What do you expect from the Diebold Congress? Lawfulness? Morality?

[Peace Patriot]

Almost all of Congress is now beholden to Diebold and ES&S--the two rightwing Bushite corporations that are now (as of '04) "counting" all our votes with TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code. And Congress is no longer beholden to us, the American people, 63% of whom oppose torture "under any circumstances" (May '04), 60% to 70% of whom despise the Bush Junta (and have for some time), 84% of whom oppose any U.S. participation in a widened Mideast war (Aug '06), and 92% of whom want transparent elections (Sept '06).

We really must face this, my friends. Republicans AND most Democrats BOTH owe their office and their power to...

DIEBOLD: Until recently, headed by Wally O'Dell, a Bush-Cheney campaign chair and major fundraiser (a Bush "Pioneer," right up there with Ken Lay), who promised in writing to "deliver Ohio's electoral votes to Bush-Cheney in 2004"; and

ES&S: A spinoff of Diebold (similar computer architecture), initially funded by rightwing billionaire Howard Ahmanson, who also gave one million dollars to the extremist 'christian' Chalcedon Foundation (which touts the death penalty for homosexuals, among other things). Diebold and ES&S have an incestuous relationship; they are run by two brothers, Bob and Todd Urosevich.

These are the people who "counted" 80% of the nation's votes in 2004, under a veil of corporate secrecy. And they are even more entrenched now.

Also, SEQUOIA: The third major election theft player, which hired Republican former Calif Secretary of State Bill Jones, and his chief aide, Alfie Charles, to peddle their machines--in an outstanding example of the highly corrupt practice of "revolving door" employment. Jones and Charles brought this election theft technology to California. Now they're selling it.

You wonder why we can't change things. THIS is why. Rightwing corporations are now "counting" all our votes with SECRET CODE, and with virtually no audit/recount controls. (One third of the country in 2004 voted in e-voting systems that had NO audit/recount capability AT ALL. Most others voted in e-voting systems with extremely inadequate auditing, and severe restrictions against recounts--and ALL votes were processed and "tabulated" with TRADE SECRET CODE under the control of these Bushite corporations.)

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How did this happen?

It happened during the 2002-2004 period, as the result of the infamous "Help America Vote Act"--engineered by the biggest crooks in the Anthrax Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney (now indicted or resigned in bribery scandals), abetted by corporatist Democrats like Christopher Dodd and Terry McAuliffe, and by the MIND-BOGGLING SILENCE of the entire Democratic Party leadership (not to mention the collusion of the corporate news monopolies). They appropriated $3.9 billion to bribe, entice and corrupt election officials across the land into purchasing extremely insecure and insider hackable electronic voting machines, run on TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code--code so secret that not even our Secretaries of State are permitted to review it--owned and controlled by Bushite corporations. They deliberately PREVENTED any paper trail requirement for secret, corporate vote tabulation. They permitted lavish lobbying and secret industry "testing" of the machines. All but two Senate Democrats voted FOR this democracy-killing legislation. (Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer voted against it. Go figure.) (--possibly something to do with New Yorkers' attachment to their old, reliable, unriggable lever machines.) Are the Democrats in on it? I don't know. I think it's a mixed bag--some are collusive, some are just corrupt, some have been strongarmed (and/or were deliberately misinformed by people like Dodd), and some were and are fearful. But I do know this: Our democracy was given a near fatal blow on that day, October 29, 2002--the day HAVA was signed by Bush. That WAS the fascist coup.

We are now seeing the results. Pissing contests between the Republicans and the Democrats over who wanted to KILL Osama bin Laden more (not try him, not bring him to justice--KILL him--this Bush CIA asset!). Tens of thousands of innocent people have already been slaughtered by this "kill, kill, kill" pissing contest. No thought for them. Who cares about them? Which of our political parties has the biggest dick? That's all they talk about. A third to a half of the Democrats colluding with the Bushites on numerous "kill, kill, kill" policies, including, today, the simply staggering proposal that the U.S. Congress endorse torture--with as many Democrats in support as are needed for passage, severing our allegiance to the Geneva Conventions and to world peace.

Do we need any more proof that this is the Diebold Congress, and not OUR Congress?

And what are we going to do about it?

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THE ABSENTEE BALLOT PROTEST

The governor of Maryland (a Republican) has called for Absentee Ballot voting this fall. So has the Colorado Democratic Party. Neither of these advocates, as far as I know, object to TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY vote tabulation by Bushite corporations. But I think they are onto something. They have run into the massive problem of the unreliability of these privately run electronic voting machines, which regularly break down, leaving voters with no way to vote.

Brag Friedman (Bradblog)--who DOES object to secret corporate vote tabulation--is leading a campaign to get the Diebold Congress to pass an emergency bill mandating that all voting jurisdictions provide voters with PAPER BALLOTS this fall (in case of machine breakdown, or at their option). But the Diebold Congress is too busy figuring out ways to let Bush torture more people, to bother about democracy. And they don't believe in democracy anyway. Most of them owe their power to Bushite electronic voting corporations!

We MUSTN'T wait around for the Diebold Congress to give us back our right to vote! I applaud Brad Friedman's initiative--it has great educational value, and such effort is ALWAYS worth it for that reason--but when I learned that Christopher Dodd had endorsed it, as a co-sponsor, and that it is VOLUNTARY--that counties and states can choose NOT to give us a paper ballot if their election theft machines break down (no doubt Dodd's stipulation for his support)--I realized what a Quixotic effort this is, and that corrupt SOB's like Dodd are merely using it for cover. (Dodd is running for president.) Even if it passes (not likely) it has no teeth. All it does is provide a bit of money for election officials who are WILLING to provide paper ballots. Bad election officials (many) will provide a worthless "provisional" ballot, or no ballot. It might prevent some shenanigans (strategic machine "breakdowns" in Democratic precincts), but it is barely better than HAVA. And that's IF it passes. Want to put some money down on that?

So where does that leave us? 1. Corrupt election officials will use machine "breakdowns" to disenfranchise voters (wherever voters are voting against Bushites, warmongers and corporatists), and those voters will have no recourse. 2. Diebold/ES&S remain in control of election results in almost every state, with the ability to EASILY and UNDETECTABLY place a 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" for Bushites, and, where necessary, for their 'Democratic' tokens. (One insider hacker, and a couple of minutes, leaving no trace--that's all it takes to spread malicious vote-stealing code throughout the system!) 3. There is no way out of this--there is nothing in place to prevent Stolen Election III. (The awesome election reform movement that arose after the 2004 election theft--with many lawsuits, books, articles, web sites, new civic groups and passionate activists), has done its best against overwhelming odds--the collusion of the corporate news monopolies, the Bushites and the Democrats to "black-hole" this story, and keep the American people ignorant of WHO is "counting" their votes, and HOW. Many good things are happening--but they cannot prevent massive election theft this fall).

What can we do in this circumstance? What can we do to give election reformers more clout (at the local/state level, where it really counts)? What form of rebellion will be effective? How do we turn Stolen Election III into a democracy movement?

I got the answer from Los Angeles, where a massive outbreak of Absentee Ballot voting has occurred (it's up to 50% of the vote), because their election head is a Diebold shill (Connie McCormack--defends paperless e-voting, does brochures for Diebold, her best friend is the former chief Diebold salesperson in California) and, consequently voters DON'T TRUST THE MACHINES. Also, I've had casual conversations with voters who are choosing to vote by Absentee Ballot because they, too, don't trust the machines. Voting AB is their way of getting around the machines--to get what they want--what they trust--a HAND-COUNTED PAPER BALLOT.

Now, what many of these voters don't know is that Diebold shills like Connie McCormack and other corrupt election officials are tossing the AB votes in the back room (to be counted "later") and "calling" elections on the e-vote, or are merely scanning the AB votes into the rigged electronics (where, like optiscan votes, your vote is turned into manipulable electrons, and the actual evidence of your vote--the ballot--is dumped into a box and never seen again), or are doing even worse things (masses of AB votes getting "lost" in the mail--FLA '04), etc., etc. In summary, AB votes are no safer than e-votes.

However, an Absentee Ballot vote IS a protest! It may not be effective at preventing unreliable vote counts, but it is VERY EFFECTIVE at stating what the voter WANTS: A HAND-COUNTED PAPER BALLOT!

And what if we ALL did it? All 60% to 70% of us who despise the Bush Junta and our weak or corrupt Democratic leaders?

WHAT IF WE ALL VOTE BY ABSENTEE BALLOT?

With 60% to 70% of the people REFUSING TO VOTE ON THESE MACHINES, the reign of these machines will be OVER!

The elections officials who spent billions on them will be made to look like the corrupt fools they are. They will be forced to reform, or will be driven from office. Election reformers will gain real clout, and will be able to DEMAND transparent elections. All those disillusioned people who say "it's all rigged" and don't want to vote, will be given motivation to vote--to join with others in a massive citizen effort to UN-rig the system. It will HELP turnout (which can overwhelm the rigged electronics, in some cases). And some of its immediate effects will be to greatly increase scrutiny on how AB votes are handled (a 'litmus test' for election officials), and more vigilant monitoring of all vote counting activities.

FLOOD election officials with MOUNTAINS of Absentee Ballot votes! And thus create sufficient panic and crisis in the election theft industry to FORCE reform NOW.

They cannot maintain this rigged e-voting system if 60% to 70% of the people are BOYCOTTING the machines!

We may not be able to achieve accurate vote counts this fall, but we may well be able to save the '08 primaries and general election from secret corporate vote counting. And a massive citizen rebellion against these voting machines will have repercussions throughout our political system. It will put corrupt politicians on notice that "we're mad as hell, and we're NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!"

We've got to start SOMEWHERE. SOMETHING has got to SPARK the rebellion of the American people. And I think this is it. Restoring our right to vote by massive rebellion against the machines.

We may only have THIS opportunity to do it. THIS election. Who knows what the Diebold II Congress--(s)elected this fall--will do to our right to vote? Right now, ordinary people still have some influence at the state/level, where decisions about voting systems are STILL made. The HAVA fascists made a mistake by not requiring e-voting. They left a loophole. We can still go back to the old (and far, far, far more reliable) system of hand-counted paper ballots (--and in NY and a few other places, the reliable old lever machines). That's what we must insist on--no "trade secret" code in any part of the system (--no touchscreens, no optiscans, and also no central electronic tabulators that are not controlled by a count of all ballots, and local posting of the results, before any electronics are involved).

Those who say this won't work because AB votes are not safe either, forget that the Montgomery Bus Boycott did not end segregation. The Bus Boycott was a strategy, first of all, of NON-COOPERATION, second, of dramatically highlighting the problem, and third, of economic punishment of the segregation system.

The Absentee Ballot protest has all three elements. 1. It is NON-COOPERATION with these rigged e-voting machines. (The black citizens of Montgomery, Alabama, went to work--they couldn't afford not to--but they didn't take the bus--they WALKED! We can't afford not to vote--but, by God, we won't vote on these machines! No matter what they do with our AB votes--we REFUSE to cooperate! We make it HARD for them to rig it, and impossible for them to maintain the rigged system.) 2. If it's big enough, it will dramatically highlight the problem--we will make this rigged system un-ignorable and untenable. 3. It hits 'em in the pocketbook--all these billions pouring into Bushite corporate pockets, for the most crapass, riggable computers ever designed--and there these shiny, new "diablo" machines will sit, gathering dust! Nobody will touch them!

As with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, you've got to start SOMEWHERE, and you've got to hit power with power. You can rant all you want about fascist policy, but if you have no power to throw the bastards out, why should they listen to you?

Our country is in huge trouble. Out-of-control president. Out-of-control Congress. Out-of-control corporations. Out-of-control deficit. Out-of-control militarism at the top. Massive street demonstrations are ineffective. They are ignored! The government and its corporate puppet-masters are NOT beholden to the people any more. Big demos are vital for moral witness. They are useless at influencing policy in this circumstance. And, if they become effective at interfering with fascist rule, they will be brutally repressed. We MUST have the power of the vote to enforce the will of the people. Without it, we can be "voices crying in the wilderness" all we want--even many millions of us--and nothing will change--and will only get worse. The rigged e-voting system has destroyed the ability of this democracy to change course. We see this every day. Could it be any clearer? All the spy agencies are now saying the Iraq war has failed--and we still have 15 permanent military bases in Iraq, they're talking about sending MORE troops, and the NeoCons are STILL plotting the bombing and invasion of Iran.

No matter what we do! We could put millions in the streets (a really difficult project in the U.S.) and it wouldn't matter. THAT'S why people aren't doing it. It wouldn't make a bit of difference to Bush & co. OR to their Democratic colluders! And everybody knows it. And a massive, long term general strike (possibly the only thing that could bring about a change of course) would only be met with the Darth Vader police forces they've been training all this time. And, anyway, Americans don't want to stop the country (and don't have any systems in place to do that--people are very isolated from each other here); what Americans want is to stop BUSH and the Diebold Congress!

The protest therefore needs to be DISPERSED--and it needs to be MASSIVE. And it needs to be aimed at recovering OUR power. Our right to vote. The mechanism by which WE THE PEOPLE rule. NOT aimed at wildly and desperately--and ineffectively--trying to curtail Bush's power. But aimed at recovering OUR power and OUR RIGHT to influence the government.

And if we DON'T do this--if we don't bring this rigged e-voting system down--what we will have in the future may be a snapback to mere corporate rule (corporate rule with spying, suspension of habeas corpus and indefinite detection available to the rulers at any time--a Corporate/War Democrat regime), or worse--Hitler II--and worse is looking more likely all the time.

For the voting system, the time is NOW. Now or never. What are we waiting for?

BUST THE MACHINES--VOTE BY ABSENTEE BALLOT THIS NOVEMBER!




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Note on Absentee Ballot Voting

There ARE some things you can do to help safeguard your AB vote. Fill out the ballot and envelope very carefully (to prevent disqualification). Hand-deliver it to the polling place on election day (best), or mail it registered/return receipt requested, or Fed Ex (to make sure it gets there). Be sure to check your local/state AB voting rules--deadlines for AB voting, etc. Keep a photocopy of your ballot (to be able to follow up on any suspected shenanigans). Your AB vote may be of value to election analysis and election challenges/recounts. (AB votes were very important to several 2004 election fraud studies that showed bias to Bush in e-voting vs. paper ballots.) Your AB vote is probably of most value, as to accurate counts, in states with no paper trail at all for electronic voting.

If you can do more: Spread the word! Get others to vote by AB. Make a pest of yourself on election day--make election officials know they are being watched; demand to see how AB votes are being handled; monitor all election activity and vote counting; take pix, document everything! Write to your registrar/sec of state and media demanding TRANSPARENT vote counting. (Paper ballots, hand-counted at the precinct level, with results posted at the precinct level before any electronics are involved, is the best system.) More: Help election reform groups that are doing things like parallel elections, independent exit polls (corporate media exit polls are entirely untrustworthy--they rigged their exit polls to FIT the numbers from Diebold/ES&S's secret formulae in 2004!), and analytical monitoring (see ww.UScountvotes.org)--comparing voting rolls to vote totals, etc.

Boycott ALL electronic voting machines--beware of "provisional" ballots: The primary purpose of this AB voting protest is to FORCE REFORM. AB votes may be handled badly, but electronic votes are inherently unsafe, except where there is some sort of ballot backup and a 100% audit. And nowhere is there a 100% audit. Some states have NO audit. The best--the best!--have a 1% audit--almost useless in this high speed, secretive environment. And many states have no ballot or "paper trail" TO recount or audit, even if they wanted to. Do not vote on touchscreens (easily riggable--often no paper trail at all). And do not vote on optiscans, even though they have a ballot backup. They, too, are easily riggable, and are part of the rigged system, and they profit the criminal Bushite electronic voting corporations. We MUST get this election system back under public control, with a vote counting system that everyone can SEE and understand. And we MUST evict these Bushite corporations--and all corporations--from our elections. Voting on ANY electronic voting machine SUPPORTS them. An AB vote is one of the few ways you can refuse to cooperate. Some states have a paper ballot option at the polling place--California, for instance--that does not involve your cooperation with the machines. However, BEWARE of being given a "provisional" ballot instead of a real ballot. "Provisionals" can easily be tossed--and many were, in Ohio '04. Corrupt election officials in California are trying to subvert this law with "provisional" ballots. Sign up now to vote AB. DO NOT depend on getting a real paper ballot on election day!

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Here is a list of states and their current voting systems, for reference. All e-voting systems are run on TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code. The biggest of these democracy-killing corporations--and the most Bush friendly--are Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia.
http://electionline.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1099

For an overview of the 2004 election theft, see:
"Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" by Robert Kennedy Jr. 6/1/06
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen
"Secret Vote Counting Crammed Down the Throat of Democracy, " by Michael Collins (DU's Autorank) (--a searing election reform article for New Zealand's Scoop.com)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x971363

Information on electronic voting:
The Princeton study (2006) (e-voting machines extremely hackable)
http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/
www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)

Activist and informations sites:
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections--they need donations)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of this great movement from around the country)
www.votersunited.org (good general info, and state links)
www.verifiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)
www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election) :patriot: :applause: :patriot:

Read this and you will never vote on another electronic voting machine in your life:
"Poll Shock," by Bob Koehler (11/24/05)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col321.htm

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Throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

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"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." --Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

[bonito]

1. Good info, bookmarking thanks.

[Peace Patriot]

2. You're welcome! Spread the word!

With this torture bill, I think we can write off this Diebold Congress as just as illegitmate as the Bush Junta. I think a few of the Democrats would have been elected anyway. But a third to a half of the Dems were (s)elected by the fascist cabal--just enough to keep the wars, the tax cuts for the rich and the fascist policies coming, and to protect massive theft and other crimes from being investigated.

I'm not kidding that the "Help America Vote Act" WAS the fascist coup. That's when it happened, just before the Iraq War (10/02). If you're going to wage an illegal, unjust war, in a democracy, you have to rig the elections. That's what they did.

We have a small window of opportunity to turn this around. If we don't do it now--this fall--I think it will be all over for our democracy. Nobody else has a plan for November. You can't rely on mere election monitoring and analysis after the fact. Once fascists are in power--and with their sway in the corporate news monopolies--they can make even the most absurd election results, and the most fraudulent of election systems, seem normal.

We need the election itself to be the protest! That's what the AB voting protest is about. And it's the only idea that I know of, for doing that. Our AB vote is a vote against Bush, and the collusive Dems, and everything they stand for.

[AtomicKitten]

3. excellent compilation of information

:)

On edit: K&R

[bonito]

4. Kick

[bonito]

5. Kick for the evening crowd only 2 votes?

[Peace Patriot]

6. Too many people caught up in weeping and gnashing of teeth yesterday,

I guess. I don't know why people keep expecting the Diebold Congress to do anything but endorse fascist policy, with a few good Democrats attempting to represent the majority of Americans, and having no power to stop these dreadful measures. The Nazis stuffed ballot boxes and beat people up who opposed them. The Bushites have Diebold and ES&S--a subtler, but no less lethal power.

So I will post this again later today. People need to analyze this situation with more depth, realize what the REAL problem is--rigged elections via "trade secret" programming--and act on THAT problem--and stop beating their heads against a brick wall (an illegitmate Congress and president). Transparent elections won't solve every problem, but they are an essential first step. The fascists have pushed us back to square one, as to democracy: our right to vote. We MUST restore that right while we have the chance. Without it, nothing else is possible.