Wow, I don't see why such a good article should be so full of mean spirited words towards other Americans. So many people are just now waking up after being in a political comma for most of their lives. That doesn't mean they approved of the Bush administration, but that they simply were not aware of the truth. I don't think now is the time to keep pitting Americans against each other due to political party, race, or the fact that many Americans actually thought they could trust their elected officials to do the right thing, etc. We need to pull together to fight this huge enemy lurking within our midst. I don't think you should belittle the concerns that Americans have today; there are so many issues and they are all important. Thank you for your part in uncovering corruption. I don't care what your political affiliation is.

You'll pardon me, Cathy, if after 8 years of being told I, and other patriots fighting for this nation and its constitution and its Rule of Law, were "unAmerican" for standing up for the Constitution, and against unprecedented government intrusion into the lives of Americans. That, even as I still call for the same thing today. I don't take kindly to the Johnny-come-lately pretenders who claim to give a damn about those principles, but instead of fighting for them --- like demanding immediate accountability for documented fugitive criminals like George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, etc. --- they continue to make excuses for them, and offend the crap out of the world by comparing Obama to Nazis and otherwise calling for his murder.

You'll find plenty of criticism of Obama and the Dems here. But it's not opportunistic criticism, based on imaginary nonsense. It's as real as our criticism of the previous administration.

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footbals, as just one example, has demonstrated he's not an opportunist by calling his fellow wingnuts to task for their outrageously hypocritical behavior.

Are you willing to do the same? Are you willing to call for the immediate arrest of those who have broken the law of the land and shredded the Constitution? Even if they are Republican? Even if they are Dick Cheney and friends?

If so, let me know, let me hear it and see it, and I'll be happy to welcome you or any other teabagger into the light.

Until then, I'm not impressed by the America-hating pretenders who are more interested in political gamesmanship --- even if it brings this country to its knees --- then in standing up for its citizenry and its constitution.

I think a lot of folks are holding their tongue on ACORN. I want to throw my opinion out there, it's not well edited at all here, just some thoughts.

ACORN - a couple of people in a couple cities were found to be corrupt.

Can we crush this problem, analyze it, fix it one way or another, and get to something real like electronic voting machines or corruption at the highest levels of government?

I personally feel let down, since when they were wrongly accused (Raided by FBI) they got screwed when they shouldn't have. It tarnished their name , Glen Beck making it worse North is South, Up is Down style. Personally, I don't have egg on my face because I don't (and won't) defend ACORN for this recent crap. Corruption wherever should be dealt with. But if they are going to start cleaning at ACORN (and I am all for cleaning it up, but I doubt the name can survive now), shouldn't actual active duty government be held to the same standards. While the ACORN thing is bad, so is an active duty government employee selling nuke secrets. Nuke Secrets aren't a "might be a problem", this is a NEED TO FIND OUT WHATS UP.

Meanwhile, we are clouded and bombarded with a shit storm of propaganda dealing with all manner of sidetrack issues (less criminal than treason) again. From the quick intermittent snipes at ACORN (some of which is still untrue) to Corporate person-hood for example, why is that being dragged out now on all the talk circuits? It's timed for right now to keep the noise level up and dictate the topics which will be allowed to be broadcast and dictate the direction of the resulting discussions.

Or there will be another fire. Just watch. That will keep us uninformed another three weeks.

I wouldn't even say any of this but I know someone out there must be thinking like I am.

Hello Brad

There is a major problem with Obama and the whole system which needs dealing with yesterday and I know you are aware of that.You have been reporting facts in detail like you said for years and are one of the only people to put your face out there. People who criticize you need to start doing what you have been doing and making the same sacrifices. Infinite thanks to you and all Bradbloggers for documenting in detail what would have been washed away forever. And you are still there.

Cathy, the problem is not simply whether people "approved of the Bush administration" even as they blindly voted for Bush/Cheney, twice, it's that they still have their thick heads stuck within the right-wing disinformation bubble.

The people Brad Friedman rightly criticized are the people whose reality is defined by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilley and the faux news at Fox --- the uneducated wing-nuts who have unknowingly acted against their own interests by assaulting one of the cornerstone's of American Democracy --- the town hall meeting.

While they were carrying out tirades about imaginary "death panels", the real death panels (politicians and health insurance lobbyists) were conducting the real death panels designed to perpetuate private control of a health insurance system that already sentences 18,000 Americans to death each year --- their crime, being too poor to afford health insurance.

While the wing-nuts were screaming about imaginary Democratic plots to steal their democracy, ES&S was quietly doing just that --- stealing the sanctity of their vote. Worse, these "blinded by the right" followers were doing their part to destroy democracy by rudely shouting down any and all who would attempt to break through their disinformation bubble with truth.

Do you really think it mean-spirited for Brad to confront these wing-nuts with the cold, hard truth?

The "Right" to vote was sidelined with so called adoption of the 17th Amendment.

US citizens have the privilege of voting for their favorite flippant electron.

Americans who refuse to perjure themselves as lowly "US (small "c" citizens) are shutout from the voting process.

Mr. Canning as usual promulgates the idea that America is a democracy.

As usual the Tunga reminds him that ITS A REPUBLIC STUPID!

Thanks Brad for the ventilation.

With liberty and justice for all.

It's a damn oligarchy in any case.

Um, Plutocracy.

A more than daily reader and supporter, I was thinking, "Now here is an article I can send to my old (88) Dad, whom I gently and respectfully harass on a regular basis. Sacrificing his youth to WWII and a Navy minesweeper was not enough to dissolve the gentleman in him. So he has never needed potty language to express a point to me.
Certainly not immune to the knee jerk satisfaction of black and white thinking and accompanying swearwords, I am instantly aware of the violence of it. And that reminds me that the strategy of taking the high road is inevitably more successful when the goal is winning hearts and minds.
thanks for listening,

Jaeasan - "swearwords"?

Tunga said on 9/14/2009 @ 6:43 pm PT...

Mr. Canning as usual promulgates the idea that America is a democracy.

As usual the Tunga reminds him that ITS A REPUBLIC STUPID!
______________________

Once again I find it necessary to remind an under-educated poster Tunga that he/she does not have the foggiest notion what he/she is talking about.

Republic:

"In the United States Founding Fathers like James Madison defined republic in terms of representative democracy as opposed to only having direct democracy."

In other words, Tunga, the word "Republic" as envisioned by the Framers is synonymous with "representative democracy." It should not be confused with the Republican Party, which, in its 21st Century iteration, is more akin to fascism.

Brad: Did you post two separate articles, one that Cathy & Jaesan read, and the other for the rest of us?

First, Cathy claims your article was "mean spirited." I read the piece three times; couldn't find it. Then Jaesan mentions "swearwords?" [sic.] Damned if I could find any.

Can't read this article w/o committing to contact DOJ quickly with anti-trust outrage, reading what Black Box Voting suggests further, emailing this to my family & friends and thanking Friedman and Canning for making my insomnia relevant.

The reason why Cathy and the "Teabaggers" are not interested in the stealing of elections by ES&S is because they think ES&S are stealing it for them. They are the turkeys who think they have been invited to dinner. Sadly for them turkeys are none to bright.

I guess the following quote is mean spirited:

while the teabaggers have their panties in a collective wad about imaginary things they fear may someday happen to take away their rights, right now, immediately under their noses --- the same noses which failed to notice the stench of the unprecedented raping and looting of the federal government by their own Republican pals over the last eight years

Well, Cathy, I guess the truth just sucks. But it will free your mind. So hang in there, we want you to understand these things.

"ACORN" is rightwing code for "NIGGER", make no mistake about it!

When you hear "Acorn this" and "Acorn that" from the right, you KNOW what they're talking about: BLACKS!

And where is the reform legislation that will stop the corporate rape of our electoral system?

Why, I'm sure it will be offered by Rush Holt...

... who just signed a letter along with 40 other DeceivaDems asking that Waxman strip the House healthcare reform bill HR 3200 of even its half-assed public option and instead substitute the vast corporate mandates in the Senate bill... y'know, the Senate bill authored by Wellpoint Vice-President Liz Fowler.

http://campaignsilo.fire...-letter-to-henry-waxman/

Dan-in-PA. Your quote of what Brad had said is not "mean-spirited." It is simply "brutally honest."

There's a vast difference between the two.

zap, dear, after a couple of months of hollering about this theater production they call "Healthcare Reform", bellowing about how this is going to turn out to be little, if anything, more than mandatory health insurance, and the government deciding if you can afford it, somehow clicking on your link first thing this morning still gave me the most piercing headache. I have to thank you for it though, because the truth is beautiful no matter how much it hurts.

If Michelle Malkin was a liberal, her rightwing followers she has now would be calling her a "gook".

Comment #2 by Brad:

Wow! Very well said! I wanted to jump and applaud when I read it....

I'm a Republican in a state, Utah, that has been Diebold dominated since HAVA.

ES&S software got reviewed in the Sarasota Election debacle of 2006 by some pretty competent computer sciencists.

They found major flaws just in the security including the use of hardwired passwords.

We're almost to the point where the movie "Man of the Year" where one manufacturer, Delacroix, produced all of the electronic voting machines for the entire country is reality.

Mike Ridgway
www.utgop.net

If the Democrats do nothing about the total loss of integrity of the electoral process, then they have only themselves to blame when the exit polls (if they are even allowed) don't match the counted votes in 2010 and 2012 and any special elections in between.

The biggest mistake the mainstream Democratic Party makes is believing the system is honest and that simply making a good case to the people will get you elected.

Our only hope is a four-way race (ultra-right wing, middle-right Republican, right of center Democrat and left-wing progressive) in 2012 and the vote stealer's won't be able to make the numbers work and there will be chaos, riots, and possibly a new system in place when the dust settles and the blood in the streets is eventually washed clean by enough rain.

from mikes link.....
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The newest member of the SLCoGOP's Executive Committee

My wife showed up at state party headquarters Tuesday night in hopes of sitting in on a meeting of the Salt Lake County Republican Party's Executive Committee, being held in the headquarters of the Utah Republican Party.

She was greeted by a constable who served her papers stating that any attempt on her part to enter the state party headquarters during future meetings of said Executive Committee would result in her arrest.

Can anyone in the Salt Lake County Republican Party explain the basis for this absolutely baseless provocation on the part of the tyrants that continue to be in control of Utah's largest county Republican Party?

Posted by Mike Ridgway at 11:02 PM 0 comments

mike,
why do you think your wife has been "blackballed"?

have you been vocal about secret vote counting?

So who owned ess before a certain election in Nebraska?

ES&S is corrupt. Neo-con rethuglicans control the code and can manipulate any election that ES&S touches. They have stolen Senate seats, Governorships, and pieces of the Presidency.

If the Democrats don't fight them, they deserve to lose everything.

"[Hat-tip to SC election integrity champ Joyce McCloy for the ES&S/Evansville story.]"

Hear-Hear! The woman needs all the support she can get. With the likes of Sanford, Wilson, DeMint, and others like them in office, she needs an army! Is there any way to get national attention for all upcoming SC votes?

FAUX News and other right-wing media are working hard to inflate the numbers of Americans who are supposedly fed up with the Democratically-controlled congress and with President Obama. In light of your story about the consolidation of control of our voting machinery, and with the lack of any meaningful election reforms, does anyone else suspect the stage is being set to steal Democratic seats in the 2010 elections?

Steve Lane said,
"The reason why Cathy and the "Teabaggers" are not interested in the stealing of elections by ES&S is because they think ES&S are stealing it for them. They are the turkeys who think they have been invited to dinner. Sadly for them turkeys are none to bright."
Steve, I don't know why you think "teabaggers" are not interested in the stealing of elections. Why do you think that just because YOU are aware of something then that means other people must be aware of it too? Just like you seem to think that people who are waking up now aren't really patriots and are only being led around by Glenn Beck. Geeze, I don't know what some of you people want. This really isn't about Bush, Cheney, Obama, etc. It's about corruption that goes to the core, just as Sibel Edmonds found out, and I don't see any evidence that it's going to get any better under the current administration. I don't think it's realistic that we can all fight the same battles, but I don't think that means we don't care or that our priorities are any less valuable in this fight against corruption. Peace.

Cathy -

Please let me here you call for accountability for the unprecedented corruption of the Bush administration. Please let me here you call for the Rule of Law to be applied to those who broke through law through implementing a torture regime, for those who outed covert CIA operatives, for those who spied on every American citizen, for those who used the Dept. of Justice to KEEP legal voters FROM casting their legal vote, for those who succeeded in killing thousands of U.S. troops on specious lies, for those who brought about the largest deficit in the history of mankind.

Please let me hear you. Thanks.

Brad,
I'm absolutely asking for accountability on all the counts you mentioned. That's what I'm trying to say; even though I wasn't aware of what was really going on when it was happening, I know it now!! I also know that a Democrat led Congress is set to raise the debt ceiling in a few days, ready to vote on continuing the "Patriot" Act, sending more troops to continue the never ending war Bush got us into, and keep voting to fund their special interest groups and pay back their lobbyist buddies, as well as ready to vote on penalizing every American if they don't buy health insurance...and on it goes. Really, I'm in this fight and most people I know feel just as I do. What is it you think I should be doing to prove my love of country and Constitution?

Are you saying a Republic and a democracy are the same thing? Because clearly they are not. Even Sen. Byrd knows the difference. And I'm sure you know the quote about wolves, sheep and dinner.
That's a founders quote.
Never mind Franklin's other quote, "a republic, if you can keep it."
How confused are you?

Sorry, you're a little too snarky for my taste.

So far, the most of the comments on this article are nothing more than paranoid ramblings which have no pro or con regarding the merger.

ES&S has for years provided quality election products to the country, and so has Diebold/Premier. The merger of ES&S and Diebold is an excellent op to combine their technologies into one. Once that happens the US should nationalize the merged behemoth; i.e., let the two hash out their differences (quirks), and then snatch the new one company.

Diebold was smart to dump their election business. They were arrogant to think that just because they can keep track of bank accounts ( fairly simple ) thay could create election products ( rediculously convoluted BY THE GOVERNMENT entitie's requirements ).

The debacle of 2000 caused a massive re-do in the election industry that was all just fluff; i.e., bogus "standards" that were nothing more than adding comments to code, yet the debacle set back the true evolutionary development of products by five years. Now the comapanies are afraid to make any improvements to their products, because of the exorbitant cost of bogus certification.

The merger of ES&S and Premier will be another setback for the industry. Nothing will happen between the two companies until it is confirmed the DOJ will not contest the merger. That confirmation could take years...I'm glad I am out of the election software business ( former ES&S software developer for 15 years)!

Tom, you are so wrong about DOJ. Apparently, virtually nobody in the election integrity arena seems to recognize this, based on the articles I've seen the last few days.

The merger is A DONE DEAL. It was completed on Sept 1 or 2. This week, ES&S fired around 2/3 of the Premier staff, primarily in Texas, but some in other states, too. The Hart lawsuit and the pleas to DOJ are way too late. There is now no way to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The NJ judge who heard Hart's case and set the next hearing for November pretty much locked it up. By then, there won't be much of anything left of Diebold/Premier. Nothing but ES&S for as far as the eye can see.

The time to have done something about this would have been during the last couple of years when it was public knowledge that Diebold wanted very much to offload Premier. A group, hypothetically, could have appealed to DOJ to put ES&S on notice that, just in case they had thoughts in this direction, they could forget it. But now, it's way too late. It's over.