DEMOCRACY STRIKES BACK! As Diebold Goes Down for the Count...
December 30th, 2005
While you were out... and while Bush's sleight-of-hand averted your eyes towards Iraq for a quick "democracy" fix, the real fight for democracy -- back here in America -- has made some important headway at years' end...Here's a few very notable developments you may have otherwise missed while you were busy sipping your yuletide egg nog:
THREE WEEKS AGO...
THURSDAY: I warned Diebold stockholders and lovers of democracy that a Securities Fraud Class Action Suit was coming.
TWO WEEKS AGO...
MONDAY: Walden O'Dell, CEO of Diebold (he, of 'committed to delivering the electoral votes of Ohio to George W. Bush' fame) suddenly resigned.
TUESDAY: Securities Fraud Litigation Class Action Suit filed against the once-great, now-disgraced Diebold, Inc. of North Canton, OH along with 8 current and former top execs (including both O'Dell and the new CEO Swidarski). Amongst the complaints: artificial manipulation/inflation of stock prices, insider trading, concealment of major flaws and security vulnerabilities in voting machines. Can't say we didn't warn ya!
TUESDAY: Test Election in Leon County, FL is hacked! Results completely reversed! Tally should have been 2 to 6, flipped to 7 to 1 without a trace! Elections Director vows Diebold will never be used in another election in the county (where state capital Tallahassee is) again, requests funds for new voting equipment. Can't say we didn't warn ya!
FRIDAY: In light of Leon County hack, and after long drawn out law suits, Volusia County, FL joins suit and dumps Diebold too!
LAST WEEK...
SUNDAY: Jeb Bush's expresses concern about FL voting systems in light of Leon County hack (that, after both the acting FL SoS and Diebold tried to blame Leon County). Unspoken irony abounds.
SUNDAY: NY Times editorializes about Diebold's grave misunderstanding of democracy. They correctly point out that "The counting of votes is a public trust. Diebold, whose machines count many votes, has never acted as if it understood this." That's the good news from the editorial which led off buy mentioning the "tumultuous week for Diebold." Unfortunately, aside from this editorial, and a quick hit elsewhere in the paper by Dan Mitchell the day before mentioning all of this as "conspiracy theories" and "black helicopter" stuff, the NY Times failed to do any actual reporting of its own on any of the items mentioned above.
TUESDAY: CA Sec. of State sends Diebold packing! Delays re-certification of previous de-certified Diebold, "punts" machines back to Feds for further testing in light of what the SoS called "unresolved significant security concerns".
THURSDAY: Amidst Intense Last-Minute Drama, St. Louis County, MO Rejects Diebold! (Plus, a Diebold lobbyist is overheard inquiring to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter about me and my family!)
THURSDAY: After failure to get a court order for a special exemption from state law, Diebold sends a letter informing North Carolina they're pulling out of the state! They refuse to comply with a NC state law requiring submission of software source code! (Though they kindly offer again to help NC rewrite its law to accommodate Diebold.)
FRIDAY: CA Sec. of State discovered to have threatened ES&S (Diebold's evil twin) with decertification after documented failures in November Election: Touch-screen votes flipped, voters can't verify that ballot is accurate, incorrect reported counts of voter turnout -- but the problems were hidden from citizens until a letter discovered by AP!
What will this and the next week bring? Stay tuned...
Miss anything of note? You can catch up here...
Caught up now? Good...But from now on, please try to pay attention. How many times do I have to tell you? Democracy -- American democracy! You remember that dontcha? -- is at stake here and I can't do all the heavy lifting for you! Please join those of us who give a damn and make some noise, write some letters to the editor, donate to those organizations and blogs and websites fighting the good fight, call your politicians, annoy the crap out of your Boards of Elections and do anything you can to make a difference here.
We're still David. They're still Goliath. But....
Friday, December 30, 2005
from NY Times Op-Ed, "While You Were Sleeping", by William Falk+commentary by Sven
Here is most of it; click on the title for the whole thing:
THE DAY AFTER TODAY One of the more alarming possible consequences of global warming appears to be already under way. The rapid melting of the Arctic and Greenland ice caps, a new study finds, is causing freshwater to flood into the North Atlantic. That infusion of icy water appears to be deflecting the northward flow of the warming Gulf Stream, which moderates winter temperatures for Europe and the northeastern United States. The flow of the Gulf Stream has been reduced by 30 percent since 1957, the National Oceanography Center in Britain found. Perhaps you'll remember that in the film "The Day After Tomorrow," the collapse of the Gulf Stream produces a violent climate shift and a new ice age for much of the Northern Hemisphere. Climatologists don't foresee a future quite that catastrophic, but something worrisome, they say, is afoot.
THE SPANISH FLU LIVES! Scientists have resurrected the Spanish flu virus that killed an estimated 25 million people in 1918. The reborn virus, pieced together from fragments found in tissue samples of the flu's victims, was injected into a group of laboratory mice. It proved incredibly lethal, producing 39,000 times more copies of itself than regular flu and killing all the mice in six days. This viral Frankenstein, perhaps the most deadly pathogen in human history, now lives on in quarantine. Many experts were alarmed when scientists published the flu's genetic blueprint; it would not be hard, they said, for a terrorist group or a madman to hire scientists to make the virus, quietly unleash it and kill more people than several nuclear weapons could.
FORBIDDEN VACCINE Ever year, about 500,000 women throughout the world develop cervical cancer. In the United States alone, the disease kills about 3,700 women annually. This year, scientists developed a vaccine against human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that is the primary cause of cervical cancer. The vaccine produced 100 percent immunity in the 6,000 women who received it as part of a multinational trial. As soon as the vaccine is licensed, some health officials say, it should be administered to all girls at age 12. But the Family Research Council and other social conservative groups vowed to fight that plan, even though it could virtually eliminate cervical cancer. Vaccinating girls against a sexually transmitted disease, they say, would reduce their incentive to abstain from premarital sex.
["How can some people be so fucking brutally evil?! ", says Sven. "How can some people be so self-centered in their
minds that they'd fuck up somebody else's life?"]
FORBIDDEN IDEAS With more than 100 million users, the Internet is booming in China. The American Web giants Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have all grabbed a piece of the lucrative Chinese market - but only after agreeing to help the government censor speech on the Web. In providing portals or search engines, all three companies are abiding by the government's censorship of certain ideas and keywords, like "Tiananmen massacre," "Taiwanese independence," "corruption" and "democracy." Most foreign news sites are blocked. This year, Yahoo even supplied information that helped the government track and convict a political dissident who sent an e-mail message with forbidden thoughts from a Yahoo account; he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. "Business is business," said Jack Ma, Yahoo's chief in China. "It's not politics."
AMERICA'S MOST WANTED Why is Osama bin Laden still at large more than four years after 9/11? The new C.I.A. director, Porter J. Goss, provided a big hint. He said that the United States had a good idea of where Mr. bin Laden was hiding, but that sovereign states would not let a proper manhunt be mounted. Mr. Goss's statement seemed to confirm the widespread suspicion that Mr. bin Laden was hiding in the mountains of northern Pakistan but that President Pervez Musharraf, fearing the reaction of Islamic militants, was not eager for him to be captured. Mr. Musharraf himself lent support to that theory, telling an interviewer: "One would prefer that he's captured somewhere outside Pakistan. By some other people."
MOM WAS RIGHT Scientists have always scoffed at the notion that getting a chill can lead to a cold. Viruses cause colds, they say, not cold air. But a new study found that dormant infections can be activated when certain parts of the body, particularly the feet and the nose, get wet and cold. In the study, 90 volunteers spent 20 minutes with their feet in a bucket of cold water. Over the next five days, 29 percent came down with colds, compared with 9 percent of a control group. Researchers said that getting a chill might constrict blood vessels and reduce the circulation of white blood cells that fight infection.
IT WON'T LAST Falling madly in love significantly changes our body chemistry - but not for long. Researchers from Italy studied a group of people who had fallen in mad, passionate love in the past six months, comparing them with people in longer-term relationships and with single people. The group consumed with passion had more of a stimulating protein called nerve growth factor in their blood. The more intense the feelings of infatuation, the more nerve growth factor there was. But when these same lovers were tested a year later, the levels had dropped back down to normal. Someone should warn Brad and Angelina: their year is up.
William Falk is the editor in chief of The Week magazine.
Next Article in Opinion (2 of 7) >
THE DAY AFTER TODAY One of the more alarming possible consequences of global warming appears to be already under way. The rapid melting of the Arctic and Greenland ice caps, a new study finds, is causing freshwater to flood into the North Atlantic. That infusion of icy water appears to be deflecting the northward flow of the warming Gulf Stream, which moderates winter temperatures for Europe and the northeastern United States. The flow of the Gulf Stream has been reduced by 30 percent since 1957, the National Oceanography Center in Britain found. Perhaps you'll remember that in the film "The Day After Tomorrow," the collapse of the Gulf Stream produces a violent climate shift and a new ice age for much of the Northern Hemisphere. Climatologists don't foresee a future quite that catastrophic, but something worrisome, they say, is afoot.
THE SPANISH FLU LIVES! Scientists have resurrected the Spanish flu virus that killed an estimated 25 million people in 1918. The reborn virus, pieced together from fragments found in tissue samples of the flu's victims, was injected into a group of laboratory mice. It proved incredibly lethal, producing 39,000 times more copies of itself than regular flu and killing all the mice in six days. This viral Frankenstein, perhaps the most deadly pathogen in human history, now lives on in quarantine. Many experts were alarmed when scientists published the flu's genetic blueprint; it would not be hard, they said, for a terrorist group or a madman to hire scientists to make the virus, quietly unleash it and kill more people than several nuclear weapons could.
FORBIDDEN VACCINE Ever year, about 500,000 women throughout the world develop cervical cancer. In the United States alone, the disease kills about 3,700 women annually. This year, scientists developed a vaccine against human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that is the primary cause of cervical cancer. The vaccine produced 100 percent immunity in the 6,000 women who received it as part of a multinational trial. As soon as the vaccine is licensed, some health officials say, it should be administered to all girls at age 12. But the Family Research Council and other social conservative groups vowed to fight that plan, even though it could virtually eliminate cervical cancer. Vaccinating girls against a sexually transmitted disease, they say, would reduce their incentive to abstain from premarital sex.
["How can some people be so fucking brutally evil?! ", says Sven. "How can some people be so self-centered in their
minds that they'd fuck up somebody else's life?"]
FORBIDDEN IDEAS With more than 100 million users, the Internet is booming in China. The American Web giants Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have all grabbed a piece of the lucrative Chinese market - but only after agreeing to help the government censor speech on the Web. In providing portals or search engines, all three companies are abiding by the government's censorship of certain ideas and keywords, like "Tiananmen massacre," "Taiwanese independence," "corruption" and "democracy." Most foreign news sites are blocked. This year, Yahoo even supplied information that helped the government track and convict a political dissident who sent an e-mail message with forbidden thoughts from a Yahoo account; he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. "Business is business," said Jack Ma, Yahoo's chief in China. "It's not politics."
AMERICA'S MOST WANTED Why is Osama bin Laden still at large more than four years after 9/11? The new C.I.A. director, Porter J. Goss, provided a big hint. He said that the United States had a good idea of where Mr. bin Laden was hiding, but that sovereign states would not let a proper manhunt be mounted. Mr. Goss's statement seemed to confirm the widespread suspicion that Mr. bin Laden was hiding in the mountains of northern Pakistan but that President Pervez Musharraf, fearing the reaction of Islamic militants, was not eager for him to be captured. Mr. Musharraf himself lent support to that theory, telling an interviewer: "One would prefer that he's captured somewhere outside Pakistan. By some other people."
MOM WAS RIGHT Scientists have always scoffed at the notion that getting a chill can lead to a cold. Viruses cause colds, they say, not cold air. But a new study found that dormant infections can be activated when certain parts of the body, particularly the feet and the nose, get wet and cold. In the study, 90 volunteers spent 20 minutes with their feet in a bucket of cold water. Over the next five days, 29 percent came down with colds, compared with 9 percent of a control group. Researchers said that getting a chill might constrict blood vessels and reduce the circulation of white blood cells that fight infection.
IT WON'T LAST Falling madly in love significantly changes our body chemistry - but not for long. Researchers from Italy studied a group of people who had fallen in mad, passionate love in the past six months, comparing them with people in longer-term relationships and with single people. The group consumed with passion had more of a stimulating protein called nerve growth factor in their blood. The more intense the feelings of infatuation, the more nerve growth factor there was. But when these same lovers were tested a year later, the levels had dropped back down to normal. Someone should warn Brad and Angelina: their year is up.
William Falk is the editor in chief of The Week magazine.
Next Article in Opinion (2 of 7) >
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Polling in Iraq: Who's Right? by FactCheck.org
Bush says 70 per cent of Iraqis see their lives going well, but MoveOn.org says most Iraqis want US troops out. Both sides are right, up to a point.
December 22, 2005
Summary
President Bush says a large majority of Iraqis think things are going well and that they expect things to get even better. But wait, a new TV ad from the liberal group MoveOn.org says most Iraqis think US troops should get out. Who's right?
In fact, both are correct – as far as they go. But each presents an incomplete and misleading picture of Iraqi public opinion, which is more complex than either side portrays.
For example, the most recent poll shows that while nearly 65 percent of Iraqis oppose the US presence in Iraq, only 26 per cent want US troops to "leave now. " The rest generally prefer that US forces remain until a new Iraqi government is in place, at least, or until security is restored or until Iraqi troops can operate on their own.
Analysis
In a televised address from the Oval Office on Dec. 18, President Bush said that “seven in ten Iraqis say their lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve even more in the year ahead.”
MoveOn Political Action Ad
"Polls Show"
Announcer: A shopkeeper in Baghdad. A family in Mosul. Kurds. Shiites. Sunnis.
(On screen: images of Iraqis)
Announcer: Some are glad we came. Some aren't. Iraqis rarely agree on anything. But, a recent poll shows that most Iraqis think our troops should leave their country.
(On Screen: The Capitol Building with the words: "Call your Representative: (202) 225-3121"
Announcer: Their election is over, yet George Bush doesn't have an exit timeline. So it's up to Congress to bring our troops home. Call your representative today.
MoveOn.org Political Action is responsible for the content of this advertisement
The next day, Dec. 19, MoveOn.org Political Action released a new ad entitled "Polls Show" that said “a recent poll shows that most Iraqis think our troops should leave their country.” MoveOn said the ad will run in the districts of six Republican House members: Heather Wilson of New Mexico, Jim Gerlach, Curt Weldon and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Deborah Pryce of Ohio and Dave Reichert of Washington.
Iraqis: Life is good & getting better
Bush drew from results of a poll released on Dec. 12. It was sponsored by ABC, Time magazine, the British Broadcasting Corporation and several other foreign media outlets. It was conducted by Oxford International Research.
It showed 71 per cent of those Iraqis who were polled, when asked how "things are going in your life these days," said either "very good" or "quite good."
And when asked how things will be in their lives a year from now, 64 per cent said either "much better" or "somewhat better."
So Bush's optimistic figures were accurate, but he ignored another facet of Iraqi public opinion - the unpopularity of US forces there.
Iraqis: Yankee go home! But not quite yet.
The MoveOn ad, saying "most Iraqis think our troops should leave their country," also is supported by the ABC/Time /BBC poll. It found that 65 per cent of Iraqis said they either "somewhat" or "strongly" oppose the presence of coalition forces in Iraq.
What MoveOn ignores is that most Iraqis don't want the US to leave immediately.
The poll asked "How long do you think the US and other coalition forces should remain in Iraq?" The results:
26 per cent said "leave now."
19 per cent said "remain until the Iraqi government elected in December is in place."
16 per cent said "remain until the Iraqi security forces can operate independently."
31 per cent said "remain until security is restored."
3 per cent said "remain longer but leave eventually."
1 per cent said "never leave."
4 per cent expressed no opinion.
The interviews were conducted in October and November, before Iraq's December election. The results are still being counted, and a new government should be in place within weeks. That means – according to this poll – that 45 per cent of Iraqis would like the US to leave fairly soon. That's a high number, but not "most."
The 'Secret' British Poll
MoveOn also cites another "poll" in support of its ad. According to the press release the ads are based on a report by the London Sunday Telegraph on Oct. 23. The Telegraph reported a "secret" poll commissioned by the British Ministry of Defence and conducted by an Iraqi university research team. The Telegraph said that they had "seen" it – but full results were not published.
The Telegraph said the poll showed 82 per cent of Iraqis "strongly" oppose the presence of coalition forces – a much higher figure than any of the other Iraqi polls published to date. The 82 per cent figure has been cited uncritically by Democrats including Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania and party chairman Howard Dean.
But that "poll" is dubious at best. The British government won't confirm or deny whether such a poll actually exists, or comment on the accuracy of the figures the newspaper reported. The Telegraph gave no information on how large the sample was, or what the statistical margin of error might be, or even exactly what questions were asked. Without such information there's no basis on which to judge how reliable such a poll might be. The margin of error in the ABC/BBC poll, for example, is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, and the sample size was 1,711. The exact wording of each question is reported.
In an email to FactCheck.org, MoveOn also cites a Zogby Poll from January 2005 and an Oxford Research Poll from June 2004. Both show majorities of Iraqis opposing the presence of US forces in their country, though the polls are by no means "recent."
Iraq: A complicated picture
Neither the optimistic picture presented by Bush nor the pessimistic view reported in the MoveOn ad accurately paints the full complexity of Iraqi public opnion, at least as measured by the recent ABC/Time /BBC poll.
For one thing, there is a great gap in opinion between Sunnis and Shiites: 86 per cent of Shiites polled say things are going well in their lives, while only 43 per cent of Sunnis do. Asked how things are going in the country as a whole, 53 of Shiites say "good" but only 9 per cent of Sunnis say the same.
It may surprise Americans to learn that 63 per cent of Iraqis say they feel "very safe" in their own neighborhoods, despite almost daily reports of bombings. But that includes 80 per cent of Shiites, and only 11 per cent of Sunnis. Asked about confidence in the Iraqi army, 87 per cent of Shiites said they felt confident, compared to 37 per cent of Sunnis.
Iraqis report strong economic improvements as well. The number of Iraqi households saying they have mobile phones has increased tenfold – to 62 per cent – since a previous ABC/Time /BBC poll was conducted in February 2004. The number of households saying they have satellite dishes has nearly tripled to 86 per cent. Monthly income is now $263, up nearly $100 since the previous poll.
On the other hand, 54 per cent still say they have electricity for only eight hours per day or less. Fuel is also a persistent problem in this oil-rich nation: of those Iraqis who drive, 7 in 10 say they encounter lines at the pump. Nearly half say they must wait for hours, and a quarter report waits measured in days.
-by Justin Bank
Sources
Transcript: "President's Address to the Nation ," Oval Office, the White House 18 Dec 2005
Rayment, Sean. "Secret MoD Poll: Iraqis Support Attacks on British Troops," Sunday Telegraph, 23 Oct 2005.
Langer, Gary and Cohen, Jon. "Poll: Broad Optimism in Iraq, but Also Deep Divisions Among Groups," ABC News, 12 Dec 2005.
December 22, 2005
Summary
President Bush says a large majority of Iraqis think things are going well and that they expect things to get even better. But wait, a new TV ad from the liberal group MoveOn.org says most Iraqis think US troops should get out. Who's right?
In fact, both are correct – as far as they go. But each presents an incomplete and misleading picture of Iraqi public opinion, which is more complex than either side portrays.
For example, the most recent poll shows that while nearly 65 percent of Iraqis oppose the US presence in Iraq, only 26 per cent want US troops to "leave now. " The rest generally prefer that US forces remain until a new Iraqi government is in place, at least, or until security is restored or until Iraqi troops can operate on their own.
Analysis
In a televised address from the Oval Office on Dec. 18, President Bush said that “seven in ten Iraqis say their lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve even more in the year ahead.”
MoveOn Political Action Ad
"Polls Show"
Announcer: A shopkeeper in Baghdad. A family in Mosul. Kurds. Shiites. Sunnis.
(On screen: images of Iraqis)
Announcer: Some are glad we came. Some aren't. Iraqis rarely agree on anything. But, a recent poll shows that most Iraqis think our troops should leave their country.
(On Screen: The Capitol Building with the words: "Call your Representative: (202) 225-3121"
Announcer: Their election is over, yet George Bush doesn't have an exit timeline. So it's up to Congress to bring our troops home. Call your representative today.
MoveOn.org Political Action is responsible for the content of this advertisement
The next day, Dec. 19, MoveOn.org Political Action released a new ad entitled "Polls Show" that said “a recent poll shows that most Iraqis think our troops should leave their country.” MoveOn said the ad will run in the districts of six Republican House members: Heather Wilson of New Mexico, Jim Gerlach, Curt Weldon and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Deborah Pryce of Ohio and Dave Reichert of Washington.
Iraqis: Life is good & getting better
Bush drew from results of a poll released on Dec. 12. It was sponsored by ABC, Time magazine, the British Broadcasting Corporation and several other foreign media outlets. It was conducted by Oxford International Research.
It showed 71 per cent of those Iraqis who were polled, when asked how "things are going in your life these days," said either "very good" or "quite good."
And when asked how things will be in their lives a year from now, 64 per cent said either "much better" or "somewhat better."
So Bush's optimistic figures were accurate, but he ignored another facet of Iraqi public opinion - the unpopularity of US forces there.
Iraqis: Yankee go home! But not quite yet.
The MoveOn ad, saying "most Iraqis think our troops should leave their country," also is supported by the ABC/Time /BBC poll. It found that 65 per cent of Iraqis said they either "somewhat" or "strongly" oppose the presence of coalition forces in Iraq.
What MoveOn ignores is that most Iraqis don't want the US to leave immediately.
The poll asked "How long do you think the US and other coalition forces should remain in Iraq?" The results:
26 per cent said "leave now."
19 per cent said "remain until the Iraqi government elected in December is in place."
16 per cent said "remain until the Iraqi security forces can operate independently."
31 per cent said "remain until security is restored."
3 per cent said "remain longer but leave eventually."
1 per cent said "never leave."
4 per cent expressed no opinion.
The interviews were conducted in October and November, before Iraq's December election. The results are still being counted, and a new government should be in place within weeks. That means – according to this poll – that 45 per cent of Iraqis would like the US to leave fairly soon. That's a high number, but not "most."
The 'Secret' British Poll
MoveOn also cites another "poll" in support of its ad. According to the press release the ads are based on a report by the London Sunday Telegraph on Oct. 23. The Telegraph reported a "secret" poll commissioned by the British Ministry of Defence and conducted by an Iraqi university research team. The Telegraph said that they had "seen" it – but full results were not published.
The Telegraph said the poll showed 82 per cent of Iraqis "strongly" oppose the presence of coalition forces – a much higher figure than any of the other Iraqi polls published to date. The 82 per cent figure has been cited uncritically by Democrats including Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania and party chairman Howard Dean.
But that "poll" is dubious at best. The British government won't confirm or deny whether such a poll actually exists, or comment on the accuracy of the figures the newspaper reported. The Telegraph gave no information on how large the sample was, or what the statistical margin of error might be, or even exactly what questions were asked. Without such information there's no basis on which to judge how reliable such a poll might be. The margin of error in the ABC/BBC poll, for example, is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, and the sample size was 1,711. The exact wording of each question is reported.
In an email to FactCheck.org, MoveOn also cites a Zogby Poll from January 2005 and an Oxford Research Poll from June 2004. Both show majorities of Iraqis opposing the presence of US forces in their country, though the polls are by no means "recent."
Iraq: A complicated picture
Neither the optimistic picture presented by Bush nor the pessimistic view reported in the MoveOn ad accurately paints the full complexity of Iraqi public opnion, at least as measured by the recent ABC/Time /BBC poll.
For one thing, there is a great gap in opinion between Sunnis and Shiites: 86 per cent of Shiites polled say things are going well in their lives, while only 43 per cent of Sunnis do. Asked how things are going in the country as a whole, 53 of Shiites say "good" but only 9 per cent of Sunnis say the same.
It may surprise Americans to learn that 63 per cent of Iraqis say they feel "very safe" in their own neighborhoods, despite almost daily reports of bombings. But that includes 80 per cent of Shiites, and only 11 per cent of Sunnis. Asked about confidence in the Iraqi army, 87 per cent of Shiites said they felt confident, compared to 37 per cent of Sunnis.
Iraqis report strong economic improvements as well. The number of Iraqi households saying they have mobile phones has increased tenfold – to 62 per cent – since a previous ABC/Time /BBC poll was conducted in February 2004. The number of households saying they have satellite dishes has nearly tripled to 86 per cent. Monthly income is now $263, up nearly $100 since the previous poll.
On the other hand, 54 per cent still say they have electricity for only eight hours per day or less. Fuel is also a persistent problem in this oil-rich nation: of those Iraqis who drive, 7 in 10 say they encounter lines at the pump. Nearly half say they must wait for hours, and a quarter report waits measured in days.
-by Justin Bank
Sources
Transcript: "President's Address to the Nation ," Oval Office, the White House 18 Dec 2005
Rayment, Sean. "Secret MoD Poll: Iraqis Support Attacks on British Troops," Sunday Telegraph, 23 Oct 2005.
Langer, Gary and Cohen, Jon. "Poll: Broad Optimism in Iraq, but Also Deep Divisions Among Groups," ABC News, 12 Dec 2005.
What's Next? What They Were Thinking
I don't want to be alarmist, but click on this title to see the economic under-pinnings for a
possible future attack on Iran from the Energy Bulletin.
possible future attack on Iran from the Energy Bulletin.
Bill Clinton Sounds the Call to Battle Global Warming
Please click on the above title for Clinton's Montreal speech in connection with the
United Nations Climate Change Conference.
United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Voting Reform: The Most Important Thing You Can Do
I am so sick of hearing Kerry was lame, Kerry didn't win by enough, Hillary is triangulating too far to the right in an
attempt to win the presidency and then lefter-leaning liberals won't vote for her. Boo Hoo! Kerry won by plenty. It's too bad
the country had many people too stupid to see the difference between Gore and Bush or Kerry and Bush. [What can I say to someone if their choice is Bush and Kerry and they thought Kerry was "too boring"? Or they thought Gore was "wooden"?]] BUT, THE COUNTRY WAS REALLY NOT THAT STUPID. Gore and Kerry both won. All right. So what do we do? Agitate for fair elections!
Here's something simple but far-reaching that you can do right here in NY State, from a DFNYC action list:
"(9) Tell The Board of Elections to Certify PB/OS Before It's Too Late
"PB/OS" (paper ballots with precinct-based optical scanners) is the safest, most reliable and most cost-effective choice for a voting system in NY State. And yet, the state Board of Elections has recently taken two outrageous steps against this system:
- Allowing the vendors NOT to submit optical scanners, effectively taking away the PB/OS option, and
- Jump-starting certification testing on an incomplete DRE machine (no paper ballot)
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Mail or fax a letter to the State Board of Elections demanding that they (1) require vendors to submit NYS full face ballot compatible optical scanners for certification and (2) stop planned testing of the incomplete and illegal Liberty DRE machine. Remind the Board that they work for us, not the voting machine vendors.
Don't let the voting machine vendors decide what machines we vote on. Please write the State Board of Elections today.
By mail: NYS Board of Elections, 40 Steuben Street, Albany, NY 12207-2108
By fax: 518-486-4068
By e-mail: ldaghlian@elections.state.ny.us
Please address your letter to:
Peter Kosinski, Co-Executive Director
Stanley Zalen, Co-Executive Director
Neil W. Kelleher, Chair
Evelyn J. Aquila, Commissioner
Helena Moses Donohue, Commissioner
"
attempt to win the presidency and then lefter-leaning liberals won't vote for her. Boo Hoo! Kerry won by plenty. It's too bad
the country had many people too stupid to see the difference between Gore and Bush or Kerry and Bush. [What can I say to someone if their choice is Bush and Kerry and they thought Kerry was "too boring"? Or they thought Gore was "wooden"?]] BUT, THE COUNTRY WAS REALLY NOT THAT STUPID. Gore and Kerry both won. All right. So what do we do? Agitate for fair elections!
Here's something simple but far-reaching that you can do right here in NY State, from a DFNYC action list:
"(9) Tell The Board of Elections to Certify PB/OS Before It's Too Late
"PB/OS" (paper ballots with precinct-based optical scanners) is the safest, most reliable and most cost-effective choice for a voting system in NY State. And yet, the state Board of Elections has recently taken two outrageous steps against this system:
- Allowing the vendors NOT to submit optical scanners, effectively taking away the PB/OS option, and
- Jump-starting certification testing on an incomplete DRE machine (no paper ballot)
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Mail or fax a letter to the State Board of Elections demanding that they (1) require vendors to submit NYS full face ballot compatible optical scanners for certification and (2) stop planned testing of the incomplete and illegal Liberty DRE machine. Remind the Board that they work for us, not the voting machine vendors.
Don't let the voting machine vendors decide what machines we vote on. Please write the State Board of Elections today.
By mail: NYS Board of Elections, 40 Steuben Street, Albany, NY 12207-2108
By fax: 518-486-4068
By e-mail: ldaghlian@elections.state.ny.us
Please address your letter to:
Peter Kosinski, Co-Executive Director
Stanley Zalen, Co-Executive Director
Neil W. Kelleher, Chair
Evelyn J. Aquila, Commissioner
Helena Moses Donohue, Commissioner
"
Monday, December 12, 2005
SLIP SLIDING AWAY
SLIP, SLIDING AWAY by Barbara Carr
It's like watching a "B" movie with bad actors. The hero (our
beloved country) is hanging over the cliff, grasped by the fragile
grip of her citizens. With enough of them to help, it would be
possible to pull the hero back onto firm ground. But the bad guys
have weapons of mass deception, and they fool too many of those who
would help if they knew the truth, and our hero slips further and
further out of reach into the abyss.
One of their bad actors went to the United Nations environmental
treaty talks in Montreal. The conference wrapped up this past
weekend with the calamitous walkout of the American representative,
who left last minute midnight-oil discussions aimed at finding some
common ground that could move the process of reducing "greenhouse gas
emissions" forward. The United States and China, the two worst
oreductions. Former U.S. President, Bill Clinton spoke to the
thousands of delegates, noting the "precautionary approach" the Bush
administration had taken to fighting terrorism, saying, "There is no
more important place in the world to apply the principle of
precaution than the area of climate change........We know what's
happening to the climate, we have a highly predictable set of
consequences if we continue to pour greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere, and we know we have an alternative that will lead us to greater prosperity."
With the close of this environmental conference, the focus shifted to
the International Peace Conference which began on Dec. 10 in London,
a gathering of people from the US, UK and IRAQ who want
PEACE.......not WAR. This gathering follows closely on the high
heels (and high horse) of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's trip
around the continent trying to reassure those who are anxious and
concerned (all) that the president was telling the truth when he said
"The U.S. does not torture." Rice applied the usual tactic of
repetition + repetition = truth. The wary and weary world did not
fall for her hollow and false assertions, which made matters worse
instead of better. British playwright Harold Pinter had some words
for her and the president in his lecture upon receiving the Nobel
Prize for literature, raining shame down on all the lies, distortions
and deceptions that our country and the world have endured since our
fateful contested elections of 2000 and 2004. He reminds us that the
U.S. now occupies 702 military installations throughout the world in
132 countries, and has 8,000 active and operational nuclear warheads,
2,000 of which are on hair trigger alert, ready to be launched with
15 minutes warning. Maybe those are different from the NUCULAR
weapons George talks about, and he doesn't know he already has gobs?
Maybe George and Condi didn't see the photographs taken of the
TORTURE at Abu Garib prison. Maybe they are hiding the rest of the
photographs the American courts ordered released to the public. We
all know they're too horrible to see - precisely why they must be
seen. The ACLU has a lawsuit pending to hold Rumsfeld and other high
officials accountable for torture documented in 77,000 pages of
records they have obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
In trying to accuse Europe of complicity with the U.S. on the
rendition of hundreds of suspected terrorists to "black sites" and
spread the guilt, Rice caused a firestorm of fury among those she
sought to mollify. The Italians, who have issued indictments of 22
current and former CIA operatives for the rendition of an Egyptian
suspect, say emphatically that they are not involved. The UK also
scrambled to deny involvement and clarify their policies. In a lead
opinion, Lord Bingham of Britain's highest court, the Law Lords,
ruled that evidence obtained through torture, no matter by whom, is
not admissible in British courts. This ruling overturns the existing
tacit acceptance that torture can be condoned under certain
circumstances, and renews adherence to the UN 1994 Convention Against
Torture.
In a rebuke of the fuzzy definitions employed by the Bush administration,
Lord Bingham states that "prohibition against torture
has become one of the most fundamental standards of the international
community.....an absolute value from which no one must deviate."
Germany is intensely investigating the U.S. regarding our rendition
activities, and claims it has records of 400 U.S. rendition flights
over European airspace. Most shameful was Rice's attempt to mend
fences with Germany's Chancellor Merkel, who applauded Rice's
admission to her of the U.S. "mistake" in the rendition of German
citizen, Khaled el-Masri, to the CIA jail "the Salt pit" in
Afghanistan. el-Masri was tortured there for 5 months in a case of
"mistaken identity." After their meeting, Rice denied she had
admitted the mistake. The European Council declared that any member
nation harboring a CIA prison would be put under sanctions by the
European community.
In America, the press broke the story of the Al Queda operative, Ibn
al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was tortured into providing the
mis-information of a 9/11 Al Queda and Saddam Hussein connection, and
says he gave the information he thought they wanted to hear so they
would stop the torture. The president used his mis-information to
make the case for war, even though it was discredited at the time by
the CIA. Claiming that our invasion of Iraq is a necessary part of
the War on Terror, our military has spent $277 BILLION on the War on
Iraq to make the world a safer place because of the danger of Saddam
Hussein to the U.S.. According to Representative John Murtha, who
knows, the military will ask for an additional $100 Billion for
operations in Iraq next year. U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
says the Geneva Convention is "quaint." Dick Cheney insists that the
CIA needs an exemption from John McCain's proposed anti-torture
legislation. McCain says that there is no information obtained by
torture worth the shame it would cause the United States. Over last
weekend he and others tried and tried to broker a solution to this
impasse with the White House, so far to no avail.
We are obviously witnessing a colossal clash of values, both within
and without our borders. As citizens of this noble nation, we are
left with a terrible quandary. Shamed by our leaders, who control
all three branches of our government and repeat lies in order to
create truth out of falsehoods, our power is limited. We have only
our voices. Harold Pinter has some words for us to consider: " I
believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching,
unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define
the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation
which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory. If such a
determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope
of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man." Men
and women, mere citizens all, are gathered in the pursuit of peace in
London. Iraqis who want their country healed will be there.
Americans and Brits who long for peace and the return of their brave
soldiers will be there. The future will be there.
Barbara Carr
>>
It's like watching a "B" movie with bad actors. The hero (our
beloved country) is hanging over the cliff, grasped by the fragile
grip of her citizens. With enough of them to help, it would be
possible to pull the hero back onto firm ground. But the bad guys
have weapons of mass deception, and they fool too many of those who
would help if they knew the truth, and our hero slips further and
further out of reach into the abyss.
One of their bad actors went to the United Nations environmental
treaty talks in Montreal. The conference wrapped up this past
weekend with the calamitous walkout of the American representative,
who left last minute midnight-oil discussions aimed at finding some
common ground that could move the process of reducing "greenhouse gas
emissions" forward. The United States and China, the two worst
oreductions. Former U.S. President, Bill Clinton spoke to the
thousands of delegates, noting the "precautionary approach" the Bush
administration had taken to fighting terrorism, saying, "There is no
more important place in the world to apply the principle of
precaution than the area of climate change........We know what's
happening to the climate, we have a highly predictable set of
consequences if we continue to pour greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere, and we know we have an alternative that will lead us to greater prosperity."
With the close of this environmental conference, the focus shifted to
the International Peace Conference which began on Dec. 10 in London,
a gathering of people from the US, UK and IRAQ who want
PEACE.......not WAR. This gathering follows closely on the high
heels (and high horse) of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's trip
around the continent trying to reassure those who are anxious and
concerned (all) that the president was telling the truth when he said
"The U.S. does not torture." Rice applied the usual tactic of
repetition + repetition = truth. The wary and weary world did not
fall for her hollow and false assertions, which made matters worse
instead of better. British playwright Harold Pinter had some words
for her and the president in his lecture upon receiving the Nobel
Prize for literature, raining shame down on all the lies, distortions
and deceptions that our country and the world have endured since our
fateful contested elections of 2000 and 2004. He reminds us that the
U.S. now occupies 702 military installations throughout the world in
132 countries, and has 8,000 active and operational nuclear warheads,
2,000 of which are on hair trigger alert, ready to be launched with
15 minutes warning. Maybe those are different from the NUCULAR
weapons George talks about, and he doesn't know he already has gobs?
Maybe George and Condi didn't see the photographs taken of the
TORTURE at Abu Garib prison. Maybe they are hiding the rest of the
photographs the American courts ordered released to the public. We
all know they're too horrible to see - precisely why they must be
seen. The ACLU has a lawsuit pending to hold Rumsfeld and other high
officials accountable for torture documented in 77,000 pages of
records they have obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
In trying to accuse Europe of complicity with the U.S. on the
rendition of hundreds of suspected terrorists to "black sites" and
spread the guilt, Rice caused a firestorm of fury among those she
sought to mollify. The Italians, who have issued indictments of 22
current and former CIA operatives for the rendition of an Egyptian
suspect, say emphatically that they are not involved. The UK also
scrambled to deny involvement and clarify their policies. In a lead
opinion, Lord Bingham of Britain's highest court, the Law Lords,
ruled that evidence obtained through torture, no matter by whom, is
not admissible in British courts. This ruling overturns the existing
tacit acceptance that torture can be condoned under certain
circumstances, and renews adherence to the UN 1994 Convention Against
Torture.
In a rebuke of the fuzzy definitions employed by the Bush administration,
Lord Bingham states that "prohibition against torture
has become one of the most fundamental standards of the international
community.....an absolute value from which no one must deviate."
Germany is intensely investigating the U.S. regarding our rendition
activities, and claims it has records of 400 U.S. rendition flights
over European airspace. Most shameful was Rice's attempt to mend
fences with Germany's Chancellor Merkel, who applauded Rice's
admission to her of the U.S. "mistake" in the rendition of German
citizen, Khaled el-Masri, to the CIA jail "the Salt pit" in
Afghanistan. el-Masri was tortured there for 5 months in a case of
"mistaken identity." After their meeting, Rice denied she had
admitted the mistake. The European Council declared that any member
nation harboring a CIA prison would be put under sanctions by the
European community.
In America, the press broke the story of the Al Queda operative, Ibn
al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was tortured into providing the
mis-information of a 9/11 Al Queda and Saddam Hussein connection, and
says he gave the information he thought they wanted to hear so they
would stop the torture. The president used his mis-information to
make the case for war, even though it was discredited at the time by
the CIA. Claiming that our invasion of Iraq is a necessary part of
the War on Terror, our military has spent $277 BILLION on the War on
Iraq to make the world a safer place because of the danger of Saddam
Hussein to the U.S.. According to Representative John Murtha, who
knows, the military will ask for an additional $100 Billion for
operations in Iraq next year. U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
says the Geneva Convention is "quaint." Dick Cheney insists that the
CIA needs an exemption from John McCain's proposed anti-torture
legislation. McCain says that there is no information obtained by
torture worth the shame it would cause the United States. Over last
weekend he and others tried and tried to broker a solution to this
impasse with the White House, so far to no avail.
We are obviously witnessing a colossal clash of values, both within
and without our borders. As citizens of this noble nation, we are
left with a terrible quandary. Shamed by our leaders, who control
all three branches of our government and repeat lies in order to
create truth out of falsehoods, our power is limited. We have only
our voices. Harold Pinter has some words for us to consider: " I
believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching,
unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define
the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation
which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory. If such a
determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope
of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man." Men
and women, mere citizens all, are gathered in the pursuit of peace in
London. Iraqis who want their country healed will be there.
Americans and Brits who long for peace and the return of their brave
soldiers will be there. The future will be there.
Barbara Carr
>>
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Something else I noticed about that vote-fix story
That video is from a year ago, Dec. 13, 2004. No wonder one reader says she's heard it before!
Amazing how this stufff gets swept under the rug.
Amazing how this stufff gets swept under the rug.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Correction of previous post, and another terrible Ohio voting story
I wasn't totally clear. Clint Curtis testimony WAS to a congressional judiciary committee,
but the hearing took place IN Ohio. I didn't think that looked like Congress!
A fmaily member says this story is huge IF it holds.
A friend wonders why this story hasn't been picked up by larger media today. Was the man's
story discredited?
For today's story you can click on the above title of this post. Does it shed any light on why that story hasn't been picked up? Here's an excerpt:
"House Bill 3 has already passed the Ohio House of Representatives and is about to be approved by the Republican-dominated Senate, probably before the holiday recess. Republicans dominate the Ohio legislature thanks to a heavily gerrymandered crazy quilt of rigged districts, and to a moribund Ohio Democratic party. The GOP-drafted HB3 is designed to all but obliterate any possible future Democratic revival. Opposition from the Ohio Democratic Party, where it exists at all, is diffuse and ineffectual.
HB3's most publicized provision will require positive identification before casting a vote. But it also opens voter registration activists to partisan prosecution, exempts electronic voting machines from public scrutiny, quintuples the cost of citizen-requested statewide recounts and makes it illegal to challenge a presidential vote count or, indeed, any federal election result in Ohio. When added to the recently passed HB1, which allows campaign financing to be dominated by the wealthy and by corporations, and along with a Rovian wish list of GOP attacks on the ballot box, democracy in Ohio could be all but over."
but the hearing took place IN Ohio. I didn't think that looked like Congress!
A fmaily member says this story is huge IF it holds.
A friend wonders why this story hasn't been picked up by larger media today. Was the man's
story discredited?
For today's story you can click on the above title of this post. Does it shed any light on why that story hasn't been picked up? Here's an excerpt:
"House Bill 3 has already passed the Ohio House of Representatives and is about to be approved by the Republican-dominated Senate, probably before the holiday recess. Republicans dominate the Ohio legislature thanks to a heavily gerrymandered crazy quilt of rigged districts, and to a moribund Ohio Democratic party. The GOP-drafted HB3 is designed to all but obliterate any possible future Democratic revival. Opposition from the Ohio Democratic Party, where it exists at all, is diffuse and ineffectual.
HB3's most publicized provision will require positive identification before casting a vote. But it also opens voter registration activists to partisan prosecution, exempts electronic voting machines from public scrutiny, quintuples the cost of citizen-requested statewide recounts and makes it illegal to challenge a presidential vote count or, indeed, any federal election result in Ohio. When added to the recently passed HB1, which allows campaign financing to be dominated by the wealthy and by corporations, and along with a Rovian wish list of GOP attacks on the ballot box, democracy in Ohio could be all but over."
Monday, December 05, 2005
"Computer Expert Testifies That Florida Elections Were Fixed"
Please click on the above title for video of Clint Curtis' testimony in a congressional judiciary committee
hearing IN Ohio.
COMPUTER EXPERT TESTIFIES THAT FLORIDA ELECTIONS WERE FIXED
12-01-05
Computer expert testifies elections in Florida were fixed. The programmer claims under oath that he designed and built a "vote rigging" software program at the behest of then Florida Congressman, now U.S. Congressman, Republican Tom Feeney of Florida's 24th Congressional District.
Clint Curtis, 46, claims that he built the software for Feeney in 2000 while working at a sofware design and engineering company in Oviedo, Florida (Feeney's home district).
Curtis, in his affidavit, says that as technical advisor and programmer at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) he was present at company meetings where Feeney was present "on at least a dozen occasions".
Feeney, who had run in 1994 as Jeb Bush's running-mate in his initial unsuccessful bid for Florida Governor, was serving as both corporate counsel and registered lobbyist for YEI during the period that Curtis worked at the company.
Feeney was also concurrently serving as a Florida state congressman while performing those services for YEI. Feeney would eventually become Speaker of the Florida House before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002. He is now a member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
At an October 2000 meeting with Feeney, according to the affidavit and BRAD BLOG interviews with Curtis over the past three days, Feeney inquired whether the company could build a "vote fraud software prototype".
At least three YEI employees are said to have been present at that meeting; Curtis, company owner, Mrs. Li Woan Yang, and her executive secretary, Mike Cohen. Two other YEI employees may have come in and out at different points of the meeting according to Curtis.
Curtis says that Feeney "was very specific in the design and specifications required for this program."
"He detailed, in his own words, that; (a) the program needed to be touch-screen capable (b) the user should be able to trigger the program without any additional equipment (c) the programming to accomplish this needed to stay hidden even if the source code was inspected."
Though there was no problem with the first two requirements, Curtis explained to the Congressman that it would be "virtually impossible to hide such code written to change the voting results if anyone is able to review the uncompiled source code"
Nonetheless, he was asked at the meeting by Mrs. Yang to build the prototype anyway.
Curtis, "a life-long Republican" at the time, claims that it was his initial belief that Feeney's interest was in trying to stop Democrats from using "such a program to steal an election". Curtis had assumed that Feeney, "wanted to be able to detect and prevent that if it occurred."
Upon delivery of the software design and documentation on CD to Mrs. Yang, Curtis again explained to her that it would be impossible to hide routines created to manipulate the vote if anybody would be able to inspect the precompiled source code.
Mrs. Yang then told him, "You donít understand, in order to get the contract we have to hide the manipulation in the source code. This program is needed to control the vote in South Florida."
Mrs. Yang then took the CD containing the software from Curtis, reportedly for later delivery to Feeney.
In other meetings with Feeny prior to the 2000 elections, it became clear to Curtis that Feeney had plans to suppress the vote in strong Democratic precincts. In the affidavit, Curtis claims that in those meetings Feeney had "bragged that he had already implemented 'exclusion lists' to reduce the 'black vote'." Feeney also mentioned that "proper placement of police patrols could further reduce the black vote by as much as 25%."
Curtis says that he submitted his resignation to YEI effective December 2000, but stayed on until they had found someone to replace him in February of 2001. He eventually became employed by the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) after leaving YEI.
hearing IN Ohio.
COMPUTER EXPERT TESTIFIES THAT FLORIDA ELECTIONS WERE FIXED
12-01-05
Computer expert testifies elections in Florida were fixed. The programmer claims under oath that he designed and built a "vote rigging" software program at the behest of then Florida Congressman, now U.S. Congressman, Republican Tom Feeney of Florida's 24th Congressional District.
Clint Curtis, 46, claims that he built the software for Feeney in 2000 while working at a sofware design and engineering company in Oviedo, Florida (Feeney's home district).
Curtis, in his affidavit, says that as technical advisor and programmer at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) he was present at company meetings where Feeney was present "on at least a dozen occasions".
Feeney, who had run in 1994 as Jeb Bush's running-mate in his initial unsuccessful bid for Florida Governor, was serving as both corporate counsel and registered lobbyist for YEI during the period that Curtis worked at the company.
Feeney was also concurrently serving as a Florida state congressman while performing those services for YEI. Feeney would eventually become Speaker of the Florida House before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002. He is now a member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
At an October 2000 meeting with Feeney, according to the affidavit and BRAD BLOG interviews with Curtis over the past three days, Feeney inquired whether the company could build a "vote fraud software prototype".
At least three YEI employees are said to have been present at that meeting; Curtis, company owner, Mrs. Li Woan Yang, and her executive secretary, Mike Cohen. Two other YEI employees may have come in and out at different points of the meeting according to Curtis.
Curtis says that Feeney "was very specific in the design and specifications required for this program."
"He detailed, in his own words, that; (a) the program needed to be touch-screen capable (b) the user should be able to trigger the program without any additional equipment (c) the programming to accomplish this needed to stay hidden even if the source code was inspected."
Though there was no problem with the first two requirements, Curtis explained to the Congressman that it would be "virtually impossible to hide such code written to change the voting results if anyone is able to review the uncompiled source code"
Nonetheless, he was asked at the meeting by Mrs. Yang to build the prototype anyway.
Curtis, "a life-long Republican" at the time, claims that it was his initial belief that Feeney's interest was in trying to stop Democrats from using "such a program to steal an election". Curtis had assumed that Feeney, "wanted to be able to detect and prevent that if it occurred."
Upon delivery of the software design and documentation on CD to Mrs. Yang, Curtis again explained to her that it would be impossible to hide routines created to manipulate the vote if anybody would be able to inspect the precompiled source code.
Mrs. Yang then told him, "You donít understand, in order to get the contract we have to hide the manipulation in the source code. This program is needed to control the vote in South Florida."
Mrs. Yang then took the CD containing the software from Curtis, reportedly for later delivery to Feeney.
In other meetings with Feeny prior to the 2000 elections, it became clear to Curtis that Feeney had plans to suppress the vote in strong Democratic precincts. In the affidavit, Curtis claims that in those meetings Feeney had "bragged that he had already implemented 'exclusion lists' to reduce the 'black vote'." Feeney also mentioned that "proper placement of police patrols could further reduce the black vote by as much as 25%."
Curtis says that he submitted his resignation to YEI effective December 2000, but stayed on until they had found someone to replace him in February of 2001. He eventually became employed by the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) after leaving YEI.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Did Bush Score One For The Republican Side?
Well, I haven't been reading the papers as much lately. Not sure why. But it has come to
my attention that Bush is supposed to have made some sort of hole-in-one using a motto
along these lines: "We'll bring the troops home when the military decides it's right and not when
some politicians say so." And apparently the democrats went "Oof!" or were supposed to.
By "politicians" Bush refers to Rep. Murtha, Kerry, Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the like. The problem is,
except for Barack Obama, who IS a truly great politician, Bush is much more of a politician
than any of these other democrats.
It is my claim(and some voting rights specialists') that Kerry won the election fairly and Bush stole it;
but no one thinks Kerry is a good politican. He is a sincere and good policy wonk, but few
can understand him well enough to judge his views in detail. Murtha came from the army.
And Nancy can be abrasive. Bush is totally where he is today because he's more of a pol,
and precisely in the cynical sense that he is trying to convey to the amercian people about
the democrats. [He can remember names like nobody's business!]
The democrats I mention above, with their various plans for getting us out of Iraq are politicians
but they're also serious about stopping the victimization of another culture, of our own troops and
of this country's position and good name in the world. W is much more a politician than they; and
that's ALL he is.
What the Army in Iraq really thinks is not clear to me. Murtha hears a lot of discontent; but David Brooks,
a conservative commentator on the Lehrer Report says 55% of them want to stay there. I'm just not
sure by whose poll. All facts are suspect these days. People like Paul Gigot and even Bob Woodward are
lying on TV. So check it out, first!
It's widely believed Murtha wanted to "cut and run"! What he wants to do is withdraw most of the troops
to the perimeter of the country to get them out of the bloodshed, and then send in smaller units to put out
fires within as they arise. Kerry wants to draw troops down slowly. Democrats' positions are routinely
distorted and vilified, for just the reasons Bush claims to be criticzing: politics.
It has also been brought to my atttention that the administration is feeling a bit more chipper now that democrats are
disagreeing with each other. They call it a "split". Well, I say to you(with Barack): Having different opinions is the good
thing about a democracy. Pressuring your whole party(the republicans) to stay "on message" by rote, and not allowing any dissenting voice at town meetings, is the beginnings of fascism and weakmindedness. Might as well be smug that your
enemy at school beat you on a standardized test, because you know the bullies will beat him up.
my attention that Bush is supposed to have made some sort of hole-in-one using a motto
along these lines: "We'll bring the troops home when the military decides it's right and not when
some politicians say so." And apparently the democrats went "Oof!" or were supposed to.
By "politicians" Bush refers to Rep. Murtha, Kerry, Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the like. The problem is,
except for Barack Obama, who IS a truly great politician, Bush is much more of a politician
than any of these other democrats.
It is my claim(and some voting rights specialists') that Kerry won the election fairly and Bush stole it;
but no one thinks Kerry is a good politican. He is a sincere and good policy wonk, but few
can understand him well enough to judge his views in detail. Murtha came from the army.
And Nancy can be abrasive. Bush is totally where he is today because he's more of a pol,
and precisely in the cynical sense that he is trying to convey to the amercian people about
the democrats. [He can remember names like nobody's business!]
The democrats I mention above, with their various plans for getting us out of Iraq are politicians
but they're also serious about stopping the victimization of another culture, of our own troops and
of this country's position and good name in the world. W is much more a politician than they; and
that's ALL he is.
What the Army in Iraq really thinks is not clear to me. Murtha hears a lot of discontent; but David Brooks,
a conservative commentator on the Lehrer Report says 55% of them want to stay there. I'm just not
sure by whose poll. All facts are suspect these days. People like Paul Gigot and even Bob Woodward are
lying on TV. So check it out, first!
It's widely believed Murtha wanted to "cut and run"! What he wants to do is withdraw most of the troops
to the perimeter of the country to get them out of the bloodshed, and then send in smaller units to put out
fires within as they arise. Kerry wants to draw troops down slowly. Democrats' positions are routinely
distorted and vilified, for just the reasons Bush claims to be criticzing: politics.
It has also been brought to my atttention that the administration is feeling a bit more chipper now that democrats are
disagreeing with each other. They call it a "split". Well, I say to you(with Barack): Having different opinions is the good
thing about a democracy. Pressuring your whole party(the republicans) to stay "on message" by rote, and not allowing any dissenting voice at town meetings, is the beginnings of fascism and weakmindedness. Might as well be smug that your
enemy at school beat you on a standardized test, because you know the bullies will beat him up.
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