Greg Palast Gets Down and Dirty On BBV.... LYNCHING BY LAPTOP

[althecat]

(Note... I have searched DU fairly ineptly but can find no mention of this. It is very sigificant. So it seems surprising that we missed it. RedEagle noted it in the BBV.org.. which led me to locate the original source..)

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=265&row=0

COMPUTER VIRUS REVOKES CIVIL RIGHTS
Watch a 2-minute flash animation starring Katherine Harris
Plus: Palast meets King

On the 40th Anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech at the Washington Monument, BushFlash's Eric Blumrich has released, "Grand Theft America." The two-minute flash animation stars Katherine Harris as the leader of the gang that purged Black citizens from Florida voter rolls by the thousands, handing the White House back to the Bush family. Watch it, download it, pass it on at

http://www.ericblumrich.com/gta.html

Plus: Yes! Magazine is publishing our latest warnings on the computer virus known as "Dubya," programmed to disenfranchise Black voters before the 2004 election. Here's a taste of it ...

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=265&row=0

LYNCHING BY LAPTOP
by Greg Palast and Ina Howard

(Sorry Mods... But I am going to excerpt a couple more Paras.. since the whole thing seems to be a prom it should be ok methinks...)


"In 2002, Comal County, Texas, tried out new computer voting machines - and three Republican candidates each won their respective offices with exactly 18,181 votes. “Isn’t that the weirdest thing?" County Clerk Joy Treater asked at the time. “We noticed it right away, but it is just a big coincidence.”

Just down the road in Scurry County, Texas, two unexpected landslide wins for Republican candidates struck election clerks as just one coincidence too many. That county’s clerk, Joan Bunch, investigated and found that a "faulty" computer chip had caused the county’s optical scanner to record Democratic votes as Republican instead. After two manual recounts and one electronic recount using a replacement chip in the scanner,the Democratic andidates were foud to have won by large margins and the original results were overturned."

*********

The significance of Palast putting his name to a report that directly investigates the BBV voting curse cannot be underestimated. Though I imagine Fredda will have something to say about that...

Enjoy... I did...

:)

(PS.. if it turns out this has been discussed and I am just a doofus... please point me in the direction of the existing thread...

[althecat]

1. Here's a link to the full Yes Magazine article...

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=259&row=1

and

http://www.futurenet.org/27government/palast.htm

The Yes Front page is here..

http://www.futurenet.org/

Meanwhile BBVers... all the action is over here on a Bev Harris thread..

[althecat]

2. I propose we continue the debate on the SAIC shareprice here...

As it was we had started discussing Greg Palast and his connections anyway..

Please.. no bikering...

al

[althecat]

3. To Recap.. Bev had just pointed out...

DIEBOLD's share price is rising fast...

Fredda Weinberg wonders while anyone cares...

There is speculation that it is due to

a) Insider trading on news about the SAIC report. (that it is positive)
or b) A pump and dump operation in advance of an adverse SAIC report.

Bev just remarked... And I don't think she was the one who was being unruly...

*******

Roorda has dumped what, $10 million in 13 days? Guess who he is: A director who comes from the voting machine business.

Diebold bought two voting machine companies: Procomp, which put its machines into Brazil but couldn't get a toehold into the U.S. market, and Global Election Systems, which is the one we've got in Georgia and elsewhere.

Roorda was the head of Procomp, and I speculate (that's what it is) that he got a hunk of stock when Procomp was sold to Diebold. He appears to be dumping stock as fast as he can.

Quite a lot of insider selling activity started on August 12, and on August 15, the state of Ohio quietly told its people to hold off on buying anything.

Based on the above, it is possible that the SAIC report may be devastating.

As is a file one of our activists discovered recently -- stay tuned.

If my guess is right, do you suppose we'll see Fredda running around yammering about the SAIC? "Not a thing wrong with those files, I examined them myself. Yes, it's all a very badly planned publicity stunt by the SAIC. Because I personally examined those files and there is nothing wrong with them..."

Peace.

Bev Harris

*****

Personally I wonder if the sale of Dibold ES could have anything to do with the rise.

Peace

Al

[DEMActivist]

5. Now, let's add this to the mix....

How many electoral college votes do the states of Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania have?

Those 3 states suddenly have the Diebold contracts on hold. And if Rove was counting those states as "in the bag" because of rigged machines, does that account for their sudden nervousness (commented about here today) about the 2004 election?

Does this account for why they brought Karen Hughes out of mothballs?

Were they counting on those states (and Georgia) as shoe ins?

[John_H]

16. I'm a little slow. What does this mean?

Diebold stock is getting ready to crash? That the GOP and their shills' freak-out is because they've learned that they can't steal Maryland? That Karen Hughes is is going to have to do White House level damage control on votting machines? All of the above?

Believe me, I am trying to follow this issue ultra-closely since it could spell the end of the GOP as we know it, but these threads are frustrating as hell--y'all, pro and con, seem to talk in code.

Also, can you give an update on the hack challenge situation? That's what's going to spell the end of BBV once and for all, not not increased volume in the weeks before an announcement.

[DEMActivist]

18. No, not getting ready to crash....

Bev was commenting on a 5% rise of Diebold stock today, and 3 times the normal volume (of shares) traded.

We were only contemplating what it all might mean. There were several folks involved in the discussion talking about "pump and dump" because one of the Directors of Diebold sold ~10 million dollars worth of Diebold stock since August 12th.

Several insiders are selling the stock.

I was commenting on the things which have happened outside of the stock changes.

The CEO of the company (Wally O'Dell) made public statements promising to deliver the Ohio election to Shrub. Since Diebold is in Ohio, and O'Dell was trying to sell Ohio Diebold voting machines, many knowledgable people have commented on how inappropriate the comments were.

So we know right now, the GOP can't count on stealing Ohio. That sale is off. The Secretary of State won't recommend Diebold.

Maryland has a contract for $56 mil of Diebold machines on hold until SAIC (a military industrial company) check out the source code and issues a "private" report to Diebold. That report is due out by the 6th of September.

The Rove Machine brought Karen Hughes out of mothballs this weekend for some of Shrub's speeches. Why?

Anyway, hope that answers your questions.

[DEMActivist]

9. And some more curious things...

So Wally O'Dell goes to the pig ranch right just before Roorda starts dumping shares.

As a Pioneer, he goes to the ranch, comes back and then announces his "promise" to deliver Ohio for Shrub.

Ohio SoS pulls back on the Diebold recommendation.

Sequoia files a lawsuit in Ohio.

Insider trading ramps up.

All in the space of 13 days.....

Yeah, it's all coincidence....uh huh....and if you belive that, I've got some swampland I need to get rid of too. :evilgrin:

[Andy_Stephenson]

39. This deserves the industrial tinfoil hat

[BevHarris]

14. And a correction, since that thread was locked, re: ES&S

It was posted that ES&S stock went up by five percent today too. Well, actually ES&S is privately held and is not publicly traded at all. Perhaps the person who posted got another company symbol confused with it.

I wanted to look at other voting machine company stocks, but the other major player, Sequoia, is owned by a British company, DeLaRue, and also is not traded on the NYSE.

So all we really know is that something is happening. It isn't just the rise in stock price that's interesting -- it's the volume. Three times as much trading as normal.

Bev

[Fredda Weinberg]

4. In case anyone cares ...

here's my take on the real opposition

http://www.wordsunltd.com/voting_machine_fiasco.htm

[DEMActivist]

7. Not to worry

no one does.

[althecat]

11. Remember DA.. we have been asked to behave..

And Fredda is sharing with us. Maybe we can learn something.

[Wonk]

13. Hi, Rox. How did that demo go where you were going to prove

with an actual machine that you could "put a vote wherever you wanted"?

I saw the thread saying it would be happening. Could you point me to the one where you caught them red handed and proved the machines were corrupted?

Thanks :-)

[DEMActivist]

15. Sure thing....

Just as soon as the State of Georgia makes the arrangements.

In fact, it's likely you'll see it live on TV.

[althecat]

8. Interesting Fredda... and when did you write this in July..

Bev's Diebold story came out on July 8th...

I notice you do not mention Diebold at all... and the word paper occurs but twice in your dissertation.

"Electronic voting was promoted as the solution – touch screens that are fun to press and which, conveniently, leave no receipt to count later. "

So is this a bad thing or a good thing Fredda?

That is the lack of a "receipt "

[Fredda Weinberg]

19. This would have been part 2 of a story that ran ...

in Southern Exposure magazine. There's no online copy of the original, but you'll find versions around. It was written 10/9/02, but I'd just set up Marta's webzine and figured it was time to publish.

I live in NYC, where we haven't gotten paper receipts in my lifetime and 50,000 affidavit ballots weren't counted in 2001's mayoral race. I was in West Palm Beach, Florida when LePore introduced her DREs ... touch screens that select the wrong candidate, 5% undervotes in a single race election ...

At the time, I was in close contact with reporters from the Sun Sentinel, the local paper of record. I shared my material with them - with Palast's permission - and they followed up on my suspicions.

And the message got through. It may take a while longer, but Burt Aaronson is doing everything that Florida permits a county commissioner to get paper receipts.

[shance]

23. Whats this about a paper receipt? Its called a separate paper BALLOT.

Of course you never received a receipt. Nor has anyone else when they voted for that matter. That is not even the issue.

Its called a separate paper ballot to be placed in a separate box from the computer.

Why is this so difficult?

Computerized data is always vulnerable to change, and can ultimately be altered or deleted, there is no other way to provide tangible results. If there is no way to track the data because it can always be altered, then of course a paper ballot provides the only way to track an election.

What is the problem here? It absolutely makes no sense.

[Fredda Weinberg]

25. There are no paper ballots in NYC

we use lever machines. But those who faced broken machines in 2001 were given paper affidavit ballots - that were never counted.

I want voting machines to be nothing more than ballot printers. Is that clear enough?

[shance]

26. Explain Lever ballots. Are you saying there is no paper involved?

To be able to track?

[BevHarris]

31. A lever machine is a gargantuan contraption where you do this:

You pull a lever, which rotates a wheel, which clunks an increment in the vote number. I assume this is similar to an odometer on your car, in a way.

They produce no record of your vote, and they "lose" about seven percent of all votes cast, and they are no longer manufactured.

However, they do not pose nearly the danger of computerized voting machines, and here's why:

1) To rig a lever machine, you simply bribe a technician to shave down a wheel or two. However, it is detectable on inspection, and most reasonably intelligent people can see this if they have access to examine the wheel.

You'd have to bribe all the technicians in all the precincts to rig machines on a city-wide scale, and to rig on a national scale you'd need to bribe technicians all over the country.

2) The machines are a simple mechanical contraption, and thus are not prone to software programming errors. Clunk, clunk, they just count the votes, clunk, clunk.

3) Getting access is more difficult than accessing computerized machines. The things are stored in a warehouse and it takes a couple beefy guys and truck to move them. With computerized machines, all you need to do is hack the remote communications system.

Bev

[shance]

32. Thanks Bev!***

Who knew??

Always something to learn in the world of casting a simple (or not so simple**) ballot!

Night all!

:)

[Fredda Weinberg]

37. Shows what you know ...

the method of disenfranchising voters - and it's happened every election day I can remember, is to put broken machines in predominantly minority neighborhoods. Then you don't have to count the paper ballots, as long as the Democratic and Republican party operatives agree.

[althecat]

27. Phew...Fredda Weinberg wants a voter verifiable audit trail too...

Fredda.

"I want voting machines to be nothing more than ballot printers. Is that clear enough?"

On that much we seem to agree..

But why do you want them if what we have all been saying about Diebold is just so much hot air?

Let me get this clear. You agree with us about the desired endpoint. But you just think our tactics and research sucks? Is that it?

[seemslikeadream]

30. I'm so glad to see people getting "dramatic"

about FW tonight. I've refrained from posting lately because I was clapper-clawed by someone awhile back for a remark to her.
Delighted I'm sleep walking tonight. Great stuff, Al

[Fredda Weinberg]

38. We could have a reasonable discussion

about tactics and methods.

[althecat]

41. Fredda I have had a good look at this now... and have a few questions.

It looks good... though you are correct that there are two many notations on it.

You appear to make a strong case here that ES&S were as incompetent in Florida in 2002 as Diebold was in Georgia - which is hardly surprising given the Urosevich connections.

What is puzzling in light of this report is that you have been giving Bev so much grief in recent weeks. I cannot fathom, given your apparent background and interests, why you are so intransigently negative about every BBV development that is posted here.

You say in a later post that we could constructively discuss tactics. Please do... I would like to understand what it is that you think we should have done with the Diebold FTP files?

If you had come across a similar motherload of ES&S files which enabled you to widen your inquiries into FLorida what would you have done?

Your report outlines a huge range of disenfranchisement problems associated with these machines, do you think that this is the main/only problem with BBV?

If not, then what are the other problems? Are they any of the ones that we have identified?

[Fredda Weinberg]

43. Someone has to ask hard questions

You call it giving Bev grief, but that's personalizing the issue - it's not about her or me.

I have been consistent: a public forum is not the place to "investigate". Announce your campaign, recruit to a private forum - and do your business there. Publish results when they're verified - else you innoculate your opponent from future criticism.

And I don't accuse ES&S of incompetence - I note a bigger pattern.

[althecat]

44. Fredda... I would appreciate it if you would at least have a stab at Qs..

The questions in the above post that is.

Really I would...

Unfortunately all your posts seem to leave something hanging. And another question. You note a bigger pattern, what is it?

[Fredda Weinberg]

6. BTW, I just read this report

but what the heck it has to do with the brand name BBV is beyond me - wishful thinking I guess. But you have to read the article ...

[althecat]

10. How about this bit about a faulty chip..

....

That county’s clerk, Joan Bunch, investigated and found that a "faulty" computer chip had caused the county’s optical scanner to record Democratic votes as Republican instead.

...

Sounds BBVish to me.. but I am ready and willing to be convinced otherwise.

[Devlzown]

12. Okay, what is this argument about?

I think everyone agrees that BBV is bad. I was emailed that article by gregpalast.com last week and I signed the petition at the link provided. Do y'all have differing views on who is behind it or is this an argument over who gets credit for breaking the story? Maybe the differences between the articles is too subtle for me, but I just don't see what the problem here is. Somebody clue me in!

[althecat]

17. The argument with Fredda is an old one...

Fredda is connected to Greg Palast as she is credited on page 13 of his book.

Just at the moment we are arguing about whether Palast is now concerned about BBVs hacking/flaws/rigging as well as other methods of electronic vote fraud like that exposed in Palast's book, namely roll scrubbing.

My view is that Palast is now in our camp. Fredda seems to think not and claimed (in the now closed thread) that Greg rang her last night but she was too polite to mention it. (which is odd in that she only seems to have read the piece now... but that's Fredda for you..)

The long term argment is that Fredda for some reason thinks we are all a pack of blowhards. She claims to have examined the Diebold files and found them decidedly unimpressive.

Though establishing just why she so beleives is rather difficult to pin down.

Fredda... perhaps you can explain to this confused DUer what this argument is about?

[Fredda Weinberg]

21. Palast and I were discussing DREs last year

I was living in West Palm Beach at the time ... ground zero for touchscreens. Of course he knows everything he should about paperless voting.

And I *was* associated with Palast. He's got a full staff now, where once there was just me - and when I spoke to him tonight he never seemed better.

[althecat]

24. But what is everything he should know about paperless voting?

Palast now knows, "everything he should about paperless voting"?

I am not sure that we agree on that.

[Isome]

33. The Act For Change petition,

promoted on gregpalast.com, contains this exact wording: "...perilous incentives for fault-prone and fraud-susceptible touch-screen voting machines."

That would suggest, to me, that at a minimum he's not disbelieving of the great potential for fraud posed by BBVs.

[althecat]

34. Right Isome... your next puzzle is to figure out...

What Fredda was on about when she posted - This post...

[Fredda Weinberg]

20. There's no single story to break

Palast accumulated his material from press reports - and there's nothing to dispute.

[Devlzown]

22. Well then, I guess that's that.

Thanks Althecat and Fredda for your replies.

[althecat]

28. Sorry I think I must be a bit thick sometimes... Decoding the memes

There seem to be two memes in this micropost.

There is more than one vote rigging story - AGREED.
&
Palast's investigation was conducted by reading the newspaper? - Please explain! I have a copy of his book here beside me and I got the distinct impression from that that he was working on an independent Scoop. An independent Scoop that he found it oddly impossible to get published in the USA.

al

[Isome]

29. I thought he was against BBV?

Or, am I, too, misinterpreting the information from his book and his website. I'll have to go look now.

[Fredda Weinberg]

36. There are reports ... and then there are investigations

Palast's mailings aren't all original material - and they don't have to be. In this case, he's quoting a whole bunch of post-election reports you can find yourself with a Google.

[althecat]

40. Aha... so what you mean is that Palast is not...

conducting his own investigation into BBV. At least as far as you know. Ipso facto.. it appears he is now on the BBV train.

So as we do not misunderstand you Fredda, what is your opinion on the Diebold files, and the BBV discussions here on DU again? Is it as I asked above, that you agree with the ends, but not the means?

[Fredda Weinberg]

42. BBV train? Not according to the article

You didn't see Palast mention Diebold - and my objection is to the continuing focus on this single company when there's no evidence of deliberate misconduct. It's suspicious ... particularly when the public discussion turns to stock prices.

Keep these subjects to a private forum ...

[MrPrax]

35. Voting Machines?

DU is advertsing the fact they can give your candidate the edge...

But I can't resist that the Greg Palast site notes...
On the 40th Anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech at the Washington Monument, BushFlash's Eric Blumrich has released, "Grand Theft America." The two-minute flash animation stars Katherine Harris as the leader of the gang that purged Black citizens from Florida voter rolls by the thousands, handing the White House back to the Bush family. Watch it, download it, pass it on at http://www.ericblumrich.com/gta.html

BUT fails to pinprick the 'balloon' about the 40th by giving 'creds' where due
http://chem-gharbison.unl.edu/mlk/whose_dream.html

whose's Archie Carey? and Did Bill Moyer really bug King's hotel room in 1960?