White House-linked clandestine operation paid for "vote switching" softwar

[Dover]

My apologies if this has already been posted. I just now found this story and don't recall seeing it here. If this has already been posted would someone provide a link to the thread? Thanks.

Special Report

Texas to Florida: White House-linked clandestine operation paid for "vote switching" software

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

December 6, 2004—The manipulation of computer voting machines in the recent presidential election and the funding of programmers who were involved in the operation are tied to an intricate web of shady off-shore financial trusts and companies, shady espionage operatives, Republican Party politicians close to the Bush family, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contract vehicles.

An exhaustive investigation has turned up a link between current Florida Republican Representative Tom Feeney, a customized Windows-based program to suppress Democratic votes on touch screen voting machines, a Florida computer services company with whom Feeney worked as a general counsel and registered lobbyist while he was Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, and top level officials of the Bush administration.

According to a notarized affidavit signed by Clint Curtis, while he was employed by the NASA Kennedy Space Center contractor, Yang Enterprises, Inc., during 2000, Feeney solicited him to write a program to "control the vote." At the time, Curtis was of the opinion that the program was to be used for preventing fraud in the in the 2002 election in Palm Beach County, Florida. His mind was changed, however, when the true intentions of Feeney became clear: the computer program was going to be used to suppress the Democratic vote in counties with large Democratic registrations.

According to Curtis, Feeney and other top brass at Yang Enterprises, a company located in a three-story building in Oviedo, Florida, wanted the program, written in Visual Basic 5 (VB.5) and designed to operate in Windows and be portable to Unix-based vote tabulation systems, to be "undetectable" to voters and election supervisors.

Yang, an engineering and computer services company subcontracted to NASA prime contractors like Lockheed Martin, was founded in 1986 by Dr. Tyng-Lin (Tim) Yang. Granted minority-owned "Section 8A" and woman-owned preferential status by the U.S. government, Yang's clients also include the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT). Yang's President, Li-Woan (Lee) Yang, is Tim Yang's wife. Feeney was the registered agent for another Yang company, Y & H Greens, Inc., a company that was dissolved in 1988 and operated from the Yangs' residence on Merritt Island. The Yangs also serve as co-trustees for an entity called Yang of Merritt Island, Ltd., founded on January 31, 2000, and also run from their residence...cont'd

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/120604Madsen/120604madsen.html

[xultar]

1. OK, do we media blast this one? n/t

[Chicago Democrat]

2. Yes is it true? Will wait for confirmation here before forwarding...

I don't wanna be burned later, but sounds very promising and complicated.

[papau]

13. more links /link to prior DU discussion

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=477

IN SWORN AFFIDAVIT, PROGRAMMER SAYS HE DEVELOPED VOTE-RIGGING PROTOTYPE FOR FLORIDA CONGRESSMAN

http://rawstory.com/images/pdfs/CC_Affidavit_120604.pdf
In a sworn affidavit (pdf file) Monday, a former programmer for a NASA contractor said that he developed a vote-rigging prototype at the request of a then-Florida state representative who is now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

RAW STORY acquired the affidavit from BradBlog, which has been in contact with the programmer in Washington.

While working for Yang Enterprises in Florida, the 46-year-old programmer says he was instructed by then-Republican state representative Tom Feeney to “develop a prototype of a voting program that could alter the vote tabulation in the election and be undetectable.”

Related
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/120604Madsen/120604madsen.html
Texas to Florida: White House-linked clandestine operation paid for "vote switching" software
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/112504Madsen/112504madsen.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/112604Madsen/112604madsen.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/120104Madsen/120104madsen.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/120604Madsen/120604madsen.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=117320&mesg_id=118668&page=

[Chicago Democrat]

15. Kick

[salvorhardin]

3. Here's what strikes me odd about this story

Quoting:

According to Curtis, Feeney and other top brass at Yang Enterprises, a company located in a three-story building in Oviedo, Florida, wanted the program, written in Visual Basic 5 (VB.5) and designed to operate in Windows and be portable to Unix-based vote tabulation systems, to be "undetectable" to voters and election supervisors.

Does this strike any of the other programmers here as odd? I've never heard of VB code being portable to Unix.

...and for the posters who get upset at every little piece of skepticism... I'm not questioning Madsen's story, I'm just pointing out something that seems askew to me.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. Well...

Portable how? Did they map the functionalities and then write it in C, C++, perl, Ruby or python? Perhaps. Python, especially, allows rapid development in the hands of someone who has reached the effective grade of Python Wizard.

But(and this is a big but), what about accessing the databases from a PhP web-based interface?

[Stephanie]

6. Discussion is here >

Programmers in the other thread think the journalist misheard "portable" for "ported"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=117320&mesg_id=117320

[salvorhardin]

8. Ah, that would make sense. :-) n/t

[Dover]

7. That's why I posted this story....to get that kind of critcal analysis.

I'm not a computer person so I don't even know what you are talking about.....so glad you brought it up.

Madsen asks the question toward the end of the article why HE ALONE would be provided this inside info while others in the mainstream are not. His conclusion is that whoever provided the info does not trust the mainstream media to report it.

I would find it more credible if this info had been given to at least a few 'independent' sources. Otherwise we are completely reliant on Madsen...and that makes me uncomfortable.

[gennifer6]

4. I'll forward this to myself at home and look for sources to

back it up tonight......thnaks

[immoderate]

9. I work in VBA (a little)

It's my understanding that the voting interface has something to do with MS Access. From Access, the tabulation can be done on any type of machine that runs SQL or any other ODBC compliant database. This would certainly include non-Windows operating systems.

I don't see any big contradiction here, especially if you want to say the data should be "piped" to a Unix host.

On edit: The code can be written in VBA and hidden from the type of users they specify. Exactly how they would transmit the fraudulant data is above my level of expertise.

--IMM

[Nordic]

10. it's a hell of an article!

everybody should read it.

:kick:

[seemslikeadream]

11. Curtis Affadavit

http://rawstory.com/images/pdfs/CC_Affidavit_120604.pdf

[4democracy]

12. I wonder if Keith O would authenticate this, he has alot of resources. n/t

[Nordic]

14. kicking

This article kicks ass