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  • From: David R.Matusiak <dave AT matusiak.org>
  • To: internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [internetworkers] Nitpicking the Nitwit (was: "Bush the monster?")
  • Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 12:29:49 -0400

** Just watched "Bowling for Columbine" last nite, so beware faint reader!! **

Well, there is a lot of flamalicious potential on the InterNetWorkers list this fine day, due in no small part to some recent trollification. It seems as if one or many people are "conducting research" about what generates responses and potentially accelerates heart rates. This valuable research may one day put an end to people dying in shock and horror at the sight of an email, but currently we are left with only questions.

Besides drawing lines and picking sides, there has also been discussion of Electronic Voting ("eVoting" for those who need a cutesy name), one of my favorite topics.

http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/column/index.php3?article_view=4

My own personal naivety may be omnipresent in that diatribe, but at least I was honestly trying to provide ideas for a better solution to our voting quandary. I believe I was especially naive about the evil intentions of those with great power and influence in the United States of America.

I certainly never thought that some person or group would go so far as to completely "discredit" the notion of electronic voting in the minds of the American populace. But it appears that several groups are working in concert to make sure that the voting infrastructure is NEVER improved in this nation and that the right to vote and democratic rule will also NEVER be within reach of the average American.

"Preposterous!," you say. "There could be no evil of such power and determination," another might add. "Our government is working to give us the best life possible," might be the comment from a Wolfowitz plant. Well, a lot of people think a lot of things about Hawaii, but that does not change the facts.

Please allow me to apologize for the dearth of links provided, but I simply do not feel like doing everyones research for them today. The information is out there - google and google news are your friends in this regard. But how 'bout a summary to brighten your day?

Election 2000 is FUBAR'ed and the US Supreme Court thinks that War with Arabs is a better decision than "I created the Internet." Civil Libertarians begin losing grip on reality.

In Florida, Jeb Bush and his merry band of Highway Patrolmen keep blacks from getting to the polls (because they would obviously have voted for Internet over War). This is quickly washed over by our ever vigilant media hounds.

A grotesque amount of time is wasted complaining about Chads and recounts and rigged elections. No action whatsoever is taken to correct these problems. War party is in office and begins ramping up for the "Big Showdown."

Internet bubble is still expanding and "Techies" have an ever increasing amount of power and sway. More people look to Tech CEOs for social and moral advice than their local pastor (and probably with good reason). Techies do not like the problem posed by hanging chads and voting fads and Fhqwhgads. Techies ponder solutions and then are left to quickly ponder working at McDonald's vs. Hardees. Now the rest of the country can snub their noses at the self-absorbed, stock-option-fallout victims. "Someone needed to take them down a notch" was heard at many a local blue collar pub.

Introduce massive unemployment and unpredictable social instability. Besides increasing the deficit and elongating Unemployment payouts, nothing is provided for the American public (besides the Shock and Awe campaign on TV - which should be rightfully scaring the shit out of you). The country and its citizens are now acceptably terrified and being taught to hate foreigners and non-Christian religions in a very subtle, yet effective way.

Well, if Christianity is going to save America, then certainly the biggest Casino in the business wants to be involved, right? In walks the friendly Christian Coalition - ready to consult with "Real Americans" and take their troubles "Straight to Jesus." (Notice I didn't say "Gay to Jesus" as the Gays are at fault for all these fucking hurricanes and ice storms).

Now think of a football huddle - what the team does right before they go into direct battle with their sworn enemy, the opposite team. Good sportsmanship seems to have been thrown out with the baby 'cause the bathwater reeked of multiculturalism and acceptance. So, Team War and Team God huddle together and think. They think and they think. They think and they pray. Then they think some more. Finally, they pray to God to keep Joe Sixpack and Suzy SUV in the Dark Ages, both in terms of their beliefs and their abilities.

What is the greatest threat to their dominance? An educated public who is willing to vote for candidates that represent them (and then perhaps Islam and all those other religions). Well, Team War is doing a bang-up job convincing the rest of the world to convert to "The Freedom of Democracy and the Wisdom of Christianity," so Team God has to come in and do their part. Otherwise, this precarious tower of cards may fall.

Now, as millions of Americans are scampering about collecting gas masks and trying to find a decent job with health insurance, these smiling, friendly "God-fearing" folks are trying to do their best to "help improve the dastardly voting system" in this country.

Enter Diebold - a manufacturing firm from somewhere in Ohio. They take it upon themselves to create sleek, new electronic voting booths and stations and sell the shit out of these systems to the fucking idiots who run individual states. States like Georgia, Maryland and Nebraska - states that ordered tens of thousands of these voting stations before they had ever received any external security examination (at a cost of millions to taxpayers).

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/ 1062927138187161.xml

Now, this is the part where most people stop me and utter "There is no conceivable connection between benevolent organizations like the Christian Coalition and any corporation that manufactures voting machines."

Well, past research has show that the owners and major investors of Diebold and companies like it are (more often than not) affiliated with very conservative, very republican, and very christian values. So much so that other politicians (or candidates) have questioned the trail of money from these people to the companies that manufacture the highly insecure and now widely deployed eVoting machines.

Fast forward to Spring 2003. The War Party has successfully trashed Afghanistan and Iraq and is looking for more property to "acquire." Very quietly a report is produced by some of the top Security researchers on the face of the planet and in it, they decry the utter foibles of Diebold's voting machine and the insecure code that runs it. This is an annoying pin prick to the manufacturers who waste no time informing the media that the study is "flawed" and that the code they complain about has been rewritten and that their devices are now secure (without releasing code or new machines to the researchers).

And while their are bigger things to create hysteria about, the media takes a day or two and whip up a frenzy about how "Electronic voting is not secure and you can NEVER trust it!!" This, admittedly, is pure, unadulterated journalism with top-notch technical research to back it up. The public sees a tiny blurb in the corner of their screen that says "eVoting machines unsafe! Do NOT TRUST eVoting or its proponents!!"

In three easy steps, the prospect of future improvements to our voting system are readily destroyed. Right between bits of "Who Loves Raymond" and "Madonna's TongueFest 2003."

So, of course this is all bullshit because all I ever spew is bullshit. No sense in taking notes or paying attention. No matter how shitty a student you are, you still get full credit at the end of the semester. Just continue to play into the Fear culture being cultivated by television and government and make sure to support our economy!! How can we get our jobs back unless we spend all our money on this Taiwanese garbage??

I cannot positively state "whose" fault this is or where "you" are at in regards to it all. I cannot say that "I" don't contribute to this anarchic madness. I don't know who "they" are, but "I" imagine "they" are coming to get "me." Make "your" own decisions.

And if you couple the votes that are thrown away with the fraudulent votes yet to come, ummm... what was the point in me voting again?

/drm

On Monday, September 22, 2003, at 09:52 AM, Edward Wesolowski wrote:

Thanks
The articles are referencing the CalTech/MIT study "Voting: What Is, What Could Be."
The comments on viability of "Direct Recording Electronic" machines are interesting. ...this is on computerized and on Internet voting systems. ...security issues, expense, but the authors say snags w/electronic voting are likely to be worked out, and it's what's coming.
Best
Ed Wesolowski

At 09:33 AM 9/22/03 -0400, you wrote:
http://www.lwv.org/elibrary/nv/2002/voter_0302_4.html

Currently, during the average U.S. presidential election, between four
and six million votes, out of the approximately 100 million cast, are
"lost" or go uncounted due to faulty or outdated voting machinery and
registration problems, according to a study by scientists and engineers
from the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2003/vote.html

About 120,000 votes were lost in Massachusetts statewide elections in
2000 due to election practices and technologies that could be reformed,
according to a Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project report written by
Charles Stewart, professor of political science at MIT, and funded by
The Boston Foundation.

The estimate of lost votes is based on Census Bureau research, which
reported that almost 10 percent of 1.3 million registered Massachusetts
voters who did not cast ballots that year cited “registration problems”
at the precinct as their reason. The MIT report, "Voting in
Massachusetts" (pdf file), states that these “lost” votes could be
recovered by adopting a range of sweeping and incremental reforms.

http://www.brennancenter.org/presscenter/pressrelease_2003_0730.html

LAWSUIT CHARGES CITY BOARD OF ELECTIONS KNOWINGLY FAILED TO REPAIR
VOTING MACHINES

60,000 New York City voters thwarted in 2000 election; Similar numbers
of lost votes in other recent elections; Minorities disproportionately
harmed

A lawsuit filed today in federal court claims that some 60,000 residents
of New York City failed to have their votes counted in the 2000
elections because the City Board of Elections left disabled a voting
machine device designed to prevent such “undervoting.” The device, known
as a “sensor latch,” had been disabled in all 7,000 New York City lever
voting machines. The suit filed in the Eastern District of New York on
behalf of the Working Families Party, ACORN and individual voters by the
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law seeks to compel the
Board of Elections to repair the sensor latches in the City’s voting
machines.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:internetworkers-
> bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Edward Wesolowski
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 8:45 AM
> To: Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
> Subject: RE: [internetworkers] Bush the monster?
>
> Shea:
> ...just curious, what's your source on this:
> "And this doesn't even include the number of ballets that are simply
> lost. In NC in the past
> few years, thousands of votes have simply been lost."
>
> Definitely looks right, but I was wondering, is this from the
newspapers
> or....
> Ed Wesolowski
>
> At 11:51 PM 9/19/03 -0400, you wrote:
> >The Electoral College argument is a weak one at best. In the past
200
> >years there have only been two, arguably three, occasions where they
> >differed from the popular vote and in those cases it was always a
> >situation where the popular vote was very, very close.
> >
> >And if you going to nit pick to that extent, then you should be more
> >concerned with unelected and unaccountable local officials rendering
> >decisions on votes that can't be machine read properly. Each
election
> >more than 10 times the number of votes in question in Bush v Gore are
> >discarded because local officials decide they are incorrect in some
way.
> >In most cases the ballet is wholesale discarded even though it is
> >perhaps only a single mark that is incorrect. And this doesn't even
> >include the number of ballets that are simply lost. In NC in the
past
> >few years, thousands of votes have simply been lost.




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