Truemors
Digg
del.icio.us
AddToAny
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Getting a Grip - Are We Ready To Vote Yet?
by Maireid Sullivan | June 21, 2008 at 11:20 pm | 623 views | 20 comments
The following excerpts are taken from an article by Dr. Michael I. Niman, professor of journalism and media studies at Buffalo State College. –
But first: Princeton university study: Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine: http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/ts-paper.pdf
For the most recent version of this paper, answers to frequently asked questions, and videos of demonstration attacks, see http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting.
September 13, 2006
Abstract: This paper presents a fully independent security study of a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine, including its hardware and software. We obtained the machine from a private party. Analysis of the machine, in light of real election procedures, shows that it is vulnerable to extremely serious attacks.
For example, an attacker who gets physical access to a machine or its removable memory card for as little as one minute could install malicious code; malicious code on a machine could steal votes undetectably, modifying all records, logs, and counters to be consistent with the fraudulent vote count it creates. An attacker could also create malicious code that spreads automatically and silently from machine to machine during normal election activities—a voting-machine virus. We have constructed working demonstrations of these attacks in our lab. Mitigating these threats will require changes to the voting machine’s hardware and software and the adoption of more rigorous election procedures.
Impeachment articles charge Bush with election fraud–
When future historians sit down to study this era, archived media stories will be of little use to them, unless the Brad Pitt-Angela Jolie baby grows up to rule the world. Probably the biggest history-making story to be ignored by the corporate media this month is the introduction in the US Congress of Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush. The 35 Articles of Impeachment filed by Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich document hundreds of crimes committed by George W. Bush and “co-conspirators” under his direction.
Wolves and henhouses
The general feeling among Democratic Party leaders is that Bush is just a few months away from being history himself, so there’s no sense in stirring up the coals. I suppose that would be fine, if, say, he were the highway commissioner. We could probably weather a few months of potholes or sloppy plowing. But we need to go back and look at our history here. The Iraq War was started by George H. W. Bush (whose ambassador to Iraq gave Saddam Hussein the green light to invade Kuwait) in the middle of his presidency and strung out to its end, so that Clinton inherited what would become, at last count, a 17-year war.
Bushes can make sloppy exits, and by all accounts our current Bush is a bit nuts.
If you look closely at Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment, however, there’s another pressing issue at hand. George W. Bush doesn’t just threaten world peace, the global environment, our civil liberties, and the American economy every moment he stays in office. According to the impeachment documents, he has committed, orchestrated, or ordered crimes that undermine our ability to have fair elections. Hence, having him remain at the helm of the federal government during a presidential election year—especially this year where we have the rare opportunity to choose between two radically different candidates, and where Democrats have an opportunity to lock up control of Congress—puts the whole future of the country and possibly the world at stake.
According to the Articles of Impeachment, George W. Bush, “acting through his agents and subordinates, willfully corrupted and manipulated the electoral process of the United States for his personal gain and the personal gain of his co-conspirators and allies…and impeded the right of the people to vote and have their vote properly and accurately counted.”
This isn’t the 2000 Florida election theft that we’re talking about here. That might be how Bush got into office, but he wasn’t in office at the time, hence whatever he might have been involved in there is not part of the current impeachment documentation.
The 2004 election theft
Article 28 specifically charges that “John Kenneth Blackwell, then serving as the Secretary of State for the State of Ohio and also serving simultaneously as Co-Chairman of the Committee to Re-Elect George W. Bush in the State of Ohio, did at the direction of the White House under the administration of George W. Bush…disenfranchise African American voters.” The document goes on to specifically charge that the Bush/Blackwell team purposely limited the number of voting machines and paper ballots in African-American sections of Ohio cities.
For example, Article 28 documents the “withholding” of 125 voting machines in the city of Columbus and how 42 predominantly African-American precincts in Columbus all were “missing” one voting machine that was present during the 2004 primary.
The Articles of Impeachment document how the Bush/Blackwell team conducted “a massive partisan purge of registered voter rolls, eventually expunging more than 300,000 voters, many of whom were duly registered voters, and who were deprived of their constitutional right to vote.” As a result, “24.93 percent of the voters in the city of Cleveland, a city with a majority of African American citizens, were purged from the voting roles.” Another 10,000 Cleveland voters, according to the Article 28, were disenfranchised by a “computer error” committed by the private Diebold Election Systems, which was under contract to Blackwell’s office.
Cleveland is Kucinich’s district, hence the theft of his constituents’ right to vote hit close to home. In Toledo, another city with a large African-American population, 28,000 voters were purged just before the presidential election of 2004. By contrast, in the 98 percent white Ohio county of Miami, no voters were purged. The impeachment documentation goes on to document uncounted provisional ballots, also in African-American communities.
The Injustice Department
All of this should have been investigated by the US Justice Department, which is charged with enforcing federal laws such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which guarantees and actively protects minority voters from disenfranchisement. Article 28, however, charges that the Justice Department, “under the direction and Administration of George W. Bush, did willfully and purposefully obstruct and stonewall legitimate criminal investigations into myriad cases of reported electoral fraud and suppression in the state of Ohio.” For example, the impeachment documents charge that Bush cronies [my word] “did, for partisan reasons, illegally and with malice aforethought block career attorneys and other officials in the Department of Justice from filing three lawsuits charging local and county governments with violating the voting rights of African-Americans and other minorities…”
This is just Article 28 that I’ve been quoting here. There are 34 more such detailed Articles of Impeachment that deal with crimes other than election theft.
Democrats are also fearful that the Bush/McCain team would get sympathy because so many of the documented charges appear to be outrageous. They can’t possibly be true. It must be partisan bickering—and we’re sick of politicians bickering when the country is going to hell. But the charges are well documented. And now they’ve been written into the nation’s history. It is unbelievable—unbelievable that we gave a free ride to these criminals for eight years, shamelessly allowing them to shred our constitution and trash our country.
The full article is worth reading.
News Tools
June 21, 2008 at 11:20 pm by Maireid Sullivan, 623 views, 20 comments
Author
Crowd Power
Maireid Sullivan
Melbourne, Australia
Add a comment
Comments (20)
at 23:27 on June 21st, 2008
Maireid Sullivan, I like this story. An interesting series of excerpts on an interesting subject.
at 23:39 on June 21st, 2008
Yes, indeed, Amy - especially since Kucinich is a Rep. for Ohio!
It is his responsibility to deal with this injustice. Thank you for the flag!
The thing that especially attracted me to the article is the opening paragraph, where he says that even if today's corporate media ignores these facts, they will go down in history. Imagine the discussions to be held by students looking back at US history at the beginning of the 21st century – in the same way that we look back at, say, the Magna Carter - the foundation of constitutional law! We are witnessing the failure of constitutional law!
at 23:52 on June 21st, 2008
The opening paragraph is what drew me to the piece too. Very good writing and observation.
at 23:31 on June 21st, 2008
Maireid Sullivan, a very interesting read! Thanks for sharing this story!
at 23:42 on June 21st, 2008
Hi Rhonda, it certainly is an interesting read!
Thank you for the flag!
at 23:39 on June 21st, 2008
oops - wrong box....see above respoinse to Amy Judd's comment.
at 23:42 on June 21st, 2008
Maireid Sullivan, nicely done. Thank you.
Feels like we are indeed impacted in the USA by some shadow government as suggested years ago by former leaders, and as speculated when you google it.
High praise to Congressman Dennis Kucinich for so precisely crafting and presenting the articles of impeachment -- most recently for Bush, and previously for Cheney.
High praise for speaking out now -- when it is relevant, and when a significant number of citizens are either angry or disillusioned about the politicians and their lack or representation of the constituents.
We need to hold our elected officials accountable to the Constitution and to the expectations of their constituents.
We need to participate in the process, or further lose our rights to do so.
at 00:02 on June 22nd, 2008
Perfectly said, Felton! Thank you! Even Clinton is reported to have referred to a 'secret' gov. when he was in office. ...and, of course Eisenhower's statement upon leaving office is well know - warning about the military industrial complex.
We are currently seeing the 'same people' pushing their 'secret' agenda, hidden behind the complex legal language of the Lisbon Treaty in the EU.
I remember, (I was in the States at the time), in 1995 or 96, the Congress passed a bill to fund upgrades to NATO. There was huge public discussion because they asked for a minimum of 6 billion and a top of 12 billion, and they got the full 12 billion - to our surprise. Everyone thought that was a huge amount of money. Now, we are talking nearly 600 billion of US tax payers money spent on the war industry -- and vast issues re. unaccountability. ...and we were told that the outcome of the Iraq war would be oil at $20. a barrel - and it is over 150. Why? And, who really benefits?
at 09:34 on June 22nd, 2008
Maireid, from the number of articles you publish calling for our President's impeachment, you surely must suffer from 'Bush Derangement Syndrone', a malady brought on by Bush's 2000 victory in Florida and remaining even after 12 different investigations revealed he won fairly. The good, decent and thoughtful people of the United States are not going to let this happen - not after he has protected us so well for seven years, carefully balanced Constitutional requirements against wartime needs and obbeyed every court order.
at 18:22 on June 22nd, 2008
joellerose, (opinion) Is this the best you have to defend the events over the last seven years of this administration (aka G.W. Bush Admin.) The elect of 2000 and the florida vote was pinnacle at getting him into office - but this is only a small point of the issue at hand. "That might be how Bush got into office, but he wasn’t in office at the time, hence whatever he might have been involved in there is not part of the current impeachment documentation." This is only a point of reference (Florida) in the article and not the issue hand.
The issue you present of the the bush administration protecting the American people & the Constitution is not true - Bush, Rumsfeld & others instilled fear rather as a protective measure to create an illusion to misinforming the American Public. While continually revoking the rights of American's under the presentation of terrorism, rights of & to the protection of Americans under the constitution as the major media continues to hinder the truth of these actions by the Administration then & even now. "Probably the biggest history-making story to be ignored by the corporate media this month is the introduction in the US Congress of Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush."
Issue at hand - did or did not the President of the United States Orchestrate, Create, Mislead & Misinform the American Public and Congress through misrepresentation of Documentation readily known to his Administration at the time, but was not presented to adequately evaluated the right to go to war in Iraq is the issue.
I realize joellerose that you may not agree with me or others on these current issues on the Impeachment of Bush or Cheney for that fact and you still have this right as American, thankfully.
All I ask is you look outside the box with a open mind regarding this matter.
(opinion)
at 11:56 on June 23rd, 2008
Perhaps you should look at the recent report issued by the (Democrat majority) Select Senate Intelligence Committee which concluded that every statement about Iraq made by President Bush was fully justified by the intelligence we had at the time. The headlines made by Senator Rockefeller were totally at odds with what was actually contained in the report.
See http://www.nowpublic.com/world/bush-lied-phony-story-line
The reason why Kucinich did not get more publicity and the Democratic leadership swept aside his proposal is that most people consider him a flake who communicates with aliens. You people should get a grip and pay attention to facts and history rather than your "feelings".
at 21:11 on June 23rd, 2008
Hello joellerose, you may be interested in the Princeton university study: Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine: http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/ts-paper.pdf
For the most recent version of this paper, answers to frequently asked questions,
and videos of demonstration attacks, see http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting.
September 13, 2006
Abstract: This paper presents a fully independent security study of a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine,
including its hardware and software. We obtained the machine from a private party. Analysis of the
machine, in light of real election procedures, shows that it is vulnerable to extremely serious attacks.
For example, an attacker who gets physical access to a machine or its removable memory card for
as little as one minute could install malicious code; malicious code on a machine could steal votes
undetectably, modifying all records, logs, and counters to be consistent with the fraudulent vote count
it creates. An attacker could also create malicious code that spreads automatically and silently from
machine to machine during normal election activities—a voting-machine virus. We have constructed
working demonstrations of these attacks in our lab. Mitigating these threats will require changes to the
voting machine’s hardware and software and the adoption of more rigorous election procedures.
at 22:20 on June 23rd, 2008
What does this and your lead-in have to do with your desire to impeach President Bush? Are you implying that President Bush broke into the Diebold machines and stole an election?
at 15:55 on June 22nd, 2008
Maireid Sullivan, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 22:35 on June 22nd, 2008
Thank you for the flag, Criticom!
at 17:10 on June 22nd, 2008
America the world is waiting for you to get back your government - the worlds been waiting seven long years for America to stand and fight for what is their rights as citizen of the United States and there Constitution written by their fore father. America take off the gloves and fight - This is your country not some dictatorship.
Thank you Maireid Sullivan, for presenting this to America and the world.
(opinion)
at 22:58 on June 22nd, 2008
Yes, this is so true! People all around the world are shaking their heads in amazement that the American people cannot curtail the heartless corporateocracy that is set on ruthless exploitation around the world and which is leading fast to self-annihilation.
"Looking outside the box" requires an inquiring mind. Many people have not worked to develop greater interconnectivity between left and right brain functions. They simply cannot see their own rigidity, and there is nothing we can do about it....except try to be patient. For one of the very best insights on this, see the great lecture by Harvard neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor on www.ted.com
at 00:07 on June 23rd, 2008
Interesting, though (to be fair) it appears to be more "quoting" than writing.
Personally, I'd have found a few poignant / pointed / pithy quotes (with links back to the fuller article, should anyone wish to read more in-depth) interspersed with specific opinions or interpretation to be more compelling as an article.
But that's just me.
Otherwise, it's relatively interesting stuff. Kind of amusing to see how it has been more-or-less ignored by the media but noted in crowd-powered reporting such as NowPublic, Digg.com and various independent blogs. I first saw it on Digg. Then went to several news sites looking for the "breaking news - impeachment proceeding initiated by Kucinich" headline, only to be disappointed. Didn't find it mentioned anywhere. You'd think people would be all over it as soon as it happened!
Is there any place to go to get just a "summary" of the presented indictment against Bush? Ie, the major points and crimes detailed as shortly as possible? It would be interesting to see the entirety of the charges against him summarized in a bullet-point format. If you happen to know of any, you may wish to edit in a link to the list somewhere in the article.
Cheers,
~Michael Gmirkin
at 21:54 on June 23rd, 2008
I think Congressman Kucinich presents a well-stated case for impeachment of President Bush. The Articles of Impeachment, both indexed and reasoned, can be viewed at Congressman Kucinich's web-site, here: http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=93581
at 22:01 on June 23rd, 2008
Very interesting set of articles.