2nd. She said similar "lock-down orders" had come
down last year after the invasion of Iraq, but this is far worse
- far scarier.
She said the majority of their journalists at CBS and elsewhere
in NYC are pretty horrified - every one is worried about their jobs
and retribution Dan Rather style or worse. My source said they've
also been forbidden to talk about it even on their own time but
she was pissed and her journalistic and moral integrity as what
she considers to be a government watchdog requires her to speak
out, even if covertly, and she therefore asked me to "spread"
the word...She said that journalism and the truth is at stake. She
said another friend of hers, a producer at MSNBC, said that an anchor
by the name of Keith Olbermann had brought it up on his show on
Friday eve and the axe came down. He's at least fighting back and
talking about it on his "Blog", but she said that people
there are worried that he's going to be fired by higher ups.
She said at this point the only way that the "real news"
was going to be known is if the people started talking about it
and made a big enough stink about it to our elected officials, the
FEC, and "noise" to the international media, that our
own media won't have any choice but to cover it. The only place
you'll see this talked about right now is on the internet and on
AirAmericaRadio.
People and Agencies to Contact regarding this matter:
- Jordan
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Just got back in town
Hope you all had a great thanksgiving! I will resume posting now that I am back home. Got a bit of cathcing up to do. Ill start you all off with this loveley piece:
So if "life is so complex and elaborate that some greater wisdom has to be behind it", then God must have created nano-technology as well? How about fiber optics? Doesn't the same logic apply?
Heck I could find a "small group of scientists" with real degrees who will swear up and down that the moon landing was faked. Maybe we should be teaching that in schools as well.
There is not even ONE public university teaches Creationism as a valid scientific fact.
-
Jordan
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How
to get the mainstream media to cover election fraud
The answer it seems was easy all along. Just make sure the election
fraud happens in another country. Thats right, even as ongoing investigations
continue on our own election, an event ignored by the media, major
headlines were made all over the country today regarding alleged
election fraud in the Ukraine.
Man, I wish I lived in the Ukraine where they make sure the votes
are counted and raise bloody hell when there is suspicion of fraud.
The sense of power felt by the 100,000 people who headed towards
the parliment in a massive protest must have been amazing. I will
never know that feeling because I live in the united states. You
see here our headlines are dominated by important issues. Like when
programs that should be showing two teams of men beating the crap
out of each-other for entertainment is rudely interrupted by a woman's
bare back. The outrage!
While our media here ignores massive election fraud in the greatest
super power on earth, they jump all over themselves in an attempt
to cover the election fraud in the Ukraine.
As I read the articles I felt like I felt like I was taking crazy
pills. The papers spoke of a candidate who early in the day showed
a huge lead in exit polls. Only to be defeated later in the evening
as the votes were counted. Cries of election fraud sprung forth
soon after.
Sound familiar? For a second there I thought the media had re-inserted
their collective balls and I was reading about our election right
here at home. Alas it was not so. If your itching to read mainstream
news about election fraud, outside out country of course.... You
have many stories to chose from.
Enjoy.
De ja vu....
Oh the Irony.....
One wonders if the 'media' will pick up on this? Will this be the one that finally gets some air time? The media can't ignore reality forever.
Tell the rest of 'em to do so as well!
It is about time!
- Jordan
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Keith Olbermann is back on the ball on his countdwn show on MSNBC as well as on hi blog. This installment covers such things as this interesting, and telling, quote from John Kerry:
For those of us NOT paying attention to the behind the ecenes efforts, that quote might seem strange. Read between the lines. The fat lady is in the green room.
Olbermann continues to be the only journalist covering this story. Go give him some love.
And tell the press to start doing their damn job.
This page has a ton of great information on the election fraud
- Jordan
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XYZPDQ

Hat
tip to Joel
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- Jordan
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11/22/04
TELL
THE MEDIA TO START COVERING THE VOTE FRAUD ISSUE!!
Media contact information
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Ohio Vote Hearings Put Election Results in Serious Doubt
Highly-charged, jam-packed hearings held here in Columbus have cast serious doubt on the true outcome of the presidential election.
On Saturday, November 13, and Monday, November 15, the Ohio Election Protection Coalitions public hearings in Columbus solicited extensive sworn first-person testimony from 32 of Ohio voters, precinct judges, poll workers, legal observers, party challengers. An additional 66 people provided written affidavits of election irregularities. The unavoidable conclusion is that this year's election in Ohio was deeply flawed, that thousands of Ohioans were denied their right to vote, and that the ultimate vote count is very much in doubt.
Most importantly, the testimony has revealed a widespread and concerted effort on the part of Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell to deny primarily African-American and young voters the right to cast their ballots within a reasonable time. By depriving precincts of adequate numbers of functioning voting machines, Blackwell created waits of three to eleven hours, driving tens of thousands of likely Democratic voters away from the polls and very likely affecting the outcome of the Ohio vote count, which in turn decided the national election.
- Jordan
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Section two of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution reads, in paraphrase, as follows: "But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the inhabitants of such state, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state." In other words, if a state can't manage to run a fair election, that state loses Senators or Congresspeople....... snip
snip .... Nationally, there were more than 1,100 incidents of electronic voting machine malfunctions. In Broward County, Florida, election workers were shocked to discover that their shiny new machines were counting backwards. "Tallies should go up as more votes are counted," according to the news story. "That's simple math. But in some races, the numbers had gone down. Officials found the software used in Broward can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct. After that, the system starts counting backward."
In Franklin County, Ohio, voting machines gave Bush 3,893 extra votes in one precinct alone. "Franklin County's unofficial results gave Bush 4,258 votes to Democratic challenger John Kerry's 260 votes in Precinct 1B," according to the news story. "Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, said Bush received 365 votes there. The other 13 voters who cast ballots either voted for other candidates or did not vote for president."
In Craven County, North Carolina, a software error on the electronic voting machines awarded Bush 11,283 extra votes. "The Elections Systems and Software equipment," according to the news story, "had downloaded voting information from nine of the county's 26 precincts and as the absentee ballots were added, the precinct totals were added a second time. An override, like those occurring when one attempts to save a computer file that already exists, is supposed to prevent double counting, but did not function correctly."
There is more
- Jordan
Recount efforts in Ohio by Kerry intensify
A top-ranking official with Democratic Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign told North County News last week that although unlikely, there is a recount effort being waged that could unseat Republican President George W. Bush.
"We have 17,000 lawyers working on this, and the grassroots accountability couldn't be any higher - no (irregularity) will go unchecked. Period," Kerry spokesman David Wade said.
A verbal firestorm erupted last week between an area supporter of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader and Wade after the Kerry spokesman derided Nader for creating a "phony wedge issue between progressives."
Nader has been calling on Kerry and his vice presidential running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, to, in his words, "follow through on their post-election promise to the American people to make sure every vote counts, starting in Ohio."
More...
- Jordan
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11/17/04
So much for moral values
GOP tosses ethics rule so DeLay can keep post
Washington -- House Republicans adopted a rule change Wednesday that would allow their powerful majority leader, Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, to keep his post if he is indicted on state corruption charges stemming from a fund-raising scandal that has already involved three of his associates.
Democrats led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco -- who was unanimously re-elected to her post Wednesday -- assailed the Republican action as hypocritical and arrogant.
- snip -
The original rule was adopted by Republicans in 1993 when they were the minority party attacking the Democratic-controlled leadership as corrupt and arrogant. The rule required House GOP leaders to step aside if indicted for a crime that could bring a sentence of at least two years in state or federal prison.(emphasis mine)
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) criticizes the DeLay Rule:
"Republicans have reached a new low. It is absolutely mind-boggling that as their first order of business following the elections, House Republicans have lowered the ethical standards for their leaders."
So the rule is created by Republican to help aust a Democrat and then retracted when it would apply to a Republican. Moral values my ass.
- Jordan
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Berkeley once again ahead of the game
My home town is making me proud:
UC Berkeley Study Questions Florida E-Vote Count
A research team at UC Berkeley will report that irregularities associated with electronic voting machines may have awarded 130,000 - 260,000 or more excess votes to President George W. Bush in Florida in the 2004 presidential election. The study shows an unexplained discrepancy between votes for President Bush in counties where electronic voting machines were used versus counties using traditional voting methods. Discrepancies this large or larger rarely arise by chance -- the probability is less than 0.1 percent. The research team, led by Professor Michael Hout, will formally disclose results of the study at the press conference.
Link to the report
The analysis -- which hasn't been formally peer-reviewed, but was examined by seven professors -- showed a discrepancy in the number of votes Bush received in counties that used the touch-screen machines and counties that used other types of voting equipment. The researchers examined numerous variables that might have affected the vote outcome. These included the number of voters, their median income, racial and age makeup and the change in voter turnout between the 2000 and 2004 elections. Using this information, they examined election results for the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in the state in 1996, 2000 and 2004 to see how support for those candidates and parties measured over eight years in Florida's 67 counties.
They discovered that in the 15 counties using touch-screen voting systems, the number of votes granted to Bush far exceeded the number of votes Bush should have received -- given all of the other variables -- while the number of votes that Bush received in counties using other types of voting equipment lined up perfectly with what the variables would have predicted for those counties.
The total number of excessive votes ranged between 130,000 and 260,000, depending on what kind of problem caused the excess votes. The counties most affected by the anomaly were heavily Democratic.
Sociology professor Michael Hout, who chairs the university's graduate Sociology and Demography group, said the chance for such a discrepancy to occur was less than 1 in 1,000.
"No matter how many factors and variables we took into consideration, the significant correlation in the votes for President Bush and electronic voting cannot be explained," he said in a statement. "There is just a trivial probability of evidence like this appearing in a population where the true difference is zero -- less than once in a thousand chances."
Thanks to Joel for the link
- Jordan
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11/16/04
Republican Information Security professional, easily hacks into Diebold
Here are some pieces of what this fellow has to say. It is quite shocking. He easily hacked into the Diebold system.
I got involved with this because I have been against the adoption of these voting systems for years. It's a dumb-ass idea to implement them this way - our votes are too important. I wouldn't trust my Bank with computer systems this insecure; Hell, I wouldn't keep recipes on a system this insecure. When I saw all of the documentation regarding Diebold and their heavy partisan leanings, and then when the results came flooding in with a clear Bush victory when I seriously expected Kerry to win, I put two and two together. I am, by trade, a professional White-Hat Hacker, so I know how easily "secure" systems can be breached, especially by insiders.
- snip -
What I found truly shocked me, and made me physically ill. That's what is documented on the other page. It IS that bad. I personally don't have conclusive evidence that voter fraud was perpetrated, but I can tell you as an Information Security professional that it would have been very, very easy to do. If I had to choose between someone conspiring with exit poll workers nationwide or someone changing values in an Access Database as the cause of the difference between the poll numbers and the "actual" results, I'll go with the easier, more effective option every time. Why choose the hard way when it's more trouble and you're less likely to succeed? Again, I'm staying clear of making specific allegations - I'll leave that to the activists who are gathering data - but I would be much more surprised if the election weren't hacked than to find out that it was.
- snip -
Why do I call Diebold partisan and unethical, you ask? How's this:
"I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president." - Walden O'Dell, Diebold's CEO in a fundraising letter to Republicans, Fall 2003. O'Dell and other Diebold Senior Executives are Republican "Pioneers", which is the designation you get when you raise over $100,000. His brother is President of ES&S, the #2 vote machine maker, and is also a "Pioneer". Is that partisan enough for you? Well, what about calling them unethical?
Check this out - No less than 5 of Diebold's developers are convicted felons, including Senior Vice President Jeff Dean, and topping the list are his twenty-three counts of felony Theft in the First Degree. According to the findings of fact in case no. 89-1-04034-1.- snip -
To sum up, he was convicted of 23 felony counts of theft from by - get this - planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection. Do you trust computer systems designed by this man? Is trust important in electronic voting systems?
found this over at Kos
- Jordan
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11/15/04
Bev Harris is on the f%@king job!
While we all sit here and discuss how sad it is we lost the election, there are people out there in the trenches doing the work that could change the course of history. People this is HUGE! Bev Harris from Blackboxvoting.org is the definition of patriot! Here is what she just posed on the Democratic Underground Message board:
Volusia County election records just got put on lockdown
Dueling lawyers, election officials gnashing teeth, Votergate.tv film crew catching it all.
Here's what happened so far:Friday Black Box Voting investigators Andy Stephenson and Kathleen Wynne popped in to ask for some records. They were rebuffed by an elections official named Denise. Bev Harris called on the cell phone from investigations in downstate Florida, and told Volusia County Elections Supervisor Deanie Lowe that Black Box Voting would be in to pick up our Nov. 2 Freedom of Information request, or would file for a hand recount. "No, Bev, please don't do that!" she exclaimed. But this is the way it has to be, folks. We didn't back down.
Monday Bev, Andy and Kathleen came in with a film crew and asked for the FOIA request. Deanie Lowe gave it to us with a smile, but I noticed that one item, the polling place tapes, were not copies of the real ones, but instead were new printouts, done on Nov. 15, and not signed by anyone.
I asked to see the real ones, and they told us for "privacy" reasons we can't have copies of the signed ones. I insisted on at least viewing them (although refusing to give us copies of the signatures is not legally defensible, according to our attorney). They said the real ones were in the County Elections warehouse. It was quittin' time and we arranged to come back this morning to review them.
Lana Hires, an employee who gained some notoriety in a Diebold memo, where she asked for an explanation of minus 16,022 votes for Gore, so she wouldn't have to stand there "looking dumb" when the auditor came in, was particularly unhappy about seeing us in the office. She vigorously shook her head when Deanie Lowe suggested we go to the warehouse.
Kathleen Wynne and I showed up at the warehouse at 8:15 this morning. There was Lana Hires looking especially gruff, yet surprised. She ordered us out. Well, we couldn't see why because there she was, with a couple other people, handling the original poll tapes. You know, the ones with the signatures on them. We stepped out and they promptly shut the door behind us.
There was a trash bag on the porch outside the door. I looked into it and what do you know, but there were poll tapes in there. They came out and glared at us. We drove away a small bit, and then videotaped the license plates of the two vehicles marked 'City Council' member. Others came out to glare and soon all doors were slammed.
So, we went and parked behind a bus to see what they would do next. They pulled out some large pylons, which blocked the door. I decided to go look at the garbage some more. Kathleen videotaped this. A man came out and I immediately wrote a public records request for the contents of the garbage bag, which also contained ballots -- real ones, but not filled out.
A brief tug of war occurred, tearing the garbage bag open. We then looked through it, as Pete looked on. He was quite friendly.
We collected various poll tapes and other information and asked if they could copy it for us, for our public records request. "You won't be going anywhere," said Pete. "The deputy is on his way."
Yes, not one but two police cars came up and then two county elections officials, and we all stood around discussing the merits of my public records request.
They finally let us go, about the time our film crew arrived, and we all trooped off to the elections office. There, the plot thickened.
We began to compare the special printouts given to us with the signed polling tapes from election night. Lo and behold, some were missing. We also found some that didn't match. In fact, in one location, precinct 215, an African-American precinct, the votes were off by hundreds, in favor of George W. Bush and other Republicans.
Hmm. Which was right? Our polling tape, specially printed on Nov. 15, without signatures, or theirs, printed on Nov. 2, with up to 8 signatures per tape?
Well, then it became even more interesting. Lana Hires took it upon herself to box up some items from an office, which appeared to contain -- you guessed it -- polling place tapes. She took them to the back of the building and disappeared.
Then, voting integrity advocates from Volusia and Broward, decided now would be a good time to go through the trash at the elections office. Lo and behold, they found all kinds of memos and some polling place tapes, fresh from Volusia elections office.
So, we compared these with the Nov. 2 signed ones and the "special' ones from Nov. 15 given to us, unsigned, and we found several of the MISSING poll tapes. There they were: In the garbage.
So, Kathleen went to the car and got the polling place tapes we had pulled from the warehouse garbage. My my my. There were not only discrepancies, but a polling place tape that was signed by six officials.
This was a bit disturbing, since the employees there told us that bag was destined for the shredder.
By now, a county lawyer had appeared on the scene, suddenly threatening to charge us extra for the time we took looking at the real stuff they had withheld from us in our FOIA. Other lawyers appeared, phoned, people had meetings, Lana glowered at everyone, and someone shut the door in the office holding the GEMS server.
Andy then went to get the GEMS server locked down. He also got the memory cards locked down and secured, much to the dismay of Lana. They were scattered around unsecured in any way before that.
We then all agreed to convene tomorrow morning, to further audit, discuss the hand count that Black Box Voting will require of Volusia County, and of course, it is time to talk about contesting the election in Volusia.
Bev Harris Executive Director Black Box Voting
Together with Andy, and Kathleen. xxxooo
Wow... Just wow....
- Jordan
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Ohio To Go Through Statewide Vote Recount After All
A statewide recount of the presidential vote appears inevitable after a pair of third-party candidates said they have collected enough money to pay for it.
The recount would be conducted after the election results are certified in early December.
Libertarian Michael Badnarik and the Green Party's David Cobb said on Monday they raised more than $150,000 in four days, mostly in small contributions.
Ohio law requires payment of $10 per precinct for a recount, or $113,600 statewide.
Badnarik and Cobb said they aren't trying to overturn President Bush's 136,000-vote victory in Ohio, but just want to ensure that all votes were counted properly in the face of concerns about Election Day irregularities.
"Our bottom line is to stand up for the integrity of the voting process because the voting process is the heart of the democratic process," said Blair Bobier, spokesman for Cobb.
Bobier said it will be worth the price to ensure the final outcome can be trusted.
Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, said the actual cost to county election boards combined will be about $1.5 million.
And meanwhile in Florida.......
Pinellas ballot box sat ignored in office
Pinellas elections supervisor Deborah Clark will ask the state for permission to change the county's official results.
The unmarked brown box sat unnoticed in the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections office until Monday, two weeks after the election, when an employee cleaning a desk stumbled upon it.
Inside were 268 uncounted absentee ballots.
- Jordan
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Its good to be Condi
Lets see, she presided over the biggest national security lapse in history, she lied to the 911 commission under oath, she lied about Saddam's nuclear capability, right before the election, when the preznit was telling us we were about to be attacked our national security advisor was... wait for it...... stumping for Bush's re-election.
Looks like its promotion time!
Condoleezza Rice, who will be named as Colin L. Powell's replacement as early as today, has forged an extraordinarily close relationship with President Bush. But, paradoxically, many experts consider her one of the weakest national security advisers in recent history in terms of managing interagency conflicts.
- Jordan
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11/15/04
CIA Purge
Welcome to the 3rd world. In the years leading up to 911 many people in the CIA had been warning the white house about the dangers of a terrorist attack on US soil. These same CIA agents also warned the (s)elected president of the dangers involved in invading Iraq. Well it seems like it is time to reward them for good behavior. Bush is firing them all.
CIA plans to purge its agency
Sources say White House has ordered new chief to eliminate officers who were disloyal to BushWashington - The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.
This is worse than it seems at first. "Disloyalty" here is the act of disagreeing. And since Bush and his cronies were wrong and/or lying about damn near everything in the run-up to the Iraq war, this means that everyone who actually did their job is in jeopardy of losing it. Which will leave only sycophants, incompetents, and those who've learned to play the game behind. And you can be pretty certain that Bush is gonna hear -- and act on -- whatever faith-based apocalyptic nonsense he wants in the next couple of years.
What that does to American security in the next couple of years... let's just say it could be very, very loud.
This is not freaking believable. When I first saw an article about purges in the intelligence community, I (naively) thought it was a purge of those responsible for intelligence failures. My mistake. The story which follows is not unique, only we are used to hearing about it after military coups in countries whose names many of us are not entirely sure how to pronounce. But this is happening right here. I am not one easily given to hyperbole, and I have avoided words like "junta" in the past, but does this sound like the behavior of a democratically elected leader of a free nation?
I think the low down is, if you were in the CIA and you did a good job, your fired.
Good times.
- Jordan
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This is funny because it is true.
(Warning: foul language used to make legitimate points)
Thanks to Joel for the link
- Jordan
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Did you hear the fat lady sing?
No. You did not. That is because this election is not over. And I can prove it faster than you can say "tinfoil hat".
Let me direct you to this diary post over at Dailykos (the post has a million comments on it and takes forever to load, so I will put a good chunk of it below. The rest is here.)
Folks, it's not over. I don't think the Kerry folks think it's over either. If I'm right, and if it comes out the way I think it might, it will be the greatest stealth campaign in the history of the world, quite frankly.
Let's pull it together. Right now, it's 286-252 in favor of Bush. Ohio has not even begun to count the provisional ballots. There are 155,000 or so. Ohio has a history of provisional ballots, based on state law. In 2000, 90% of the ballots counted, and of those I understand that 90% were for Gore. Applying that standard to the 155,000 would give Kerry 125,550 additional votes, and Bush 13,950. That would narrow the margin from 132,000 (the 136,000 figure includes the now-infamous Gahanna 4,000 vote error in Franklin County) down to about 24,600. Originally, this was why Kerry conceded; he just couldn't get it done on the provisional ballots alone.
Ahh, but now there's a new development. A recount (or an "audit," as one diary called it). Fine. Whatever, call it what you want. But Kerry couldn't ask for it, because he'd be called a sore loser, Al Gore with a Brahmin accent. The lawyers are there, they're sniffing around, they're ready to deal with the shenanigans. But (here's the great part) it's not Kerry's recount. The media is treating the Cobb/Badnarik recount request as a joke, but it's not. If the recount is held, the first thing elections officials have to do is dust off the 93,000 undervotes on punch cards (dear God, not again)....
Again, look at the history. Traditionally, 90% count, and the split is about 4-1 for Democrats -- undervotes are almost exclusively from poor and/or minority areas. Take 93,000, 90% is 83,700. 80% of that is 66,960 for Kerry, with 16,740 for Bush. That 24,600 vote Bush lead after the provisionals now goes to . . . . fanfare, please . . . . ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 44th President of the United States, John Kerry, by a 25,660 vote margin in Ohio.
- snip -
I think that one of the reasons that Bush has been accepting a lot of Cabinet resignations now, rather than in January, is to create an inevitability in the minds of the public and the media that this is a done deal. No one in the media is dealing with the analysis I set forth herein, which is not my own analysis, but simply a mathematical exercise gleaned from what little public information is out there. The media went home on 11/3, and other than a few smirking "conspiracy" stories since, has not really addressed the final counting of votes in Ohio or elsewhere. Bush's lead in New Mexico has been cut from 14,000 to less than 6,000, and they're still counting.
Repeat after me: it ain't over til they count the votes. Which means it ain't over. Will Kerry win? No idea. Can he win? Yes.
UPDATE: Recount in Ohio A Sure Thing; Green Party Campaign Raises $150,000 in 4 Days, Shifts Gears to Phase II
WASHINGTON -- November 15 -- There will be a recount of the presidential vote in Ohio.
On Thursday, David Cobb, the Green Partys 2004 presidential candidate, announced his intention to seek a recount of the vote in Ohio. Since the required fee for a statewide recount is $113,600, the only question was whether that money could be raised in time to meet the filing deadline. That question has been answered.
- Jordan
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11/12/04
Are voting machines partisan?
All
the voting errors in Ohio and Florida have benefited Republicans.
We know that the people who make this equipment are long time supporters
of the republican party.
We know that they refuse to implement security measures.
We know that ATM machines on the street have more securty than these
voting machines.
We know that when you buy a pair of shoes online, there is more
advanced security measures in place, than there is when you cast
your vote for president.
We know they have fought hard to prevent adding a paper trail.
We know they refuse to let anyone see the source code.
We know that there were a large numbers of errors in this years
election, all stemming from the use of the equipment.
We know that all these errors have benefited republicans. Sometimes
actually reversing the counts so that in a county that is 75% Democratic,
a 75% Republican vote is tallied in the computer.
We also know that one way to detect these discrepancies is to look
at exit polls.
We know the exit polls this year were showing a Kerry
win by a large margin. (PDF file)
We know that just today the GOP has begun an effort to do
away with exit polling all together.
Connect the friggin' dots people.
"I
am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the
president next year." - Walden O'Dell, chief executive
of Diebold Inc.
This is why we need to do hand recounts wherever it is possible
to do so. Because when the recount is done by hand, the Democrats
win.
Case in point:
Computer Glitch Changes Election Result
(AP) -- A hand recount of ballots cast using optical scanning technology gave a Democrat enough extra votes to bump a Republican from victory in a county commissioner's race.
The erroneous tally was caused when the Fidlar Election Co. scanning system recorded straight-Democratic Party votes as votes for Libertarians in southeastern Indiana's Franklin County.
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The recount Thursday pushed Democrat Carroll Lanning from fifth to third in the three-seat commissioners race, while Republican Roy Hall fell to fifth.
Democrats had suspected a glitch after preliminary election results included a Libertarian congressional candidate winning 7.7 percent of the vote in Franklin County, more than four times better than he did across the entire district.
It is worth noting that the faulty machine in this case was sold by Fidlar, but was made by Dieblod.
If you are like me, you read all this and you ask yourself, "where the hell is Kerry on all this?" Well don't worry. He is on the ball. You should read this.
Click here if you are wondering you you can help.
- Jordan
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GOP wants to do away with exit polls
As
many by now have heard, the exit polls in our recent debacle.. I
mean, election, showed a strong Kerry win. The exit polls however
did not match up with the final election results. Oddly enough in
all the areas where there was electronic voting equipment in use,
the exit polls don't match the computer tallies. In areas using
paper ballots, the exit polls match just fine. If you were to cheat
using electronic voting machines in an election, the exit polls
would be the one obstacle in your way. This is because they would
not match up with the numbers in the computer.
If you want to know more about the exit polls check
this out. (PDF file)
In a related
story, the GOP has now begun its attempt to do away with
exit polling all together.
Here is a teaser:
After early exit polls in Tuesday's election inaccurately suggested that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry would trounce President Bush, Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie is recommending that major news organizations pull the plug on the prognostications.
In remarks Thursday at the National Press Club, Mr. Gillespie said he is among those who were stunned by exit poll reports, which leaked widely on the Internet. "I would encourage the media to abandon exit surveys on Election Day and do what we do in the political profession -- look at the precincts and the turnout, see who's turning out to vote,; Mr. Gillespie said. "Don't build a model that you try to, you know, build your own thoughts into of what you expect it to be."
Mr. Gillespie conceded that the exit polls weren't reported directly by major news organizations themselves. "But with the Internet today, we're kidding ourselves, aren't we, to think that everybody in America doesn't know what the exit data is showing?" he said.
But why would they want to do that? That would make it very easy to cheat.
- Jordan
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My friends deep thoughts about the election
I, for One, Welcome Our New Republican Overlords
I'm beginning to think that all of us who voted for Kerry just have a bad attitude. Maybe they're right - we are "nattering nabobs of negativity"**. Well, I'm going to change my tune, here are things I'm looking forward to from another 4 years of our beloved President:
1. By cleverly melding the Bible with the U.S. Constitution, civics classes & Sunday school can be integrated, saving time for teaching more important subjects like "Creationism Science" and "A Preschooler's Guide to Modern Urban and Desert Combat."
2. Admit it, having Iraq and Iran side by side on the map was really confusing. (Hell, til about say 1991, you couldn't remember which was which anyway.) In 4 years or so, no problem: Say "Hello" to Haliburtistan!
3. Sure, it will probably disrupt our global food supply leading to starvation & wars, and yeah, it will definitely result in even more mass extinctions, but global warming could bring us a warmer, more tropical San Francisco! (& probably more hurricanes bashing %$^&*ing Florida)
There is much more. Check out the deepblog
- Jordan
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11/10/04
Made many changes to the store
Now that the election has ended certain designs have been removed. To make up for it I have added a few new options including these two oval stickers as well as a T-shirt design that is more appropriate now, than ever.
Hard work indeed....
- Jordan
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File this one under "cool ideas I wish I had thought of"