READER COMMENTS ON
"Internet Ad Seeks Temp Workers to Privately Shuttle Hackable Voting Machines for California's Upcoming Primary Elections"
(64 Responses so far...)
COMMENT #1 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/23/2006 @ 12:07 pm PT...
... no green card needed ... this is only an election ...
COMMENT #2 [Permalink]
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Robert Lockwood Mills
said on 5/23/2006 @ 12:21 pm PT...
Instructions to Temporary Couriers: "Please be sure not to lock the machines. Election officials have to be able to access them right up until Election Day, to prevent fraud from occurring."
COMMENT #3 [Permalink]
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Old Turk ---- SEND BRAD $$$$$$$$ !!!!!
said on 5/23/2006 @ 12:31 pm PT...
Let the mafia,.. drug-lords,.. street gangs,.. and gun runners deliver them electronic voting machines through out California,.. now there is an honest and trustworthy bunch of alter boys.
Trustworthy,..
beyond reproach,..
the bunch of them.
COMMENT #4 [Permalink]
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bluebear 2
said on 5/23/2006 @ 12:31 pm PT...
I think we should apply for these jobs and then reprogram them to play Pong or Donkey Kong.
Let's make election day entertaining!
COMMENT #5 [Permalink]
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emlev
said on 5/23/2006 @ 12:54 pm PT...
It seems to me that those of us committed to election integrity should get as many of these positions as we can to prevent dishonest people from having access.
And if this is happening in San Francisco, where else?
Or is this whole thing a trap of some kind?
COMMENT #6 [Permalink]
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Catherine a
said on 5/23/2006 @ 1:07 pm PT...
Great story, Brad.
Can't you just see operatives from both main parties organizing "suitable" applicants for these jobs?
COMMENT #7 [Permalink]
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Phil McCracken
said on 5/23/2006 @ 1:29 pm PT...
Brad:
The County in question is San Francisco County. SF County does NOT contract with Diebold. It contracts with ES&S. Call the SF Registrar's Office for verification.
How are you targeting Diebold when all counties hire temporary workers as poll workers and troubleshooters. You need to ask those jurisdictions. Those counties need to conduct background checks for all workers and other personnel. And, most of those counties do conduct checks. There are some which do not, and we need to hold those counties accountable.
COMMENT #8 [Permalink]
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Barryg
said on 5/23/2006 @ 1:30 pm PT...
There could be a hacker war on election day with both sides trying to see who can hack the most machines. Wouldn't it be amazing if half the machines showed votes for only one candidate and the other half only votes for the other.
COMMENT #9 [Permalink]
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mr.ed
said on 5/23/2006 @ 1:30 pm PT...
$12 from Kelly + $30 from the RNC. Not bad. Don't forget to report it.
COMMENT #10 [Permalink]
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nostrafarious
said on 5/23/2006 @ 1:31 pm PT...
Jesus Christ!
What's being done about this?! Can anyone contact Greg Palast? Barbra Boxer? The SF Board of Supervisors [Tom Ammiano - Tom.Ammiano@sfgov.org ].
COMMENT #11 [Permalink]
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nostrafarious
said on 5/23/2006 @ 1:44 pm PT...
background checks, schmackground checks, what good are they?
COMMENT #12 [Permalink]
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Brad
said on 5/23/2006 @ 1:46 pm PT...
"Phil McCracken" said:
The County in question is San Francisco County. SF County does NOT contract with Diebold. It contracts with ES&S. Call the SF Registrar's Office for verification.
How are you targeting Diebold when all counties hire temporary workers as poll workers and troubleshooters. You need to ask those jurisdictions. Those counties need to conduct background checks for all workers and other personnel. And, most of those counties do conduct checks. There are some which do not, and we need to hold those counties accountable.
"Phil", I realize your job is to defend and protect Diebold (as opposed to the Constitution of the United States of America), but that said, whether SF uses ES&S or not is hardly the point. For all we know ES&S is equally as vulnerable to tampering as is Diebold.
The point is that the last-minute emergency procedures being implimented by states and counties to mitigate the security failures in machines like yours, ES&S' etc. are a joke.
Had they been properly designed in the first place, we wouldn't have these problems. Why should Elections Officials have to change the way they've been running elections for years to mitigate security issues that *you guys* introduced into the system with these crappy machines?
Further, I don't care what "background checks" are done or not. Jim Tobin (convicted phone-jammer of the RNC), the election officials in Cuyahoga County (indicted for gaming the Ohio '04 recount), Thomas & Bernadette Noe (indicted on 53 felony counts), Matt Damschroeder (passed a Diebold lobbyist "contribution" to the RNC just prior to the '04 election), and J. Kenneth Blackwell (violator of numerous state elections laws) all presumably passed "background checks".
The point is our system is not built on "trust". It's built on the opposite of trust. Checks and balances. And when you remove those checks and balances, and open the barn door (through machines like yours) to anyone who wishes to hack the system undetectedly, as has been confirmed to be easy on Diebold machines, you are undermining the very core of democracy.
Why don't you call on your company to do the right thing for a change instead of blaming voters, election workers and ES&S for all of your shortcomings and issuing obvious misinformation concerning the safety and reliability of those systems?
COMMENT #13 [Permalink]
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JUDGE OF JUDGES
said on 5/23/2006 @ 2:21 pm PT...
COMMENT #14 [Permalink]
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Catherine a
said on 5/23/2006 @ 2:27 pm PT...
Brad #12
That's telling him!
COMMENT #15 [Permalink]
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MrBlueSky
said on 5/23/2006 @ 2:32 pm PT...
Brad,
I like the idea of working with these machines.
The CEO of Diebold was determined to deliver Ohio and the Presidency to Bush 2 years ago using his machines.
Perhaps we can get those jobs and then hack them to elect a new Democrat majority (just the opposite of what the CEO of Diebold did!)
COMMENT #16 [Permalink]
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Mark Mywords
said on 5/23/2006 @ 2:53 pm PT...
i wanna be a 'lection delivererer, i can do it... can i huh, can i?
from the usa to the rest of the world: "Help! we have fallen and we cannot get up"
COMMENT #17 [Permalink]
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Robert
said on 5/23/2006 @ 3:30 pm PT...
Perhaps this is the time to show the MSM and the rest of the world what a crock of shit the elections have become, by hacking these damn machines to flip ALL the votes to Karl Rove or someone else not on the ballot. It would be hard for the press and the rest of the country to not come to the conclusion that the machines were hacked! If I had any computer literacy whatsoever, I would do it in a heartbeat. This country is going to Hell and we are just standing by and watching. If geeks can risk their ass by sending a virus to merely build up their own egos, then surely some can hack these machines for the worldwide attention it would receive, plus the fact that they would be doing their country a great service.
COMMENT #18 [Permalink]
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Phil McCracken
said on 5/23/2006 @ 3:32 pm PT...
First of All, Catherine get a life! Do you have a real job or do you just post messages all day? You seem to be surfing on the web all day long.
Brad:
Give me a break. How about a phone number where I can call you? I am NOT an apologist for any company. I am sick of the name calling and accusations, and calling into question anyone who has a different viewpoint.
I am an American. I am a tax payer. I am appalled by some of the reforms in elections. If Florida did not occur in 2000, there would be no HAVA and modern electronic voting systems would be implemented in a slower manner. My question is why the angst toward electronic voting. Datavote is electronic, so was Votomatic, and were used for over 35 years. Where was the uproar on those systems? Where was the call for more recounts, and for more verification? Where was the uproar on the high error rate for punchcards? Please tell me...
COMMENT #19 [Permalink]
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Phil McCracken
said on 5/23/2006 @ 3:54 pm PT...
BTW Brad: Before I defend any voting system vendor, I will defend the Constitution of the United States with my life. I believe in our country. I do not necessarily like our current leadership, but I believe in that document, and will defend it, before money and certainly before any corporation.
COMMENT #20 [Permalink]
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Brad
said on 5/23/2006 @ 3:57 pm PT...
"Phil" feel free to send me your phone number via private email, and I'll try to give you a call.
As to "where was the uproar?" --- I'll give you just one quick response, since I must leave for a bit. In those cases, I'm guessing there was paper ballots counted by a central tabulator. So there was a countable paper trail if there were any questions.
With the new machines, paperless and with uncountable "paper trail" those days are gone. Thus, they MUST be stopped for the good of democracy.
If the older machines were also a problem, I'm sure you'll forgive me that I've only been blogging since January of 2004.
COMMENT #21 [Permalink]
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Shannon Williford
said on 5/23/2006 @ 4:18 pm PT...
OK Phil,
You love your country and your constitution. Great.
One question of your's should be answered by the fact that all elections in a free democracy should be transparent, with anybody that wants to watch welcome at any point in the process. Ain't gonna happen with computer machines.
Another question you ask is valid. Where've we been?
We believed in our elections, most of us till Nov. of 2004. That's when the outcomes all over America in the Presidential (and a few other questionable outcomes...) contest simply didn't add up and we had to face the facts. Somebody has the ability to change the will of the people as expressed in the vote, and THEY'RE DOING IT!!!
Maybe they did it before. Some of us, like me, began to look at it in 2003, but I still didn't really believe it could happen, despite the evidence from FL in '00. Last thing I wanna be is a "conspiracy theorist," but there it is. Can't be avoided by anyone looking at the facts of elections in America today. So now I'm a full grown "conspiracy nut" about elections, and I hate it, I wish I didn't spend waaaay too much of my time doing it, but it's got to be done. God bless the other folks of like mind. We're today's Patriots, I have to say in all modesty. Unfortunately, as has been said before, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and we were not vigilant enough the last few years. And now we find ourselves stuck in a modern dictatorship with our nation going to hell and nobody much giving a damn about how it happened and how it'll continue. But I and a bunch of my fellow election reform advocates do give a damn. We'd love for you to help, if you really wanna defend the constition.
also:
Even after we get back a paper ballot, there are still LOTS of election problems we'll have to deal with...
Peace out,
shw
COMMENT #22 [Permalink]
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Mark Mywords
said on 5/23/2006 @ 5:09 pm PT...
conspiracy theorist
Why the fear in THAT label. Someone who thinks there is a conspiracy. Let me touch on the OTHER person for a minute... "I believe that GWBush was legally elected with only the country's welfare at heart. There were no shenanagans with Wilson's wife or the claims about WMD. It is stupid to think that the tubes could be used for anything else. The backroom meetings with the energy companies were above board, the notes were thrown away to conserve and recycle paper. Blair and Bush did not meet to pre-determine a war. "
OKAY... i give up... maybe PEOPLE DO CONSPIRE and those of us who watch for them andpoint out where things LOOK less than above board are indeed Conspiracy Theorists. YOU HAVE A BETTER THEORY?
COMMENT #23 [Permalink]
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Robert Lockwood Mills
said on 5/23/2006 @ 5:19 pm PT...
Phil, we're your friends here. Most of us, at least. I agree we should dispense with the name-calling and focus on the facts.
The facts are these: Diebold, E.S.&S., and Sequoia can't be trusted. There might be honorable people at each company, but they're not in charge. If they were, we'd have heard long ago a statement like the following: "I take seriously my company's responsibility to contribute to honest elections that satisfy all voters of every political persuasion."
That's not what we've heard, Phil. On the contrary, we've been told we're "conspiracy theorists" and worse. Except election fraud is no longer a theory. It's a reality. What can you do to help the American people deal with the reality?
COMMENT #24 [Permalink]
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bejammin075
said on 5/23/2006 @ 6:09 pm PT...
The words in the original ad "WITH LITTLE ASSISTANCE" should be highlighted too! Translation: "You'll be UNsupervised so you can take as much time as you want to do whatever you want to the machine, and no one could possibly see you"
COMMENT #25 [Permalink]
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PrchrLady
said on 5/23/2006 @ 6:25 pm PT...
This is outrageous, but not entirely unexpected, is it? I am so sick of hearing of one area of the country after another having some 'unavoidable or unforseeable' event coming to light. I am sick, but still hopeful that enough people will hear the warning calls, and rise up and DEMAND that the machines be thrown out and we can be assured that all of this nations elections are honest. It only is through the hard work of Brad and Bev Harris, and others, that this is becoming a 'NEW' topic of conversation among the sheeple... Thanks for all you do. You are making a difference.
COMMENT #26 [Permalink]
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bejammin075
said on 5/23/2006 @ 6:33 pm PT...
Answer to Phil #18:
One of your questions was basically "Where was all the uproar for the previous decades of electronic voting machines"
Simple. 2 things change over time: there is more and more electronic voting, especially since HAVA. If it's a problem, it becomes more of a problem. Also, over time we learn more about the problems that we didn't know before. Since the companies never seem to fix any problems, the knowledge that accumulates means that there are accumulating security flaws.
So you've got a growing problem that we are learning more and more about. Which is, I think, a good reason for there to be uproar now when there was not before. And as Brad said, he's only been blogging since 2004.
Prior to 2004, I assumed that if & when machines were used, they were secure like ATMs.
COMMENT #27 [Permalink]
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Eric Smith
said on 5/23/2006 @ 6:50 pm PT...
Having worked for Kelly Services in the state of California, I know firsthand the background checks that they do:
"Sir, have you ever been convicted of a felony?"
"Uh... no, ma'am."
"Thank you. Just sign your name here, please".
Man, it would so rock if we got ours in there to guarantee the Repugnicants got tossed out on their asses.
COMMENT #28 [Permalink]
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PrchrLady
said on 5/23/2006 @ 6:56 pm PT...
#24
yes, absolutely highlight it. no doubt the temp workers will be paid 8-10 dollars/hour. They may even be part of a 'team'; one or two to go in pick up machines, load them on dollies, then unload them to trucks, while another worker is sitting on the truck waiting for the next load of machines, is left unattended for just a couple of minutes... probably not an accurate scenario, but then, nothing surprises me anymore with this cabal... Election fraud is just a means to maintain their power structure. And the PNAC group is just powerful enough to pull it off. We are in BIG trouble unless we can stop this thundering train; I feel like I might be on a ride in Stephen King's novel. Who can give me a riddle??? I guess I must be one of those conspiracy nuts too. Glad to join the crowd...
COMMENT #29 [Permalink]
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Eric Smith
said on 5/23/2006 @ 7:39 pm PT...
An engineer once told me that a taser will instantly render one of these inoperable. Can't vouch for the veracity of that.
(15 seconds after entering booth):
"Hey... hey lady. I can't seem to get this one WORKING. Can I try ANOTHER one?"
(30 seconds later):
"Nope. This one's dead too! Say, what's WITH these darn machines anyway?!?"
(Next voter in line):
"Hey mister. This machine's dead..."
Repeat until mission accomplished....
COMMENT #30 [Permalink]
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Larry Bergan
said on 5/23/2006 @ 7:46 pm PT...
Look into my eyes.
you are feeling very sleepy.
Whenever you hear somebody criticize the government, you will accuse them of being a conspiracy theorist.
When I clap my hands, you will wake up feeling better then you've ever felt in your life.
COMMENT #31 [Permalink]
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Jody Holder
said on 5/23/2006 @ 8:26 pm PT...
First some response regarding historic warnings regarding e-voting:
1. Ronnie Dugger wrote his first investigative piece on electronic voting vulnerabilities in 1988.
2. There have been several computer scientist sounding the alarm for a long time; Rebecca Mercuri, Doug Jones to name just a couple (try a Google search).
3. Votescam the book was written a long time ago.
4. LA County's RoV herself was involved in a voting scandal involving electronic voting machines back in the 1980s.
Second, we know that the ES & S memory card has similar vulnerabilities. As an example, a printed-out copy of one of the Diebold memos (which I printed out in early fall 2003), involving an exchange between Deborah Seiler (that is another story) with Diebold and Diebold headquarters (actually still Global Election Systems at that time). She was describing the hearing that day at the Secretary of States meeting of the Voting Systems and Procedures Panel where GESN was trying to get the AccuVote-TS-R6 approved. She is quite proud of the fact that Lou Dedier (remember that name), the analyst responsible for voting system certification had told the panel that the "system had functioned without a hitch". Then in parenthesises she states "Little did he know I was sitting there with a machine with a frozen throat." Later in the same paragraph she reports that Lou Dedier told her he had been able to hack into an ES & S memory card inserted into his computer in about an hour.
Shortly thereafter Lou Dedier left the Secretary of State's Elections Division and went to work as General Manager on the West Coast for ES & S. :- )
Deborah Seiler had worked for the Secetary of State's Elections Division back in 1989. Then later she went to work for Diebold, including during the important 2001-2004 period when Deibold was getting their touchscreens approved for use in California. In the latter part of 2004, after the Diebold TSx was de-certified for failing to meet the "conditions" of its earlier rushed certification, and after the Secretary of State's staff issued a multi-page condemnation of Diebold's misrepresentations to the Secretary, Deborah went to work for one of the very counties (Solano County) she had sold the TSx to in 2003 when it was not even approved yet.
In regard to electronic voting systems that use removable media to record the ballot definitions and the actual votes recorded by the electronic equipment (this includes optical scan and touch screen), the dangers are present in all of them. That was basically admitted to by the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), the group that is the non-governmental body that is currently supervising the testing and qualifying of electronic voting systems. In late March the NASED Voting Systems Board issued a report on the memory card issue. At the end they stated the following:
To prevent corruption of memory cards NASED hereby adopts an official addendum to the qualification of all voting systems that include a memory card that functions to store and transfer ballot images or tabulation data:
1. Throughout the life of the voting system, the election official shall maintain control of all memory cards and keep a perpetual chain of custody record for all of the memory cards used with the system. Programmed memory cards shall be stored securely at all times with logged accesses and transfers.
2. Immediately after the memory card is installed in the voting station, the card shall be sealed against unauthorized access. The voting station shall not be set into election mode until after the memory card is sealed inside.
3. Use controlled serialized seals that are tamper resistant and resistant to inadvertent breakage along with verifiable seal logs.
4. In post-election mode, print the results report prior to removing the memory card from the optical scanner. If additional reports other than the results report are available, print these as well. Failure to comply with this addendum negates the voting system’s status as a NASED-qualified voting system.
The above is an Addendum which applies to ALL voting systems that have been qualified by NASED. If any jurisdiction uses a NASED Qualified voting system contrary to the above requirements it is NOT qualified. In California that means they are illegally being used. It also means it does not meet the "conditions" required by Secretary McPherson for its California Certification.
Now for the bad news. All voting systems have other ports by which to access the memory card electronically. That includes the Diebold voting systems. The TSx has serial ports, modem ports, and as Black Box Voting showed, the entire cover can be removed and all the so-called security seals bypassed.
Finally, the problem is even worse as the ad illustrates. The machines are not always delivered the night before. In some jurisdictions (San Diego for example), the TSx machines were taken home by poll workers up to 2 weeks prior to the election. It would appear that the workers for San Francisco will be delivering the machines ahead of the election. In the real world the security that is talked about in theory is not found in practice.
Worse, all this extra security could be as useless as closing the barn door after the horse has already escaped. We know from the Hursti II Report that malicious code could have been inserted at any time prior to now, lying dormant (or maybe not) ready for action.
Brad, if you want I can send you the letter from NASED. What is really interesting, such an important letter is undated. Remember, this letter was written prior to the release of the Hursti II Report. That means it does not even begin to address the new knowledge we have of all the other risks for manipulation of our votes.
COMMENT #32 [Permalink]
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Jody Holder
said on 5/23/2006 @ 8:39 pm PT...
WARNING:
Somebody mentioned disabling voting machines. In California that is now classifieded as a felony. I would not recommend discussing it, encouraging it, or taking any such actions.
In addiition it could possibly be classified as domestic terrorism and investigated and prosecuted at the federal level.
As much as I am opposed to these machines, it would be much more effective to financially support those fighting the fight, to demonstrate, and to agitate verbally.
I do look forward to the day that those responsible for attacking the very foundation of our form of government, the peoples' will expressed through our vote, go to prison.
COMMENT #33 [Permalink]
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Jeff Barea
said on 5/23/2006 @ 9:17 pm PT...
Can you be any more racist????
Temp workers, overwhelmingly poor and minority are now to be considered untrustworthy?
Isn't that hypocritical? I know you despise the new electronic voting machines, but do you really have to stoop that low to denigrate and belittle the Americans who have been blasted from their cushy union jobs and are reduced to working for low pay and no benefits through temp jobs just so you can score political points against the people with no protections in this new economy?
Issue and apology if you're man enough. I would say more bluntly what I think of this disgusting attempt to demonize hard working Americans, but I think you understand what words I would use to describe you.
I'll leave now, I need to spit and there is no way to electronically to spit on you.
COMMENT #34 [Permalink]
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Jeff Barea
said on 5/23/2006 @ 9:37 pm PT...
Can you be any more racist????
Temp workers, overwhelmingly poor and minority are now to be considered untrustworthy?
Isn't that hypocritical? I know you despise the new electronic voting machines, but do you really have to stoop that low to denigrate and belittle the Americans who have been blasted from their cushy union jobs and are reduced to working for low pay and no benefits through temp jobs just so you can score political points against voter fraud by destroying the people with no protections in this new economy?
Issue an apology if you're man enough. I would say more bluntly what I think of this disgusting attempt to demonize hard working Americans, but I think you understand what words I would use to describe you.
I'll leave now, I need to spit and there is no way to electronically to spit on you.
COMMENT #35 [Permalink]
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Brigide
said on 5/23/2006 @ 9:42 pm PT...
#33 You're kidding right? No one has said anything about race in this discussion. Sensitive, much? I would just as easily believe some Young Republican would apply for the job just to hack the machine. You're comment is just too unreal to be believed.
COMMENT #36 [Permalink]
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Jeff Barea
said on 5/23/2006 @ 10:01 pm PT...
RE: #35
Are you kidding me?
Brad attacked, no questions about it, the security and sensibility of using temp workers.
That part is clear right?
The temp workforce is overwhelmingly low income (aka poor) and minority. You really want to debate that?
The temp workforce receives lower wages and less or more likely NO benefits than the "perm workforce." You really want to debate that?
Day laborers are TEMPS. You really want to debat that?
Any real questions about the composition of the TEMP workforce as it breaks down on income and race lines?
Brad clearly derided using this low income, majority minority workforce because of his asserted concerns about security.
Race is a part of it. *%#&@@^ liberals like to ignore that when they think their argument benefits their point.
My simple point is that the low income, minority workforce should not be used as a scapegoat. Especially by **^$@##@^ liberals that claim to be their guardians.
As far as "too unreal to be believed" they have a word in psychiatry for that: cognitive dissonance.
My compound word is rat-bastard-opportunists.
COMMENT #37 [Permalink]
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Shannon Williford
said on 5/23/2006 @ 10:07 pm PT...
#32 - WTF???
Racist? I know racist; and this ain't it. Typical diversionary tactic by the right wing nuts...
Nobody is trustworthy in elections. That's why the whole process should be open and transparent...
So no, we don't trust temp workers, we don't trust election officials, we don't trust ANYBODY!
We do trust voters, if you give them a chance to vote on paper ballots, to verify their vote and put it in a box which is in public for anybody to see before it's opened and the paper counted...
COMMENT #38 [Permalink]
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bvac
said on 5/23/2006 @ 10:12 pm PT...
COMMENT #39 [Permalink]
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Jeff Barea
said on 5/23/2006 @ 10:17 pm PT...
RE: 37
Having voted Democratic on those huge machines where you pull the arm to vote and on Republican on paper push ballots with chad issues, I really wonder if you understand how easy it is, temps or perm workers to commit voter fraud regardless of the method?
In the situation at hand, however, the issue is of temp workers.
Temp workers have no predisposition to commit voter fraud. They are simply not paid enough nor does the job offer any long-term benefit to be complicit in a felony.
Voter fraud is most likely committed by permanent, politically aligned, personnel.
To disparage an overwhelmingly low-income, minority workforce simply for political attacks against a white owned and managed company (including the temp company) is not just in poor taste, but a misguided attack against a low-income, minority workforce.
Amazing how anyone can debase themselves into de-facto racism, isn't it?
COMMENT #40 [Permalink]
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Jeff Barea
said on 5/23/2006 @ 10:27 pm PT...
RE; 38
I know my blog sucks. As long as you come, it's worth it for both of us, right?
COMMENT #41 [Permalink]
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MMIIXX
said on 5/23/2006 @ 11:55 pm PT...
your whole f#cking country has BEEN stolen JEFF and you get heated splitting hairs over this .
COMMENT #42 [Permalink]
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cwshadows
said on 5/24/2006 @ 4:32 am PT...
Keep up the good work Brad. Maybe this is a little off topic, but reading this blog has got me thinking about my last trip to my bank ATM. I cringed when I read the Diebold name on the ATM. Considering the allegations of questionable ethics held by the Diebold company and some of their employees, their voting machines may be the least of our worries. I know; another wild conspiracy theory. No major American corporation would really collect important personal data on an American citizen. Forgive me if this concern has already been raised by others and thoroughly discussed. One more thing, I can tell when someone's post has gotten dangerously close to exposing the truth, the NATTERING NABOBS OF NEGATIVITY (shamlessly lifted from a speech by Vice President Agnew in the Seventies) pounce on them like rabid dogs. They remind me of school yard bullies, who are miserable and want everyone else to experience their misery.
COMMENT #43 [Permalink]
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Vanna
said on 5/24/2006 @ 4:42 am PT...
You don't need to exploit temp workers of any kind or color to get the vote-hack job done.
Vote Hack Central sends one of their own to Kelly Services (whom I've worked for, and with). Kelly Services puts this American-looking, American-speaking, clean-cut, nicely dressed--i.e., not likely an immigrant or homeless person--on the roster of temp employees sent to Boss at Vote Hack Remote Site. Vote Hack Boss puts Temp Vote Worker/Party Operative in a position to do the dirty work. Nothing else required. Kelly Services is as easy to game as a Diebold machine.
COMMENT #44 [Permalink]
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Robert Lockwood Mills
said on 5/24/2006 @ 5:14 am PT...
For Jeff Barea: No one said anything racist. You're throwing in a red herring.
The issue is outsourcing the delivery of election machines. This is a blue-collar function, and many workers doing this will in fact be illegal immigrants, minorities, and uneducated foreigners. That's a fact of economic life, not racism.
Given that huge questions have been raised (and not answered satisfactorily) about the security of these machines, to leave them in the hands of people who might not realize how important their security is would leave the door open (pun intended) to others, practiced in the art of hacking.
That is not a racist statement.
COMMENT #45 [Permalink]
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Eric Smith
said on 5/24/2006 @ 5:22 am PT...
Toby (#32):
Fuck that. Cowardice=slavery.
Points:
The Boston Tea Party was treason.
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."
~Thomas Jefferson
"The right to revolt has sources deep in our history." ~ Justice William O. Douglas
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.
~William Penn
"Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order."
~John V. Lindsay
"You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern.... One may won ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there fire two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."
...One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."
~Dr. Martin Luther King, "Letter from Birmingham
Jail"
"Remember, everything Hitler did was legal."
--Dr. Martin Luther King
If a tidal wave of Americans do fight the rigged system, they cannot jail us all; they cannot kill us all; they cannot silence us all.
I say, better to die in defense of liberty than to live a perpetual slave.
COMMENT #46 [Permalink]
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Eric Smith
said on 5/24/2006 @ 5:32 am PT...
COMMENT #47 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/24/2006 @ 5:38 am PT...
Jeff Barea
Any race, creed, gender, or political persuasion can be a temp worker.
Even college students ...
So what race exactly would be the target of your allegations of race?
Being a temp worker is not a function of race, it is a function of Preznit Blush increasing those numbers.
Bankruptcy and foreclosures are up ... so it is an economic concept not a racial concept.
I know these things can be confusing ...
The issue of security, when humans are involved, has a nexus to temptation to do wrong by being exposed to what one is missing ... enough money ... not race.
Everyone has race, but some people don't have enough money at a particular time, and are therefore, temporarily weakened ... so that they can be offered some extra cash to do something they do not know the consequences of.
So get off the straw man and wake up and smell the election system.
The current US Election system smells like the south end of a north bound camel.
And only three people head up the IT departments of three companies (ES&S, Diebold, and Sequoia) that have shitty machines that count the votes of Americans.
Al Queda could not have done a better job than these dorks to destabilize our election system. And it certainly is destabilized.
And when you do not have a system that can be trusted to apply the will of Americans expressed in their vote, you have a modern day republican dictatorship at the helm.
They must be fondling their fear, uncertainty, and doubt in this lust-affair of power and glee. As they demonize patriots with their propaganda lies.
COMMENT #48 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/24/2006 @ 6:12 am PT...
A PHONE COMPANY
THAT STANDS UP FOR RIGHTS
SWITCH TO
THE AMERICAN QUEST
COMMENT #49 [Permalink]
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Jeff Barea
said on 5/24/2006 @ 8:22 am PT...
RE: 47 "I know these things can be confusing ..."
You're right, so let me make it clearer to you...
Attacking temp workers, as being morally weakened and more subject to bribery as a class of workers (whose composition is overwhelmingly minority) is as morally defensible an argument as attacking native american's because Abramoff used their money to finance the current Republican majority...
Can I make it clearer? Yes... I can even do it without snide comments...
Stop smearing hard-working, economically disadvantaged minorities.
"And only three people head up the IT departments of three companies" I bet they aren't temp workers.
I really hope I don't have to further explain to a Harvard man how institutional racism through economic enslavement works, e.g. sub-prime lending.
Cut to me whistling softly "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." I think it would be nice if Jorge got a nice office job programming those machines instead of cleaning them. But then, I'm not a liberal like you.
COMMENT #50 [Permalink]
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Grizzly Bear Dancer
said on 5/24/2006 @ 9:39 am PT...
There has to be a protest movement to declare electronic voting UNCONSTITUTION. Stolen elections are not the "will of the people." Until we have legitimate elections beyond a reasonable doubt with with paper ballots to verify who "we the people" voted for, we must NOT ACCEPT this way of voting in the US any longer.
COMMENT #51 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/24/2006 @ 10:12 am PT...
Jeff Barnea #49
You did not make it any more clear, because you do not endeavor to be clear. Your purpose is to obfuscate by making false and unsupportable accusations.
You don't even keep to the subject matter of a blog's thread. Are you are a blogmeister or a blogmesser?
And now you have flip flopped. First it was racism and now it is economic islameo bushspeak.
The other bloggers here noticed that your racist straw man thingy was a "red herring" (a fish story from a red state) with no foundation in logic, truth, proportion, and in fact was dishonest.
Now you purport to take up for temp workers that preznit blush is increasing.
Take GM and Ford workers for example. When the republican dictatorship is done there will be no more permanent workers, we will all be temps. They have changed the bankruptcy laws so that GM and Ford can cast off pensions.
Temp is just another word for "post bush". Racism from you is just another word for "I can't think of any big words".
Is your blog a temp blog, or do you have so much time because "There are no upcoming events" on your "blog" as posted on your "blog"?
BTW the subject matter is election machines and how they are built, handled, mishandled, and the like. Have you ever heard of an electronic election machine? We talk about them all the time here ... even on this thread !
You said "I'm not a liberal like you". Hey, I feel your pain.
COMMENT #52 [Permalink]
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Jeff Barea
said on 5/24/2006 @ 10:37 am PT...
RE: 51 - Obfuscation Override Initiated.
51 WROTE:"You did not make it any more clear, because you do not endeavor to be clear. Your purpose is to obfuscate by making false and unsupportable accusations."
Are you the pot or the kettle this time?
51 WROTE: "You don't even keep to the subject matter of a blog's thread. Are you are a blogmeister or a blogmesser?"
Read the subject matter of Paragraphs 2, and 3 of the above blog entry again, it's pasted below for your convenience:
BRADBLOG WROTE: "A tip received by The BRAD BLOG on Monday reveals that Temp Workers :O are currently being sought in San Francisco for California's upcoming primary election to "assist in dropping off election voting machines and picking these machines up when voting is complete," as the says.
A classified ad seeking the workers :O is currently posted on the Internet at Monster.com by Kelly Services. (A screenshot of the complete ad is posted at the end of this article.) The salary offered to temp workers :O hired for the job --- who will have private unsupervised access to the state's voting machines before and after election day --- is $11.99/hour according to the posting." --END BRADBLOG QUOTE
Temp a temp a temp a temp tempies.
51 WROTE: "And now you have flip flopped. First it was racism and now it is economic islameo bushspeak."
Come on, Harvard man, I said I hoped I didn't have to FURTHER explain why attakcing a working class of minorities as untrustworthy is de-facto racism.
Obfuscation Override Accomplished
Please place your seat backs in the proper position and observe the no-obfuscation signs the conservative has enabled.
Only one question left, why are you so angry about my trying to steer the attack (again see paragraphs 2 & 3) away from the trustworthiness of hard-working minorities?
Don't hide from your comment that these overwhelmingly minority temp workers are morally weakened [SEE Comment #47] and too dumb to understand the effects of bribery.
51 WROTE:"The other bloggers here noticed..."
I'll remember that when I decide to run for Prom Queen. Until then, I'll continue to oppose racism in all its forms.
I ask again, why are you so down on brown?
COMMENT #53 [Permalink]
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Jeff Barea
said on 5/24/2006 @ 10:40 am PT...
Before you begin with the meow meow meows... Dredd...
Wasn't comment #1 from you :
"... no green card needed ... this is only an election ..."
COMMENT #54 [Permalink]
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Brad
said on 5/24/2006 @ 11:38 am PT...
Uh, guys... Jeff Barea is here to do nothing more than obfuscate from the point at hand.
His completely phony and disingenuous argument is not worth the time it takes to answer to.
Perhaps the best response to Jeff (if one is even necessary to his nonsense) is something along the lines of...Jeff, why do you hate America? Virtually all of the commenters, and indeed the author of the article here (me), are Americans. And Americans fighting for election integrity at that.
And yet you attack us.
So why do you hate Americans so much? And why are you against clean elections? Do you have something to hide?
What's your real name and where do you live and have you ever committed election fraud? From the tenor of your posts, you sound like a criminal. But either way, what's clear is that you hate both Americans and democracy. What do you have against either?
(Other than an argument like that, this clown is hardly worth the time either reading or replying to. If you have any questions about that, see his phony blog and all should be clear).
COMMENT #55 [Permalink]
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Eric Smith
said on 5/24/2006 @ 2:19 pm PT...
This Jeff character's an idiot, some right-wing sphincter just trying to stir up trouble. When I worked at Kelly --- in the state of California --- there were far more white temp workers than any other race. And they're not "poor" --- Kelly pays pretty well, actually.
Brad, why don't you just delete said sphincter's flatulence --- it's not even on-topic.
COMMENT #56 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/24/2006 @ 5:49 pm PT...
How come so many trolls are named Jeff ...
... never mind ... ever since jeffie got kicked out of the white house "press core" ... and had to get back to other "pressing" matters ... all these jeffie manifestations just gotta "be on top" ...
... mad dog jeffie the topper ... ... gotta "luv" it ...
COMMENT #57 [Permalink]
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Larry Bergan
said on 5/25/2006 @ 1:09 am PT...
Yeah Brad:
Jeff Barea does obfuscate, but he's not even good enough at that to get a job with the GOP or the media.
Now THAT'S sad!
COMMENT #58 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/25/2006 @ 5:31 am PT...
It seems that the republican dictatorship has found a way to exonerate the voting machine companies and the teleco's.
For the first time in US history, private companies are becoming adjuncts to spying and are being protected under national security concepts:
"President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations. Notice of the development came in a brief entry in the Federal Register, dated May 5, 2006, that was opaque to the untrained eye" (link here).
This means they do not have to disclose financial data when the magic wand national security is waived.
And it even reaches the telecom companies that are doing the NSA spy dirty work:
"Telecom giant Verizon is refusing to confirm or deny participation in the illegal National Security Agency (NSA) wiretapping program, as citizens in Maine urge the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to investigate whether the company handed over its phone records.
In a tight-lipped 44-page response to the PUC last Friday, Verizon argued that the Commission lacks the authority to investigate a complaint that the telephone company was involved in the NSA program. The company further claimed such information is protected by the state-secrets privilege" (link here, bold added).
My guess is that this may be used to protect the big three election machine companies (ES&S, Diebold, and Sequoia) when it becomes obvious that the nation has been destabilized even in its election systems.
We may never know who worked for the elections, temp or not, if the "national security" magic wand is waved.
COMMENT #59 [Permalink]
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Brad
said on 5/25/2006 @ 3:13 pm PT...
Too busy to go back and delete his nonsense right now. But rest assured, if he continues with his disinformation, he will be removed for good.
Knock it off "Jeff Barea" or you're finished here. Phony arguments and knowing disinformation are not welcome.
All of which is a far cry from disagreeing with any point I, or others may make. You're welcome to do that. You're just not welcome to do so by using knowingly phony arguments.
You've been warned.
COMMENT #60 [Permalink]
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Bluebear2
said on 5/25/2006 @ 8:34 pm PT...
Jeff Why do you hate America?
COMMENT #61 [Permalink]
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Jeff Barea
said on 5/27/2006 @ 11:03 am PT...
Brad,
It's your blog, no doubt about it. You make up the rules.
I merely post on what topics or parts of topics I feel motivated to.
Threats of a ban for doing so, well, this is my last post on your site. Never been much for censorship.
COMMENT #62 [Permalink]
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Eric Smith
said on 5/27/2006 @ 11:18 am PT...
Jeff, why do you hate America?
COMMENT #63 [Permalink]
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Joan
said on 5/27/2006 @ 1:47 pm PT...
Bye, jeff! Don't slam the door on your way out.
COMMENT #64 [Permalink]
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Happy
said on 6/2/2006 @ 11:12 pm PT...
If you're NOT a conspiracy theorist by now, YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION! :crazy: