Rolling Stone Editorial: A Call for Investigation (Election 2004)

[ProSense]

Editorial: A Call for Investigation

Electronic voting machines pose a grave threat to democracy
For more, see exclusive documents, sources, charts and commentary.

Election officials across the country are currently scrambling to install electronic voting machines in time for the midterm elections this fall. The touch-screen technology, they insist, will make voting as easy and secure as withdrawing cash from an ATM. ''This technology has been used effectively for ten to fifteen years,'' says David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold, a leading manufacturer of electronic voting machines.

There are certainly good reasons to modernize the nation's ridiculously outdated voting equipment; it was Florida's ''hanging chads,'' after all, that cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000. But mounting evidence suggests that touch-screen machines present a far graver threat to the integrity of America's elections -- and that leading Republicans have taken money from Diebold to push local election officials to adopt its technology. It is time for Congress and the Justice Department to launch a full-scale investigation into the company and its equipment.

Vote Rigging Repeated studies have shown that touch-screen machines, which provide voters with no paper record of their ballots, are highly susceptible to tampering. According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, the leading federal watchdog agency, the machines are ''eminently hackable.'' It takes only a few minutes to open the machines and insert a PC card containing malicious code that will switch votes from one candidate to another. In a demonstration conducted last year before the Board of Elections in Leon County, Florida, computer security expert Herbert Thompson cracked into an electronic machine in under sixty seconds, altering the internal code and changing the vote count.

Snip...

Undue Influence After the Florida fiasco in 2000, Diebold saw an opportunity. To persuade Rep. Bob Ney to promote its machines in a package of election reforms he was drafting called the Help America Vote Act, the company hired two lobbyists with close ties to the Ohio congressman. Diebold paid at least $180,000 to David DiStefano, Ney's former chief of staff. And it shelled out as much as $275,000 to the lobbying firm of the best-connected man on Capitol Hill: Jack Abramoff.

more...

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10463874/editorial_a_call_for_investigation

Was the 2004 Election Stolen? Sources and Commentary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and ROLLING STONE spent four months investigating the 2004 election in Ohio. To assemble a conservative estimate of the number of voters in the state who were prevented from casting ballots or did not have their votes counted, we interviewed dozens of election officials, pollsters, candidates, voter advocates and political scientists, and reviewed reports by federal officials, statisticians, voter advocates and journalists.
Kennedy is president of Waterkeeper Alliance and writes frequently about issues affecting American democracy. His story ''Deadly Immunity'' appeared in RS 977/978. Additional research and reporting for this piece were provided by contributing editor Tim Dickinson, who covers politics for ROLLING STONE, and writes National Affairs Daily, where he will be exploring the article in greater depth in the coming days.

Below is a list of sources and additional materials on the 2004 election.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10463875/was_the_2004_election_stolen_sources_and_commentary

Was the 2004 Election Stolen? The Charts






http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/10467024

[Zynx]

1. They're looking in the right place: Western Ohio

Those who have focused on Cleveland have little argument. Kerry's margin in Cleveland was one of the largest ever and much higher than in 2000. However, western Ohio, including the Cinci suburbs, does stand out a bit.

[Time for change]

47. There were 165,000 late voter purges in Cuyahoga

http://www.ohiovigilance.org/Analysis/CountyCuyahoga.html

Also, turnout was very low in Cleveland, compared to Cuyahoga County in general and the rest of the state - despite extremely long lines reported all over the city.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2196589

[kenny blankenship]

2. Yeah, and who's going to do the investigation?

the Federal Gov't headed by the criminals who stole the election, and who owe their one party monopoly on power to that stolen election (and the stolen midterms in '02, and the stolen Presidential election of '00)?

better take your case to the United Nations.

Oh right, they're too intimidated to even speak up and say a flat "No" to this goverment's wars of aggression.
They're going to be a lot of help sorting out our elections mess and ridding us of our bogus illegitimate rulers. Yep.

(Just don't call these rulers Nazis. For one thing, the Nazis were never half this slick.)

[Peace Patriot]

6. I disagree about the UN. Latin America has been turned completely around

toward democracy, peace, and representative government by long hard work on TRANSPARENT elections, by local civic groups, the OAS, EU election monitoring groups and the Carter Center. If the Latin Americans can do it--after centuries of brutal fascist rule--so can we.

We just have to find the MEANS to do it. Maybe it's just ourselves--fighting in every state/local jurisdiction in the country to get these election theft machines tossed. They are egregiously expensive and high maintenance, and a bloody nuisance in every way--insecure, unreliable, always breaking down, nobody knows how they work (private corporate personnel have to be called in), etc. etc. Besides the obvious reasons--secret programming by Bushite corporations. (Jeez...).

Or maybe we DO need Carter Center help, or the OAS. Or....the Democratic Party?

I don't know if the UN is the right body to appeal to--but it DID at one time (post-WW II) organize elections. Unfortunately, one of the elections they organized--the one in Vietnam in 1954--got vetoed by the US, because Ho Chi Minh WOULD HAVE WON in a landslide. The Vietnamese would have chosen a patriotic, democratic form of communism. Not permitted.

The UN also has membership by horrible regimes--not just ours. Saudi Arabia, for instance. The UAE. Uzbekistan. Columbia. Not known for their interest in TRANSPARENT elections.

We're members of the OAS. Maybe that's the group we should petition for help. It would have to be citizens against their government (the Bush junta), but maybe they have a process we could use to get OAS election monitors here by November.

In 2000, the Carter Center said that our elections were so non-transparent (at THAT point!), and so in violation of all of their election principles, that they COULD NOT monitor our elections. We did not meet the minimum standards, even then. Alas.

So, what do we do, citizens? Cry alas and alack...or?

[kenny blankenship]

12. The line about the UN was a joke more or less

based on a line from a song. My point was not that we should look for relief from the UN but to underscore that, in this case there is no higher or outside authority we can appeal to for help. This time it's really different. Even in the case of the fascist takeover of Germany, there was--eventually--salvation in the form of superior outside power. It turned out the Fatherland wasn't "all that", not invincible as a matter of racial destiny as Hitler hoped. Just imagine though, that Germany had had the industrial capacity of the United States--or the manpower of the USSR. What would have saved us? History would be altogether different--it's an accident that it isn't all written in German now.

We're now living a nightmare scenario similar to that hypothetical example from history. We have a religiously insane party (the Republicans: corporate at the top, religious at the bottom and Fascist right to their center) that increasingly and brazenly resorts to election theft to seize and maintain a monopoly on power. It came into power (after lynching Bill Clinton) and immediately it was throwing solemn international treaty obligations and Constitutional provisions out the window. A couple of ongoing wars later it now must hold onto that power to avoid going to jail, not merely to achieve its extremist objectives. We've seen what they do to achieve power. What will they do when they're backed into a corner, to keep their Reich together or else face exposure and destruction? And what will we do?

[postulater]

23. There ain't no cure for the Summertime Blues!

[Usrename]

32. OAS, I like that idea a lot.

There seems to be a huge anti-fascism movement growing all over this hemisphere. The people in the US, Canada, and Mexico need to get on board from the grassroots, and begin cutting through all the anti-leftist propaganda and disinformation being produced by our leadership. A good first step would is a throwdown with the DLC. This Empire crap must be resisted at every turn.

[petgoat]

19. The Nazis were never half this slick.

They didn't have to be. Hitler's coronation as chancellor was
ratified by 80% of the electorate.

[Le Taz Hot]

41. The investigation can only be done by

WE THE PEOPLE. As you've stated, we can't rely on the government and we can't rely on the U.N -- nor should we. Re-establishing integrity in the voting process is vital and WE are the key. Democracy was established in this country by the people and Democracy will have to be won back by the people. The Founding Fathers gave to future generations the responsibility of maintaining our Democracy. The struggle we're in is no less vital than the struggle they endured. Are we up to it? I believe America is immanently salvageable and it's salvageable by its most valuable resource -- its people.

[adarling]

3. i am gonna go buy a copy now, that is amazing they are covering this

great for them to look at this. This election was stolen...its obvious and people will soon start asking more questions. Let them keep coming please..making my day soo much better.

[ProSense]

4. The Kennedy article is posted in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1328708&mesg_id=1328708

[cobaindrain]

5. try investigating 2000 first

[Dunvegan]

25. 2000 is also important...more for the intervention of the Supreme Court...

...than even for the theft of the election, i.e., the Flucked-up Florida tally (among other swing states.)

[TriSec]

7. Jeebus....

Well, I knew most of the story, but having the slick graphics really hits home. How can anyone look at this now and say it wasn't rigged?

And there's a telling bit in the story about the voting machines being as "safe and reliable as an ATM".

When you make a transaction at an ATM...you get a printed receipt.

[petgoat]

21. But you know what? An ATM runs on trust.

If their machine screws up and gives you $100 when your receipt says $40, the bank
trusts you to return the money. If you claim you deposited $100 cash, the bank
trusts that you're not going to deposit $40. If you deposit $100 cash, you trust
that the bank employee that takes the money doesn't pocket it. There's individual
accountability.

But with a black box voting machine, there's no accountablity.

[peacetheonlyway]

24. bad analogy...hand counted paper ballots not receipts....

lots of folks make the ATM Analogy..

FYI just to change the way we talk about elections.

it would be a BAD IDEA to give a receipt to a person showing their vote...

why? because that paper could be paid for , or used to fire someone from their job or even worse things..
laws have been passed to require the ballot remain SECRET and anonymous to keep people from getting in trouble
or worse, being harrassed for the way they voted....

that's why ballots are
a. anonymous / secret
b. they should remain IN THE BALLOT BOX
c. there should be an UNBROKEN CHAIN OF CUSTODY Between the ballot box and the citizens who should witness the physical counting.. anything less is not an HONEST election... NOTE: electronic voting breaks the voter chain of custody 4 times... it can never produce honest elections....

it is critical we understand as a nation the importance of the following line

HAND COUNTED paper ballots, counted ELECTION NIGHT, in full view of the citizens with an UNBROKEN CHAIN Of custody for the ballot from voter's intent to the ballot to the ballot box....

RECEIPTS are a bad way to say it, but instead "Hand counted paper ballots, locked in a ballot box till citizens witness the unlocking and the counting of the votes"

nothing short (and by no means electronic voting counting of the votes) will restore our democracy..

we need to stop defending technology and integrity of a banking industry (totally different beast)

to the possibly more important ballot.....

who needs an honest bank account in a fascist dictatorship that is running the debt so far into the ether that having a bank account as an american in 5 years will mean nothing.. the money in it will be worth less the paper it is printed on....

it's critical we stop talking about receipts.. when election officials and citizens discuss receipts, it means they don't understand the importance of the election system where the ballot stays in the ballot box...

[blm]

31. Read HL's blog about meeting Kerry today - he said JK is for banning all

electronic voting machines state by state.

HL has a thread on it here.

[peacetheonlyway]

38. IF this is the case I will eat all my fighting words for Kerry

if you are serious and Kerry says ALL VOTING MACHINES SHOULD BE BANNED, I will still not vote for him for pres. but I'll stop criticizing him....

this would be a huge boondoggle and about fucking time is all I got to say.....

what is HL?

[blm]

50. Here's HL's thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1332766#1334377

[LibDemAlways]

49. I totally agree. In my area

punch card ballots are being replaced for the first time by opti-scan machines manufactured by Sequoia. The literature being sent out by the county touts that this is a "paper" system. You vote and then insert your ballot into a reader which lets you know only if you made a mistake such as an overvote. There is no way to know that the ballot was properly read and a vote properly recorded.

I took a look on the Sequoia website at the "reader" and it looks an awful lot like the paper shredder I have in my office.

There is no reason why hand-marked ballots cannot be read with human eyes and recorded at the precinct level with representatives of all parties present. Anything else is ripe for fraud.

[Peace Patriot]

8. SOME RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II...

OVERVIEW: AMERICAN REVOLUTION II

What we now have --in addition to outright illegal suppression of Democratic votes by Bushite election officials and other operatives--is several big electronic voting corporations with very close ties to the Republican Party and rightwing causes--Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia-- 'counting' all our votes with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code--code so secret that not even our secretaries of state are permitted to review it--with virtually no audit/recount controls. This is the result of the infamous "Help America Vote Act" of 2002, a $4 billion electronic voting boondoggle engineered by the biggest crooks in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney (and abetted by Bilderber 'Democrat' Christopher Dodd).

Our elections are now NON-TRANSPARENT and UNVERIFIABLE, and under the control of partisan corporations. The $4 billion and millions in lavish lobbying were also used to corrupt election officials from one end of the land to other. And those they have not been able to corrupt, they have driven from office (Kevin Shelly in California), or sought to intimidate (Ion Sancho in Florida, and others). Corruption or bullying by the Bushite Feds has resulted in the widespread purchase of this extremely insecure, unreliable and hackable--and very expensive--election theft machinery.

Restoring TRANSPARENT elections is a MUST DO, PRIORITY ONE, MATTER, if we want our country back. Without the right to vote, we can do little or nothing to restore lawful government. We can protest. We can be appalled. But if the will of the majority--which has always been for peace and justice, and good government, consistently over the last six years, in ALL the issue polls--cannot be enforced, then we might as well be shouting to the wind.

--------------------------------------

SOME RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II:

Practical suggestions for the immediate future:

1. ABSENTEE BALLOT VOTING. Promote absentee ballot voting. It's not the ultimate solution, by any means, but it at least provides a tangible paper record for challenging suspicious election results, and for recounts and investigations. (Absentee ballots were a great help to investigators in 2004.) Absentee ballot voting is also a form of protest against the machines. 50% of Californians are now requesting Absentee Ballots. If enough people do it, the machines will be obsolete; then we can work on getting rid of the central tabulators.

2. MONITOR THE ELECTIONS. Join with others to closely monitor the coming elections and gather and document evidence. See www.UScountvotes.org, and other resources, below. UScountvotes.org needs donations!

3. DEMAND INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS. Demand that the Democratic Party fund INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS. Exit polls are used worldwide to verify elections and check for fraud. The war profiteering corporate news monopoly exit polls cannot be trusted (they are doctored to match the results from the voting machines' secret programming code; rather than being used to verify elections, they are used to confirm NON-TRANSPARENT "official results"). The Democratic Party owes us, big time, for their lack of vigilance--and in some cases corruption--on electronic voting. This is one critically needed thing that they can do to help.

4. THINK LONG TERM. Saving our democracy promises to be a long hard struggle. We obviously can't get rid of these machines before the '06 elections, so focus on doing our best with the Diebold/ES&S handicap (a 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" for Bushites and warmongers), and getting rid of these machines afterward, for '08 and beyond.

5. TELL PEOPLE THE TRUTH. They NEED to know it. Engage them in the fight. Bumper sticker: "Help Us Beat the Machines--VOTE!" There is nothing more demoralizing and disempowering than constantly losing and not knowing WHY. There is evidence that the machines CAN be beaten by massive turnout. Get people involved! Help them to SEE what's happening! THEY will solve the problem, ultimately--if they can only IDENTIFY what it is!

6. PRESSURE LOCAL/STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS. Right now, the best place to fight this fight is at the state/local level, where ordinary people still have some influence. Bush's Congress is NOT going to give us back our right to vote--they are the ones who took it away (with the collusion of some corrupt Dems). Don't look to the Feds--look to your local county registrar, your state election boards, your secretaries of state. Demand TRANSPARENT elections. Also educate and mobilize your local Democratic Party groups.

The first priority in this historic fight for American democracy is restoring our right to vote--the mechanism by which we exercise our sovereignty as a people. Without it, we have no power. We MUST change this.

Never give up on our right to vote! NEVER!

----------------------

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II:

Hopeful signs - latest news:

California voters sue the state over Diebold:
www.VoterAction.org is suing the state of California and 18 Calif county registrars on behalf of 25 California voter/plaintiffs, on the illegal Diebold "certification" by Schwarzenegger appointee Bruce McPherson.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2180496
Seven of these counties have promised the judge they would use PAPER BALLOTS, and were dismissed from this lawsuit (4/27/06).
http://kcbs.com/pages/29285.php
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2249205

Maryland rejects Diebold:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418263

Florida - anti-trust accusations against Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia, re: heroic Florida election official Ion Sancho:
(FLA AG subpoenas the companies)
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,110192,00.html
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/MGBKSY8W8LE.html
(info & discussion)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2183630

Utah county clerk fights back!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x419226

(Tide turning?) New York Times: "New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems" (5/12/06)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2278829

-----

INFORMATION AND ACTIVIST RESOURCES for American Revolution II:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections--they need donations)


(Activist sites with links to state activist groups or info)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of this great movement from around the country)
www.votersunited.org (good general info, and state links)
www.verifiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)

www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)* :patriot: :applause: :patriot:
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)
Provisions of the PA lawsuit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x423739

The Voter Confidence Resolution
http://tinyurl.com/rlnr2 (“We Do Not Consent”)
http://guvwurld.blogspot.com (GuvWurld blog main page)
http://tinyurl.com/amryg (Voter Confidence Resolution

www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.johnbonifaz.com (running for Massachusetts Sec of State on strong election reform and antiwar platform)

*Some tributes to TruthIsAll, who is very ill:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417231
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x675477

Congressional bills:

Russ Holt's HR 550 requires a real paper ballot, bans secret software in "voting machines", and has more than 170 co-sponsors, but the audit required is too weak, it promotes electronic voting and centralized power, and the secret software might be permitted to continue in the central tabulators (the bill is not clear). At lot of discussion at DU of the loopholes/pitfalls in HR 550 (many DUers support the bill):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x422926
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x421136
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=422967&mesg_id=422967
To sign the HR 550 petition: http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html

(Note: Senate Bill-SB 330 and House-HR704 simply require a "voter verified paper audit trail" (VVPAT), which may be best for the moment.)


Also of interest:

Michael Collins (Autorank)'s searing election reform article for New Zealand's Scoop.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x971363

Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy! Title: "Poll Shock" 11/24/05)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col321.htm

Bob Koehler's latest: "Trust us: Take this box and stuff it" (3/16/06)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col337.htm
More Koehler:
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

HOWARD DEAN remarks on electronic voting machines 04/06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x994507

------------------------------------------------

Throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

-----------

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." --Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

[treestar]

34. Good ideas for doing something about it.

I like the long term view. Too many of us think a problem unsolvable if it can't be done "right now."

[robertpaulsen]

9. K & R!

Great links and graphs well worth bookmarking!

:kick:

[Amaryllis]

10. WOW! these graphics hit hard.

[peacetheonlyway]

40. Is it me.. or is this graphic in the article disturbing?

I get the point of having people's votes cut off but the bloody hands..

everytime I go to the article, I feel like I have to close my eyes not to see this image....
it's a pretty hard image to get out of one's head but I guess that's a good thing... makes people think...

it only makes me think of all the blood of the poor brave soldiers and innocent afghanis and iraqis we killed because Americans did not stand up against election fraud...

[vanmojo]

53. Disturbing?

Absolutely... and it should be. This is the picture that goes up on the locker room wall. You are absolutely right about <i>"it only makes me think of all the blood of the poor brave soldiers and innocent afghanis and iraqis we killed because Americans did not stand up against election fraud..."</i>

And yeah, it makes me absolutely enraged when I think about it. But that's why need more images like this. The next time you think you can't make it to that next meeting, or make just one more phone call, look at that picture ... get fire up!

mojo sends

[Kurovski]

11. K&R!

Which means "kicked and recommended"

[bleever]

13. Today is a good day.

:kick: :thumbsup::kick: :thumbsup::kick: :thumbsup::kick: :thumbsup::kick: :thumbsup::kick: :thumbsup:

[rndmprsn]

14. kicked and recommended for our democracy! eom

[ProSense]

20. Great photo! n/t

[ginnyinWI]

15. each picture is worth a thousand words. n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

16. Awesome job of making this whole complex mess not only understandable,

but obvious. All wheat and no chaff. It's chock-full of truthy goodness.

[blm]

56. Yeah - it's been a difficult issue to press for so many - but this article

breaks it down in a way that people can get. And that can only help.

[karynnj]

17. The last graphic actually illustrates why Kerry's answer on Stepnanie

Miller was correct. Some of the ways they cheated, though undemocratic and evil, were legal.

- Although sleazy and disgusting, there is no law on voting machines - so those 174,000 never cast were lost and he can't claim them

- States can purge voter's rolls according to their laws - Ohio's may have been not voting in 2 elections and this may have been done selectively - these 30,000 don't count

-Waiting in the wrong line - per comments elsewhere, the law says you can only vote in the right precinct and in some places there was more than one precinct in a room - in the past the state wide and national part of the balloat counted if it was valid - Blackwell followed the letter of the law and didn't count them. these 10,000 don't count

I don't know if the other 3 categories would count, but the numbers would then not work.

[sandnsea]

22. That's been my problem all along

We definitely need to deal with this, they definitely do these things to suppress the vote, but it's not illegal fraud. It's a separate issue and I wish the article would have separated it out better. I'm interested in actual machine fraud because that's the kind of thing that can be done anywhere. If we don't get this organized correctly, people are going to keep dismissing it.

[Pharaoh]

18. K&R

yeah we all know about this and sick that everybody else is so concerned about american idol or nascar or football or some other stupid shit....................

[LeahD]

26. Kick and Recommended

[Land Shark]

27. Touch screens = secret vote counting = totally unacceptable in a

DEMOCRACY.

other systems --- you have have all the touchscreens you want. As long as you don't want the public in charge of a country, by all means PLEASE install touchscreens and hide the ballots from the public as well as their counting.

Secret vote counting = Unacceptable at any speed.

[peacetheonlyway]

39. good to see you posting landshark!!!

I have big news for you RE: a constitutional election fraud challenge lawsuit but will contact you separately...

death by a thousand cuts..

the camels break is slowly breaking!!! keep adding straws!

[Senator]

28. OK - Party Tonight --- Tommorrow, Get to Work !!! (repost)

(reposting from main article thread)

Print out as many copies as you can. Drop them at coffee shops, laundramats, waiting rooms of any type.

If you have an appointment somewhere, conveniently "forget" the copy you were reading and leave it behind. Leave them on trains and busses.

Put copies in envelops and mail them to anyone you can think of; politicians, friends and relatives, just at random to Repubs you know.

Yes, even give it to "non-political" people. They can be very effective messengers.

Mail them to the Euphemedia. Local, state, national -- print, radio, and TV. Let them know we're watching their silence too.

Keep a "giveable" copy with you at all times.

Forget the learned helplessness and defeatism. Stop thinking it's "just a drop in the bucket." Put your drops in.

--

[RadiDem]

29. Will the Corporate Media run with this story?

[blm]

30. Well - the Downing Street Memos were a bombshell, and media ignored that.

With no media interest in DSM, it allowed Senators and Congresspeople to ignore Kerry and Conyers who passed around letters of inquiry to get the DSM investigated.

It seems some lawmakers, including Dems, are perfectly willing to pass on important issues if there is no media focus on it.

[whometense]

33. Rachel Maddow was discussing this this morning,

and commented that even the repukes sliming RFK works for us, because it keeps the story out there and gives more and more people a chance to hear about it, and to read it for themselves. She said Tucker Carlson lost his debate on the show last night, and that the evident repuglican freakout over the story is nothing but good news.

It was an act of courage for RFK to write the article, and an act of courage for Rolling Stone to publish it.

[peacetheonlyway]

37. rachel maddow and RFK rock

they are both heroes (heroines) and the article is a work of art..

I will frame it in my home in all its glory...

congrats to the folks in Ohio and Utah and NM and Florida and elsewhere that helped with its formation

it took a huge community of election activists for that article to come together and hats off to that entire election fraud community that have stuck with this thing from the beginning.. you know who you are.....

[karynnj]

43. The Rolling Stone coverage of political issues

has been far better than I would ever have expected. I loved their endorsement of Kerry and Hunter Thompson's article with its conclusion that Kerry was a good man with a brave heart and even W's friends wouldn't say that of him.

I liked the Ohio summary of where votes were lost. It very clearly shows what the causes of (estimated) lost votes were, so efforts can be made to demand these things be fixed and, in some cases, made illegal. It also shows that Kerry's statement was true - many of these "lost" votes were never cast so even if this were all known in Nov 2004 after the election, Kerry still couldn't have taken it to court. It must be incredibly frustrating to him that these tactics likely cost him the election.

One other thing this article does is counter the media's soon after 2004 propaganda that Bush won by a large margin. He didn't.

[blm]

55. I think CNN posted that Kerry smear piece to get the word DELUSIONAL in

play because this RS piece was coming out.

Total propaganda tools for BushInc.

[treestar]

35. No, Diebold will pay them off, but Truthout will try for the scoop!

:hide:

[peacetheonlyway]

36. Kennedy Slams Lame Tucker last night on MSNBC about the article...

here is a very rough summary of last night's MSNBC about the article..
overall I give Kennedy a 10 out of 10 for talking down Tucker and sticking to his points...
Tucker, was lame as usual, with circular logic and almost Rovian style talking points....

Finally RFK Got to speak.. Tucker's talking points, were almost written by Rove himself:
1. Why wouldn't Media cover it? (as if media making a mistake for 2 years not covering election fraud made their mistake beyond reproach)
2. Why hasn't Kerry said anything (RFK response, well Kerry feels differently after this new data)
3. Why if thousands collaborated on fixing election for GOP wouldn't any of them come forward ???? RFK didn't get a chance to answer
4. Why was article partisan quoting mostly democratic sources (RFK said he interviewed GOPers like Matt Damschroder to find more facts
and all lead to GOP rigging)

then Tucker in his very lame blasting says, 'good article, a bit long but a good read'

right Tucker.. like you want me to pretend to think you read the entire article.. you can't read that much in one sitting honey...

overall thought Kennedy is the PERFECT spokesman and makes me think there is more AWAKE behind the democratic machine about election fraud than I've seen till now..

Does anyone on earth think Kennedy will make a Presidential Run in 2008??? he certainly gets kudos for this piece of well researched bravery!!!

[seabeyond]

42. i also think iowa, colorado and ark was in play too n/t

[blm]

45. I know NC was stolen,

.

[DFW]

44. I went to school with Bobby

This was a while ago, but even then, he was a calm, quiet serious
type. He won't be running for office, and he has had bad asthma in
the past which has affected his speaking voice. He does an admirable
job in his environmental work, and as we have seen here, he is not
limited to that alone.

He is very likeable, and lives like a whirlwind these days. I think
he's happy to be involved in the causes he is working on now, and is
not interested in the distraction of running for elective office. At
least for now. He's doing a rather remarkable job as is, the way I see it.

[ProSense]

46. Really cool post! Thanks! n/t

[Lib Grrrrl]

48. Yes, Mr. Bear....

This technology has been used effectively for ten to fifteen years...in ATM's THAT HAVE ALWAYS GIVEN THE CUSTOMER A FUCKING PAPER RECEIPT!!

WHERE'S OUR FUCKING PAPER RECEIPT?

[The Doctor.]

51. Just what I have been waiting for...

Nice, big, compelling graphics...

They are the only things denialists seem to grasp.

[blm]

57. The graphics are CRUCIAL to the case.

.

[Mrspeeker]

52. posses? I hope the Stone means already destroyed democracy right!

Its many years later and several rigged elections later and now where going to talk about how electronic voting machines pose a threat to democracy?

It should read that electronic voting machines, G W Bush, the supreme court and the GOP have ruined Democracy in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

But still hats off to the Rolling stone for even touching on this subject being as they are a music mag lol

[987654321]

54. We need to make sure this Rolling Stone issue sells out!

If you can afford it, buy more than one copy and give it to someone else who might not buy it, or leave it somewhere randomly so that someone might see it and just start reading. We really need to spread the word to those who get their news sanitized and framed by the mass media.

I think it is also important for those in the corporate media who do not report such things to understand that they will make money by doing so. Since the media, for the most part, is run by people who care more about money than about journalism and their responsibility to the American public, I think the only way to get them to start looking into what is really going on is by proving that by doing so they can make a profit. I hate saying that because I think that it stinks that it is this way now, but it is the truth.

[Imagevision]

58. Wolf Blitzer claimed tonight that CNN covered all allegation/probes

regarding possible 2004 election fraud, not a peep about the guy hired to design software that would flip votes. that was from the Brad Blog group..

[Tiggeroshii]

59. Anybody look at the primary turnout just recently?

It looks a lot liket his. Democratic judges that spend zero amounts of money get a bazillion more votes than the major candidates. This was in PA too. I do think that says something.

[texpatriot2004]

60. Thanks ProSense for this post, it's nice to finally see this

article and the great graphics...they are long overdue.

[faithnotgreed]

61. this should not drop off the front page

if i had found the one in gd i would kick that too