ALASKA REFUSES — AGAIN — TO RELEASE 2004 ELECTION DATA!

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Guest Blogged by John Gideon

The following shocking information just came in to “Train Wreck Central” from Brad who is on the road, lord knows where. A special hat tip to Thom Hartmann and Rich McClear of KUDO1080, the Air America Radio affiliate in Anchorage, Alaska.

As readers of The BRAD BLOG know, Diebold and the State of Alaska have been doing all they can to keep the State Democratic Party from looking at the data from the machines used by the voters to register their choices and by the local officials to tally the votes. The BRAD BLOG has reported that questions began to arise about results from the 2004 election, including the reported revelation that “district-by-district vote totals add up to 292,267 votes for President Bush, but his official total was only 190,889.” The Democrats asked for election data from the Diebold machines and the state has ‘flip-flopped’ on whether they would release it or not. This resulted in claims by the state that any data they released would be proprietary and would belong to Diebold Elections Systems Inc. (DESI).

The above led the state Democratic party to file a lawsuit to get the data they have been requesting.

The following is from an email from Rich McClear:

The State of Alaska website shows 16 of 40 house districts with more than 200% voter turnout, Also, if you add up the vote totals from each district they come to more than 100,000 votes for state wide candidates than the summary reports show.

More than 7 months ago the Democrats asked for an explanation. The state said it could not release the data files because they were proprietary to Diebold.

Diebold gave the state permission to release the files.

The state still refused. The Democrats went to court, the state asked for extension after extension. Their final extension expired Thursday and they replied to the Court, in a 200 page document, that since it is a month from the primary election, they can’t release the database without compromising the primary. There is not enough time to rebuild the central tabulator file if they release the data before the election.

The Democrats have to respond to the court Monday. To respond to a 200 page document would usually require the Democrats to ask for an extension but they are working throughout the weekend to get the filing in Monday. Right now I have the Democratic Spokesperson scheduled for my show Monday Morning.

The State stalled for 7 months and when they ran out the legal clock they claim it is too late to release the information because it is too close to the primary. I find it interesting that this has not been picked up by the local press yet, save KUDO.

So the state and Diebold have stalled, flip-flopped, obfuscated and misled while they kept the Democrats from proving that there were huge problems with the election results in 2004. One can only hope that the court will decide that the stall needs to stop now, but it might be best not to hold your breath.

* * *

UPDATE 11/28/06: Alaska is at it again. They’re refusing to release the 2006 election database despite a court order to do so. Details now here…

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ALASKA REFUSES — AGAIN — TO RELEASE 2004 ELECTION DATA!

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44 Responses

  1. 1)
    Grizzly Bear Dancer said on 7/24/2006 @ 5:35pm PT: [Permalink]

    The real question is will anyone kill diebold or will this private company run by convicted felons who counts/counted our US vote be allowed to cuntinue. Time is ticking away on US democracy, our constitution in crisis and of course our fragile environment in crisis. Hope they don’t build that republican ruster senator’s wife’s bridge on a one of Alaska’s glaciers. Glaciers that are melting twice as fast these days. i mean all that man-made concrete and steel that would be wasted.. What a freakin crying shame.

    The ONLY reason i am not embarrased to be AMERICAn while this country is being run by these criminal murderous thugs is i was brought up enstilled with American values and that the United States were the good guys who helped other countries out. I know there are good people in this land who call themselves Americans but we got to work harder to save the day because these fcks enjoy playing the role of greedy stupid human god just a little to much. Thank you BUSHIT ADMINISTRATION for all the destruction you cause and all crimes you worm your way out of.

  2. 2)
    Agent99 said on 7/24/2006 @ 6:38pm PT: [Permalink]

    Pardon me, but what was wrong with the Democratic Party’s attorneys that they did not see that coming a mile off, and DO something about it while there was the time? Pathetic. Pathetic.

  3. 3)
    John Dowd said on 7/24/2006 @ 8:25pm PT: [Permalink]

    I’m really glad to see this update on the Alaska situation.
    Just the other day I had suggested here:
    https://bradblog.com/?p=3107#comment-91563
    that this is a story worth getting on the front page now and then.

    So let me get this straight. The Alaska state officials can’t figure out, or are not willing to LET people figure out what happened to over 100,000 votes in 2004, and their excuse is that they don’t have time to address that, because they’re too busy getting the SAME system going again to (mis)count votes again in 2006? I expect the court will rule against them because if they don’t it’s too obvious that we just DON’t have a democracy here anymore.

    Maybe it’s just me, but I think this is BIG NEWS, and I just can’t believe the MSM isn’t covering this, but then I’m black and blue all over from repeatedly pinching myself trying to make myself wake up from this nightmare.

  4. 4)
    phil said on 7/24/2006 @ 8:26pm PT: [Permalink]

    I have come a realization. There are at least three generations of folks out there that do not understand electronics, and frankly don’t want to understand. They fall into what I would classify as the “who cares” generation.

    Theses younger folks don’t even vote sometimes, and SOME are actually in the military now, or on their way to jail locally because of gangs, meth or other drugs. They are starting to have a real hard time surviving right now because of the increased cost of living.

    The elder folks are the catagory of WW1, WW2, vietnam/cambodia veterans.

    These are folks who would normally support what we are fighting for, but they absolutely refuse to grasp this situation we are in. They also refuse to take action unless you make it really simple for them.

    Most of these folks do not know about bradblog.org, or blackboxvoting.org, or votersunite, or velvetrevolution memorized or bookmarked (Most are not tech savvy. Don’t know how to search, and can’t think for themselves.)

    They don’t follow these stories because they have not heard about them. they can be convinced to say vote for Debra Bowen (word of mouth), but that’s about the extent of where their care goes. Many are busy working jobs to give a crap about these problems. Although they do hate what they see with the wars and the price of filling their tanks and food. So they are directly affected by money.

    Then there is the young generation of folks, that can’t read or write or think outside the box (because they are so young.) You see these people on “Good Morning (insert your tv channel)” They wave their signs on Rockefella’s plaza, and several other well known places each morning, screaming like tards.

    The way I see it, The Constitution is destroyed by a non-elected Bush Administration, and the only way to fix it is locally at the local precint when you vote, however, the local precint’s have corrupted secretary of state[s] who openly break the law, and use these insidious electronic voting machines. To force the issue on them would normally be by the use of local media, but the local media is corporate and have a media blackout which seems to be uncrackable.

    Yesterday I talked to my “parent” generation, and forced them to grep through bradblog.org. They sat there looking at the main page not knowing how to follow the threads, not understanding what they were reading or how to fix the fucking problem. I Gave them the 5 minute “how to use firefox as a tool to search and grep through bradblog, and right click to open new tab.” They seemed interested, but got burned out after only 30 minutes, then they went back to the terrestrial television brainwashing. After questioning them later, they completely forgot what they were doing on Bradblog.

    What a dilema.

    I just now talked to an example of my grandparents generation. Bringing up these exact points, their response is if you can’t change something then don’t let kill you.

    Dear grandparent generation — I love you.
    BUT IT’S KILLING US!

    SO folks what the fuck are we going to do?
    What a nightmare. Can I just go back to sleep and wake up with my Good ol America back?!

    In my opinion the Lawsuits are great, but damn, meanwhile the thugs are elected and taken office, making decisions, appointing more thugs, passing more fucked up bills and laws and destroying everything in sight. The lawsuits are too god damn slow. The thugs won’t step down if proven wrong. (If you can even GET proof) which with invisible electronics you can not even get proof. These people fight all the way. They will not let go of what they have. They will lie to your face.

  5. 6)
    DONNA said on 7/24/2006 @ 8:36pm PT: [Permalink]

    Today I officially decided that the press is the real bad guy in all this. Can you think of one thing these “criminals” have done that wouldn’t have been stopped dead had they been doing their jobs? This Alaska thing always gets me fired up! A good one to send to Lou Dobbs. What is happening to them, the press, are they getting money, are the afraid of this administration, what’s going on?

  6. 8)
    DONNA said on 7/24/2006 @ 9:14pm PT: [Permalink]

    Hey Phil #4, Never responded to anyone before but…. I’m part of the Viet Nam generation. Husband a Nam Marine, first husband killed there in 68 tet offensive. I totally agree with you on every word you said after “but it’s killing us” you said what my husband and I talk about all the time. We just got this comp. from our son so I could learn what was happening after Nov 2004. My point is I for one had no use for these things, I now own one because of Bush period ! Brad is my hero, send his articals to Dobbs, Olberman, Wash. Journal, relatives. Write to papers and rant! A lot of us “elders” are getting way out of our comfort zone here. Trying to make a difference. And we did our part in keeping the rights and freedoms that Bush is sweeping away. And as I said earlier… the press is helping him. It isen’t really the old/young/dumb/indifferent it’s the press allowing all this to go on.

  7. 10)
    Larry Bergan said on 7/25/2006 @ 2:46am PT: [Permalink]

    They ought to put everyone responsible for not releasing this data on one of those contraptions at the fair where you sit on a ledge and people throw balls at a plate that dunks you in a pool of water!

    Fight foolishness with foolishness!

  8. 11)
    phil said on 7/25/2006 @ 3:50am PT: [Permalink]

    Donna, I was generalising, I know fully well there are exceptions to the three groups, but in the overall picture, what I am saying falls true.

    I too am a veteran.

    I want to clarify one other thing about the media. I have a music show that runs on public access, I put something about electronic election fraud into it every time it runs now. Public Access is the only media that is not corporate.

    And guess what, they are trying to kill public access (an old issue for some reading this I am sure) by eliminating local franchising. This is a paint and wax one side of the car while the thugs throw rocks at the other side type situation being forced by the giant corporate telco’s continuous lobbying.

    The media is considered the 4th estate, it puts light into the darkness of corruption. The world is going to crap and they’re dropping the ball. We could be doing so much good with all the technology we have, but instead the globalists are raiding everything.

    Corporate media is the bad guy here, they are dropping the ball on electronics being used in abusive ways.

    Public Access is still a voice for now. But for how much longer I don’t know. There’s a real threat that it could disappear.

    Public access producers can not do a call to arms.

    The Corporate media can.

    Our voices are being silenced in many ways. Free speech zones comes to mind. The anti net-neutrality is yet another attack. Somehow we need to infiltrate the Corporate media when they are LIVE. That’s about the only thing I can think of that will force this issue once and for all.

    If corporate media gets to post-edit their clips it’s game over. If they get suprised everywhere they look it could be a different ball game. I think we need bumperstickers and anti election fraud magnets for the vehicles.

    Time is running out and we’ll be voting again on invisible electronic signals, sending unvalidatable data, across insecure networks. Any part of which can be cracked along the way.

    I have met several local news people they are nice folks, perhaps we need a conspiracy to accidentally leak this issue. Perhaps someone will need to sacrifice their job. It would be a small price compared to the price we are paying for the destruction of our country our constitution our military and our middle class.

    I can think of one guy I’d like to see break this on CH13 /CH31 (Hello Ron) He’s an ex cop.

    As far as 10, or 3 or 40 (talking sacramento rabbit ears stations) I don’t see hope.

    I predict that America will only take so much of this, a bit longer and then like a magnitude 12 Earthquake it’s just going to snap. After it’s done we will look worse than Mexico.

    How much longer until they silence me?

  9. 12)
    big dan said on 7/25/2006 @ 4:52am PT: [Permalink]

    Obviously, it’s really important to get this data in Alaska, or they wouldn’t be stonewalling it. This tells me, the Alaska data will prove vote fraud beyond a doubt. Or why aren’t they just releasing it? They are fighting “tooth and nail” not to release it! That means it’s HUGE to get this data!

  10. 13)
    Joan said on 7/25/2006 @ 5:33am PT: [Permalink]

    I read a while ago that all the ballots from the 2004 “election” are scheduled for shredding this November.

    Could somebody look into that?

  11. 14)
    Dredd said on 7/25/2006 @ 5:39am PT: [Permalink]

    I nominate a theme song (“Series of Dreams“) for American elections:

    Thinking of a series of dreams
    Where the time and the tempo fly
    And there’s no exit in any direction
    ‘Cept the one that you can’t see with your eyes
    Wasn’t making any great connection
    Wasn’t falling for any intricate scheme
    Nothing that would pass inspection
    Just thinking of a series of dreams

    (Series Of Dreams, Bob Dylan).

  12. 15)
    big dan said on 7/25/2006 @ 5:59am PT: [Permalink]

    Phil: Why didn’t all those people hear about these stories? THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS SUPPRESSING THEM! WAKE UP!!! You are right, those people who are not “pc” savvy have not heard of these stories…that is EXACTLY how the MSM is failing America, and on purpose, btw………

  13. 16)
    big dan said on 7/25/2006 @ 6:01am PT: [Permalink]

    WHY ISN’T LOU DOBBS COVERING THIS ALASKA STORY???????? What if they shred all the evidence, as stated above, but we’ve been screaming about this forever? Help us, Lou Dobbs!!!!!!!!!!!!

  14. 17)
    molly said on 7/25/2006 @ 6:10am PT: [Permalink]

    Thanks Donna…for all that you do to spread the word. I’m not of the computer generation either. Wasn’t interested in politics. Just felt like something was wrong in 2000 and couldn’t understand why it was such a secret. It wasn’t until I sold my farm and could afford a computer, books and magazines that I got interested. Moved from the Appalachian mountains of N.C. There is a total news blackout in that state. The right even bought a small free independent newspaper in the research triangle. So, I can understand voter unawareness. Poverty plays a big part, since ther is no MSM anymore. When we blame each other for ignorance we are playing into Rove’s plan, divide and conquer.

  15. 18)
    czaragorn said on 7/25/2006 @ 7:42am PT: [Permalink]

    Hey Dredd – I’m a cybermoron, I’ll admit it. How can I find the words to Quicksliver Messenger Service’s “What About Me?” (I’m trusting they didn’t do a Dylanesque titling bamboozlement on us.) That song, 40 years ago, told us all we evidently needed to ignore until now. It’s time for a few all-nighters, folks! (Thanks for the help, friends)

  16. 20)
    Savantster said on 7/25/2006 @ 8:17am PT: [Permalink]

    I recon I don’t understand, from a Computer Science aspect, how they are saying “turning over data from 2004 will ruin their database”..

    There are all kinds of ways to copy files that are “in use”, if that’s their excuse.. However, I don’t understand how the “data” from the 2004 election would be “in use”.

    Hell, this is so laughable to me as a professional working with computers (without having more information about what their ‘problems’ are) that I can’t even figure out how to explain how laughable this is!

    What Alaska is saying sounds akin to saying “I can’t give you a copy of my email because my computer has a spread sheet running”… It boggles my mind as to what kind of “legally acceptable excuse” they could have for not providing the “data”.. No one is asking for access to their “computers”, they just want the “data” (something easily copied without disturbing the “system”)..

    my head hurts..

  17. 21)
    John Dowd said on 7/25/2006 @ 9:27am PT: [Permalink]

    I came of age politically in the Watergate era. I voted for Nixon in 68. (I probably would have voted for Muskie, but the Republicans did a Howard Dean thing on him, saying he was a crybaby, because he got emotional and shed a tear on camera.) By the way, you DO know, don’t you, that the Dean-Scream is totally a media creation? Look into it. But I digress. Then I started noticing that more and more the things my father told me, and that I heard from the newspapers were contradicted by reality–by people who in those days could only take to the streets and hold demonstrations against the war, and grow their hair long as a protest, and hand out pamphlets pointing out that if you added up all the viet cong soldiers we were supposed to killed, we would have killed the entire population of North Vietnam–and it all started to seem more and more unreal to believe in the Republicans and have faith in the nice, clean tidy SEDUCTIVE story they told, where GOOD was good and bad was bad, and it was easy to tell them apart, etc.

    And of course now years later I’m a devout and proud liberal. At some point right after Kent State, I found out that all my muttering had taken a toll on my mother, and she had decided that she was going to vote for a democrat for the first time, in the next election. Enter Jimmy Carter.

    I think we have to wake people up by talking reasonably to them, one-on-one, whenever possible. I talk now to my nieces and nephews, and people at work and at my church. But I also think we need to start doing what people did in the 1960’s, holding demonstrations and rallies–standing for an hour in a town square holding signs and pointing people to go to the internet and inform themselves. Because a lot of people who WOULD be on our side, just have a huge amount of inertia to overcome, and a huge amount of disinformation to overcome.

    People I have talked to who should know better have told me that the exit poll discrepancies were because of expectations people had from early in the day. They don’t even KNOW that we’re talking about the final, complete exit poll data. And they don’t know yet that there is much of a problem with the media–they feel that they can sleep peacefully because if there were anything bad happening in our great country, our watchdog free press would of course be all over it and report it. I convinced myself otherwise by reading the book, “Into the Buzzsaw”, and then “Black Box Voting”, and then I started getting more and more of my news on the internet, and now I get almost all of my news and information via the internet and blogs, and Air America and so on.

    Make signs and bumper stickers and point out the amazing stories that are not being covered on the MSM, like this one.

    Talk to your cousins and your Mother-in-Law–make yourself a pariah at parties–wear buttons to work, put up banners in your cubicle, etc.

  18. 22)
    Savantster said on 7/25/2006 @ 10:05am PT: [Permalink]

    “… wear buttons to work, put up banners in your cubicle, etc.”

    This is exactly what we “can’t” do in this society.. why? You can excercise your rights all you like, but if you do it at work, you can lose your job in a heart beat. Thanks “no fault employment”! Then you can’t pay your bills, then you lose -everything-. Most people in this country don’t have a “nest egg” built up.. MOST people in this country are only 2 – 4 months from total abject poverty (I have $0 in savings, $3,000 in my retirement account that is LOSING money because the market is failing again). If I lose my job tomorrow (by offending the sensibilities of some “manager” with my “liberal drivel”), I lose all my “amenities” the next month and go back to eating $0.25 burritos for every meal.. If I can’t get a job in that month, I’ll lose my truck.. then I’ll lose my house the next month.

    We live in an environment that is not conducive to “protest”. Police are TAPING people at rallies, and harassing them if they see them at more than 1 or 2. People are being targeted for expressing their opinions when they are counter to the fascists. And given the financial strangle hold Corporate America (including the Banks) has on “most people”, dissent can ruin your life.. fast.

    This is a very slippery slope we’re on here. When governments readily tell the goverened to bugger off, we’re in deeper than we thought. Alaska is just ONE example of the 2004 mess that is STILL being fought about, but the “masses” are content to sit home and believe that “Bush won 2004” and ignore the truth..

    Bad people have taken the reigns of power, and they don’t give that up easily. Look at all your “public service jobs” and note how most of those with “power” are now “very well paying jobs” compared to the local economies. You’ll see a pattern, and you’ll see the privledged are the ones in those jobs. They are securing the future of their families at the expense of the public they are supposed to be serving.

  19. 23)
    Charlene said on 7/25/2006 @ 2:47pm PT: [Permalink]

    A lot of the population just become whatever mom & dad are, politically.
    It’s a loyalty thing, a familial thing. Like having cops, firemen, military in the family. You just fall in line.
    Some later may realize they don’t agree, but they’re buddies with all the others by now.
    They go to social events together, their kids play together, are on the team together, they get jobs through connections in the party, & if they change–it’ll all end.
    Plus, it’s admitting you were wrong your entire life before that, which is hard to do for some. Their ego won’t let them.
    It means turning your back on all those people you were in good with before you changed your mind.
    And if most of your family has not also changed their mind along with you, then you’re a maverick.
    At every get together ever after, family & friends try to get you back into the fold. Ideas clash. Hard feelings are expressed. It’s like changing religions.
    It’s perceived as an insult by the others that don’t want to change. After all, if YOU left because you think it’s the wrong party to be in–(whichever one it is)–then their staying must be ‘wrong’, according to you. They don’t like it.

    Needless to say—whatever political party you are in—they don’t want you to rock the boat.
    They already have an agenda & they want YOU to work toward it for them. They don’t want you to make changes, or heavens to betsy, point out where the agenda may be wrong.
    It’s greatly frowned upon.

  20. 24)
    Charlene said on 7/25/2006 @ 2:53pm PT: [Permalink]

    That’s how it is in a small town I should say.
    In a big city, it’s a lot easier to be whatever you want & no one takes notice, it doesn’t impact family & friends as much. Their are lots of other people to be friends with & lots more jobs etc.

  21. 25)
    Savantster said on 7/25/2006 @ 2:57pm PT: [Permalink]

    What you describe, Charlene, is a symptom of closed and uneducated minds. I agree with you 100%, but it’s a sad thing that people can’t bother to learn more about their world, and can’t be strong enough in themselves to stand up for what they believe in.

    Personally, I blame Corporate America.. they encourage you to “fit in”, and “follow the crowd”. It’s how they make their money.. If you see it on someone else, you want to wear it too.. if your neighbor bought one, you have to have one too or you are a lessor person than them.

    The same ties into politics and religion (and a lot of politics are driven by religion these days). Because we’re conditioned to not think, not question, not be strong and willing to stand on our own, we fall into the trap of just muddling along and following the crowd.

    When we have an education system that encourages individuality and knowledge and teaches critical thinking, we’ll be able to start healing the damage done by our Corporate Overseers and accept and embrace diversity. Until we fix the system and change society, we’ll trudge along in a divisive culture.. Divide and Conqure, in deed..

  22. 26)
    Agent99 said on 7/25/2006 @ 3:49pm PT: [Permalink]

    Savantster

    … it’s a sad thing that people can’t bother to learn more about their world …

    It’s a fortunate thing for Republican strategists, and it drives me stark raving mad that even the attorneys for the aggrieved voters don’t seem to be able to swim up out of this boiling cauldron of muck to FUNCTION EFFECTIVELY.

    I know, I know, the deck is stacked, even the courts are tainted, yadda, yadda, yadda, but STILL. We need men and women of probity and courage to start kicking ass and taking names. I’m hoping that the ABA smacking * for his over 800 poops on the Constitution will start enlivening some of our litigators for the disenfranchized… that would be all of us, now, you know.

  23. 27)
    Savantster said on 7/26/2006 @ 8:15am PT: [Permalink]

    Agent99.. Perhaps one of the most overlooked, yet most dangerous hurdles is the Judiciary.. It goes all the way down to the lowest of courts effecting daily life.

    For my part, I was privy to preliminary hearing about custody of my daughter, and the Court Comissioner decided there was “no reason” to have a hearing or discovery of information, despite there having been a choking incident and prolonged and persistent verbal/psychological abuse from her step-father. When it came to the choking, the Comissioner asked “why are we talking about a choking incident that happened almost a year ago?”.. nevermind that that was the start of a year of abuse that culminated in a guy with a seziure disorder driving my daughter in his Jeep days after being busted having seizures (wreckless engangerment, at a minimum). Then all the implication of the lies he told to the DMV to keep his liscense, and the lies he was telling his doctors which endanger his life.. all that information was dismissed out of hand by the court. No trial/hearing ever happened.. nothing is resolved as a matter of law or court order.

    No.. the courts aren’t even with us on the most mundane of things. The people in positions of power are some of the most Dysfunctional in our society (drugs, infidelity, financial crimes, etc etc). When we rely on a judge that says “just the other day I punished my kids for something their father did.. parents make mistakes” to make descisions about what’s fair and proper for children, we rely on the most unqualified to make the most important descisions. When our courts are this screwed up we don’t have much of a chance for peaceful resolution..

    Hell, the courts just tossed the “illegal handling of phone records” case against AT&T because it “touches on National Security”, and because there can be no discovery to get facts, there can be no case because there’s no proof that the petitioner’s records were “illegally exposed”. We’re being cut off at the knees by a corrupted system as modeled by our Leader, and supported and abetted by Congress.

    I fear the powers that be have set into motion a disaster that can no longer be averted.

  24. 28)
    Botany said on 7/26/2006 @ 8:21pm PT: [Permalink]

    The Creation of Democracy

    There are strange things done in the midnight sun
    By the men who toil for gold;
    The Arctic trails have their secret tales
    That would make your blood run cold;
    The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
    But the queerest they ever did see
    Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
    Diebold got cremated by Democracy.

    Now Democracy was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
    Why it left home in the South to roam ’round the Pole, God only knows.
    He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
    Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live in hell.”

    On an election Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.
    Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
    If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn’t see;
    It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was Democracy.

    And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
    And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe,
    He turned to me, and “Cap,” says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I guess;
    And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.”

    Well, he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no; then he says with a sort of moan:
    “It’s the stealing votes cold, and it’s got right hold, till I’m chilled clean through to the bone.
    Yet ’tain’t being dead � it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that pain;
    So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll count all the votes
    that remain.”

    A pal’s last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;
    And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
    He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;
    And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Democracy.

    There wasn’t a breath in that land of Democracy’s death, and I hurried, horror-driven,
    With a corpse half hid that I couldn’t get rid, because of a promise given;
    It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: “You may tax your brawn and brains,
    But you promised true, and it’s up to you, to count the vote that remains.”

    Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
    In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.
    In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,
    Howled out their woes to the homeless snows � Oh God! how I loathed the thing.

    And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
    And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;
    The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;
    And I’d often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

    Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
    It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Count
    the ballots and make the devil pay.
    And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
    Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my voting counting
    home …. my duty i will not shun.”

    Some data I tore from the republican whores, and I lit the Democracy’s fire;
    Some ballots I found that was lying around, and I heaped the data higher;
    The numbers just soared, and my P.C. roared � such a spread sheet
    you seldom see;
    And in the glow, the truth did like a mighty wind blow and out popped Democracy.

    There are strange things done in the midnight sun
    By the men who moil for gold;
    The Arctic trails have their secret tales
    That would make your blood run cold;
    The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
    But the queerest they ever did see
    Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
    Diebold got cremated by Democracy.

    big ups to Robert Service, Brad Blog, and those in Alaska
    who will not back down we in Ohio know the score.

  25. 30)
    Alaska resident said on 7/26/2006 @ 8:47pm PT: [Permalink]

    from the state of alaska’s division of elections website:

    * Reading the Election Results

    In House Districts 16 – 32 some precincts show more than 100 percent voter turnout. This is because the State of Alaska conducted a special election for the Municipality of Anchorage concurrently with the 2004 General Election. In these districts, there were two ballots, a State ballot and a Municipality ballot. The % Turnout is based on the Cards Cast number. Because each voter could have cast two ballots the turnout in these districts is inflated. In these districts look at the Times Counted number for the US Presidential race to determine the actual number of State ballots cast in each precinct. This number, divided by the number of registered voters will yield the turnout for the precinct:

    Early Voting Results

    In each district there is a row entitled R# Early Voting. This presents the early voting results for each of the state’s four regions. The results are shown for entire regions, not for individual districts. Because the early voting results are for the entire region, the same regional numbers are repeated in each district. For example, Region 1 contains House Districts 1-5 and 33-36. The same early voting results are presented on the R1 Early Voting row in all districts in Region 1. Although the results are listed multiple times, they were not counted more than once. These results were reported only once in the statewide summary, which accurately presents the results for each race.

    http://www.ltgov.state.ak.us/el...nr/index.shtml

    Not very convincing. Basically they are saying “just trust us.”

  26. 31)
    Botany said on 7/26/2006 @ 9:09pm PT: [Permalink]

    Winter Patriot,

    No I just copied the poem “The Cremation of Sam McGee”
    by Robert W. Service and sliced in a word here and there.

    It is from the Book “Spell of the Yukon.” I read it cover
    to cover when I was 12 ….. I was an odd child … rotflmao.

    Copy it all you want …. but give the Props to Mr. Service.

  27. 32)
    weena said on 7/27/2006 @ 12:01am PT: [Permalink]

    Just a correction. Diebold told the state of Alaska DOE they could release the info, so Diebold is not part of the stalling action taken by the state.
    Believe me, it pains me to say something nice about Diebold.

  28. 33)
    DutchCowboy said on 7/27/2006 @ 12:09am PT: [Permalink]

    Hi guys,

    i’ve been following the Bush-admin eversince they came into power (and almost got me shot in Baghdad for people thinking I was an American) and it’s just getting worse and worse.
    Besides all the fighting in far-away countries with a far better developed culture (envy?) and all the budgetcutting at home AND sexually harrassing our neighbour-Chanchellor, we’ve had it.
    We’ve had it with the 9/11 conspiracy, we’ve had it with the secret prisons inside Europe, the hypocracy of ‘Big Money’ (and the examples they set and were followed by friends of the Bush-admin) etc etc.
    An old friend of mine described Bush Co. as the new Nazis, according to Fascist-laws. Well, there you go.

    On the other hand – most of us in Europe have a pretty clear view of what’s going on. Nobody is blaming the democrats for what’s being done to your country – yet. But make sure you guys come back into power, and take stories of the Alaska-electionfraud in your backpack to Washington DC. I for one know that there’s about 50% of you (www.weresorry.com) who didn’t vote for a chimp with warcolored-crayons. Make no mistake – his buddies are appointed as Ambassador in The Netherlands, and we don’t want them…

    So please, get the stories out, get the GOP out and be sure to make the US proud of itself again. Love your country, hate your decisionmakers.

    Bart

  29. 36)
    krose said on 7/27/2006 @ 8:44pm PT: [Permalink]

    There are more than 50% who didn’t vote for the “chimp,” but the “machines” were “fixed!” We are going to have to “march in the streets,” if it happens again!

  30. 38)
    Kitty Connell said on 7/28/2006 @ 1:08am PT: [Permalink]

    Excuse me, but how on Earth can the votes cast by American people become the proprietary property of Diebold?

    Really? We just trust Diebold’s accounting department to determine who runs our country from here on out?

  31. 39)
    blue iceberg said on 7/28/2006 @ 9:36am PT: [Permalink]

    Well if all this isn’t enough I just recieved my State of Alaska Primary Election Voter Pamphlet and have been thus informed that Alaska has purchased at least 439 Diebold touch screen machines for our primary election to be held August 22nd. In that same pamphlet the Lt. Gov. actually has the gall to urge us to vote by saying that every vote counts!

  32. 40)
    Shlomo Aronovitz said on 7/28/2006 @ 10:01am PT: [Permalink]

    Any mention of Robert Service, in quote, prose, or style makes the day better. #28, Thank you.

  33. 41)
    Lawrence Teahan III said on 7/28/2006 @ 11:26am PT: [Permalink]

    Yet another right (Voting) being taken away by gov’t. Add it to the growing list, including the violation of the 1st Amendment by detaining peaceful demonstrators and pressuring Amazon to drop the book “America Deceived” by E.A. Blayre III. The US gov’t stole the 4th Amendment by wire-tapping phones without a warrant. The 2nd Amendment has been gone for years. Is there any Constitution even left?
    Final link (before Google Books caves and drops the title):
    America Deceived – Book

  34. 42)
    Melissa said on 7/29/2006 @ 1:00am PT: [Permalink]

    I am of the WWII generation (born 1941) I am computer literate and know how bad it is. I feel like the Nazi nation I grew up despising. We are up against some powerful , amoral people. I think that many people just can’t believe how bad it is. Denial is a powerful thing. Also, the television news and most newspapers are simply corporate propagandist outlets, so how can people find out? We are in a terrifying situation in the world today and I hope we can figure a way out of it.

  35. 44)
    Karen said on 7/31/2006 @ 10:08am PT: [Permalink]

    Dear Friends of Open Voting:

    Open Voting Foundation has released information and pictures concerning the Diebold TS model touch screen voting machine.

    OPEN VOTING FOUNDATION
    http://www.openvotingfoundation.org
    9560 Windrose Lane
    Granite Bay, CA 95746
    Phone (916) 295-0415
    alan@openvoting.org

    PRESS RELEASE — JULY 31, 2006
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Subject: WORST EVER SECURITY FLAW FOUND IN DIEBOLD TS VOTING MACHINE
    Contact: Alan Dechert
    Reference: http://www.openvotingfoundation.org/ts/

    SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA — “This may be the worst security flaw we have seen in touch screen voting machines,” says Open Voting Foundation president, Alan Dechert. Upon examining the inner workings of one of the most popular paperless touch screen voting machines used in public elections in the United States, it has been determined that with the flip of a single switch inside, the machine can behave in a completely different manner compared to the tested and certified version.

    “Diebold has made the testing and certification process practically irrelevant,” according to Dechert. “If you have access to these machines and you want to rig an election, anything is possible with the Diebold TS — and it could be done without leaving a trace. All you need is a screwdriver.” This model does not produce a voter verified paper trail so there is no way to check if the voter’s choices are accurately reflected in the tabulation.

    Open Voting Foundation is releasing 22 high-resolution close up pictures of the system. This picture (http://www.openvotingfoundation.org/5-bt-cfg.jpg ), in particular, shows a “BOOT AREA CONFIGURATION” chart painted on the system board.

    The most serious issue is the ability to choose between “EPROM” and “FLASH” boot configurations. Both of these memory sources are present. All of the switches in question (JP2, JP3, JP8, SW2 and SW4) are physically present on the board. It is clear that this system can ship with live boot profiles in two locations, and switching back and forth could change literally everything regarding how the machine works and counts votes. This could be done before or after the so-called “Logic And Accuracy Tests”.

    A third possible profile could be field-added in minutes and selected in the “external flash” memory location, the interface for which is present on the motherboard.

    This is not a minor variation from the previously documented attack point on the newer Diebold TSx. To its credit, the TSx can only contain one boot profile at a time. Diebold has ensured that it is extremely difficult to confirm what code is in a TSx (or TS) at any one time but it is at least theoretically possible to do so. But in the TS, a completely legal and certified set of files can be instantly overridden and illegal uncertified code be made dominant in the system, and then this situation can be reversed leaving the legal code dominant again in a matter of minutes.

    “These findings underscore the need for open testing and certification. There is no way such a security vulnerability should be allowed. These systems should be recalled”

    OPEN VOTING FOUNDATION is a nonprofit non stock California corporation dedicated to demonstrating the need for and benefits of voting technology that can be publicly scrutinized.

    ###

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