Month: October 2005

from an article in
The Free Press

This is validating claims that have been made against the legitimacy of the 2004 election. Pre-elections warnings of system insecurity, poor security procedures, policy problems for software and partisan involvement of electronic voting systems were proven accurate.

Among other things, the GAO confirms that:

1. Some electronic voting machines “did not encrypt cast ballots or system audit logs, and it was possible to alter both without being detected.” In other words, the GAO now confirms that electronic voting machines provided an open door to flip an entire vote count. More than 800,000 votes were cast in Ohio on electronic voting machines, some seven times Bush’s official margin of victory.
2. “It was possible to alter the files that define how a ballot looks and works so that the votes for one candidate could be recorded for a different candidate.” Numerous sworn statements and affidavits assert that this did happen in Ohio 2004.
3. “Vendors installed uncertified versions of voting system software at the local level.” 3. Falsifying election results without leaving any evidence of such an action by using altered memory cards can easily be done, according to the GAO.
4. The GAO also confirms that access to the voting network was easily compromised because not all digital recording electronic voting systems (DREs) had supervisory functions password-protected, so access to one machine provided access to the whole network. This critical finding confirms that rigging the 2004 vote did not require a “widespread conspiracy” but rather the cooperation of a very small number of operatives with the power to tap into the networked machines and thus change large numbers of votes at will. With 800,000 votes cast on electronic machines in Ohio, flipping the number needed to give Bush 118,775 could be easily done by just one programmer.
5. Access to the voting network was also compromised by repeated use of the same user IDs combined with easily guessed passwords. So even relatively amateur hackers could have gained access to and altered the Ohio vote tallies.
6. The locks protecting access to the system were easily picked and keys were simple to copy, meaning, again, getting into the system was an easy matter.
7. One DRE model was shown to have been networked in such a rudimentary fashion that a power failure on one machine would cause the entire network to fail, re-emphasizing the fragility of the system on which the Presidency of the United States was decided.
8. GAO identified further problems with the security protocols and background screening practices for vendor personnel, confirming still more easy access to the system.

The article also has a list of coincidental incidents such as the ‘loaves and fishes’ vote miracle and several others that defy statistical improbability.

…good thing the politics are honest in that state and didn’t have an influence.

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Please stop all this Plamegate prognostication crap. It is a total distraction.

HAS NOBODY HERE EVER HEARD OF A PRESIDENTIAL PARDON?

Libby fights this to stay of out of prison as long as possible and is pardoned in 2008. They can’t hang him for contempt of court.

STOP WAISTING YOUR WORDS!!

Please?

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During Friday’s press conference, when Patrick Fitzgerald announced the 5 indictments against I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, responding to a reporter’s question about the right-wing talking point that charges like perjury, making false statements and obstruction were just “technicalities”, Fitzgerald replied bluntly, “That talking point won’t fly”. No doubt.

Regardless, the right-wing spin machine is so desperate to Save Scooter(tm) that they continue to use that one and more. The truth hurts – especially when you find out that one of your heroes allegedly lied. So, what do you do when your bubble is burst? You just lie some more!

Note: there is so much crap flying around out there right now that I just couldn’t bring myself to deal with a lot of it without feeling overwhelmingly nauseous, so I’ve just posted some highlights or lowlights, as it were.

Here are more right-wing talking points that just won’t fly:

From the WSJ’s Opinion Journal:

“Libby is charged with lying about a crime that wasn’t committed.”

Valerie Plame’s cover was blown. Libby is charged with lying about his role in that sordid affair.

FITZGERALD: He was at the beginning of the chain of phone calls, the first official to disclose this information outside the government to a reporter. And then he lied about it afterwards, under oath and repeatedly.

“To the extent that the facts alleged in the indictment can be relied upon…”

When you don’t have any other logical defense, attack the facts. That’s kind of ironic actually since Libby lied about his “facts” and was the only one charged with doing so. If someone else perjured themselves, they would have been charged too.

“But he [Fitzgerald] has thrust himself into what was, at bottom, a policy dispute between an elected Administration and critics of the President’s approach to the war on terror, who included parts of the permanent bureaucracy of the State Department and CIA.”

FITZGERALD: … It was known that a CIA officer’s identity was blown, it was known that there was a leak. We needed to figure out how that happened, who did it, why, whether a crime was committed, whether we could prove it, whether we should prove it.

[…]
That brings us to the fall of 2003. When it was clear that Valerie Wilson’s cover had been blown, investigation began.”

“Unless Mr. Fitzgerald can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Libby was lying, and doing so for some nefarious purpose, this indictment looks like a case of criminalizing politics.”

For some “nefarious” purpose? Lying is lying is lying and when you lie to a grand jury, whether you have “nefarious purposes” or not, you get charged. Apparently, Libby is now going to use the infamous “I can’t recall because I’m such a busy man” defense. That begs the question: why didn’t he (who is a lawyer) and his lawyer just use that defense in the first place? I’ll tell you why: because it’s a crock.

much more on the flip including unbelievable crap in WaPo and the NYT….

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Had to put this alternative universe take on upcoming events:

Consider this a warning to keep in the back of your minds as you discuss who is cuter, Antonio Bandaras or Prosecutor Fitzgerald?

I put it into poem form to be even more annoying:

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[Front-paged by susanhu. This has been rumbling around in my tummy too, and I think Antifa has nailed it!]

Keep your eye on the prize, people. Fitzgerald is turning Libby, and not in exchange for more Plame leakers, either.

Fitzgerald said today that this investigation isn’t over. Believe it.

Here’s how this is going down:

Libby stuck to a patently false story; a story that protected other players.

Libby “sticking to my story” did not work — Libby is busted in detail; he’s up the creek for 30 years.

He really is. Fitzgerald only charged Libby with what he can convict him on without the slightest doubt about it. So, Libby has the proverbial horse’s head in his bed. An offer he can’t refuse. . . which means Libby now needs to seek a deal, soon, in return for fewer years in the Federal Penitentiary. If he doesn’t, he’ll have to watch someone else make the deal Fitz is after, leaving Libby to do all 30 seasons in the slammer.

But Libby will find that no deal is available for naming other Plame leakers. Fuggeddaboudid.  That’s so last week.

Fitzgerald already has all the leakers and all the proof he needs to convict them when he chooses.

So, what does Fitz want?

He wants someone who sat in on those White House Iraq Group meetings to tell all. Joseph Valachi style. Unzip this crime family from the inside.

Much more below:

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