Now that that's over, can we talk about something serious?

Now that the biennial democratic pretense here in the United States has run its course, can we talk about something serious? We can? Good. Hmmm. Ha! Here's a good one we can sink our teeth into for a few paragraphs: the distinct possibility that the world economic system could soon blow up in our faces. You say nobody mentioned this in Campaign 2006? Of course they didn't. Who said political campaigns have anything to do with reality?

            Let me direct you to a recent series of polite coughs, reminiscent of a sheep quietly clearing its throat somewhere on a fog-bound hillside in the north of England. Aforementioned coughs emanated at the start of this week from the Financial Services Authority, (FSA), a body set up under the purview of the British Treasury a few years ago to monitor financial markets and protect the public interest by raising the alarm about shady practices and any dangerous slides toward instability.

            In a briefing paper under the chaste title "Private Equity: A Discussion of Risk and Regulatory Engagement," the FSA raises the alarm.

Rumsfield replacement (Robert Gates) was director of voting company

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfield will resign, reportedly to be replaced by former CIA director Robert Gates.

Gates was on the board of directors of VoteHere, a strange little company that was the biggest elections industry lobbyist for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). VoteHere spent more money than ES&S, Diebold, and Sequoia combined to help ram HAVA through. And HAVA, of course, was a bill sponsored by by convicted Abramoff pal Bob Ney and K-street lobbyist buddy Steny Hoyer. HAVA put electronic voting on steroids.

You can find copies of the VoteHere lobbying forms here:
http://sopr.senate.gov/cgi-win/m_opr_viewer.exe?DoFn=0

I can't get them to save to pdf, perhaps you can. Enter search terms in both "registrant" and "client" fields and put in terms "Rhoads" "Livingston" and "Votehere" (one at a time.). Then look at the gravy train while it was in the process of derailing American democracy.

I first became acquainted with VoteHere when I met a source, Dan Spillane, who is the wonderful guy that identified the Diebold source code modules for

First state report, two voting machines down: anomaly, chicanery, or proof of a kleptocracy?

Delmar, Delaware- The town of Delmar is split asunder by the Transpeninsular Line* *that was laid by surveyors in 1751. The southern half of the population resides in Maryland, while their yankee cousins live in Delaware. I currently live just about a mile north of the line. My side of the town boasts a population of 1,407 according to 2000 official census numbers, while the southern side comes in a bit larger as 1,859 people called it home during the same period.

This morning my son Zane and I headed to my alma mater, Delmar High School, to vote. When I arrived there were only a half a dozen people ahead of me in line, a stark contrast to voting in the 2004 election in Columbus, Ohio. The line moved swiftly and soon I was at the head of the line. The normal small town banter was broken as one of the three voting machines allocated to the polling place failed.

One of the elections officials said, “well, about 25 people were able to use it before it went down…” She then continued, “that’s the second machine that’s broken… but it’s ok we have someone on the way to fix them.”

Ken Blackwell outsources Ohio election results to GOP Internet operatives, again

Many citizen journalists at ePluribus Media have worked on a story of the IT backbone of the VRWC and how it relates to Ohio but truly addresses the Central Nervous System of the GOP's communications and fundraising apparatus:

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2006/11/7/115314/922

A direct quote:

"The takeaway message is this: Ohio's election results are hosted on the same servers by the partisan companies that run websites like georgewbush.com and many of the familiar Republican group sites. The people who consoldiate GOP operations in Chattanooga early this decade have been responsible for Ohio's election night results since 2004 and will probably continue to do so if J. Kenneth Blackwell extends his pay-for-play policies as Governor of Ohio."

The implications are huge, and I'd appreciate it if you'd take a look.

Sincerely,
wanderindiana
Andrew Brenner
ePluribus Media, Inc.

http://www.epluribusmedia.org/

Voting in Hollywood, California

No Diebold or ES&S machines, no threatening pollsters, no interference from poll workers, no threatening calls, no nothing... seems when its a done deal concerning the way a State or locality votes Rove and his minions stay away and concentrate on key elections in swing states. I walked into a church on Yucca Street in Hollywood situated right next to the Hollywood freeway right under the Hollywood sign.

Gratitude

Dear Mr. Wasserman & Fitrakis,

Thanks.  You made it possible.  Keep up the good work.  I hope you realize the magnitude of your work.  Sincerely, Soni Biehl, Lubec, Maine

Congratulations!

You in particular are the real winners here.  Without the insistence of the Free Press that attention had to be paid to election fraud, rigging, and, as you say, much more, there would not have been media attention paid nor any grassroots voter protection movement.

Bob, Suzanne, Harvey,  congratulations! my hat is off to you.

Tekla

just read your monumental article

I dont think the country realizes the enormous contribution you guys, Fitrakis et al, made to this election process and exposing the Rovian dirty tricks. You kept shouting until even CNN and MSNBC had to mention it.  I noticed something interesting following the major reports, CNN, MSNBC, even FOX...

Angsto the Clown ruminates on the election of 2006

Oct. 27 Yea, I know I said I was too dejected to do this again but Angsto seems a good way to protest the death of the Constitution... so the site is back since I switched back to cable... A few hours of tweaking and the addition of some updated material and Angsto is back to fight the good fight. I promise to add much more since we are quickly going to hell in a handbasket... the November "elections" should be a test whether Karl Rove and the PNAC monsters, , will hack another GOP win...

Angsto

-------------------------------

Nov. 5



The drama of empty numbers

And the voters went "Ahem."

Even with a 40 percent national turnout, which, I know, is good for a midterm election in the world's oldest and most complacent democracy, I find myself battling doubt and skepticism a day later that the criminally incompetent Bush administration has actually gotten its comeuppance. At the very least, I know that those of us who want to reclaim the country still have a lot of work to do. Our celebration at wresting back the House and maybe even the Senate will have to be a brief one.

A White House spokesman, commenting on the president's reaction to the withdrawal of his mandate to dig the holes into which he has thrust the country still deeper during the remainder of his term, said: "But he's eager to work with both parties on his priorities over the next two years."

Yeah, I'll bet. What I wonder is, have we elected bipartisan appeasers who want to "work" with W, or will the newly powerful congressional Democrats reflect the outrage and horror of their constituents and begin shining a moral spotlight on this criminal regime? Will they tell the president where to stick his priorities?

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