| Friday, July 11, 2003 |  |
| How to Rig an Election in the United States | 1 comment |
 11 Jul 2003 @ 12:46How to Rig an Election in the United States Sludge Report #154 – Bigger Than Watergate! By C.D. Sludge Tuesday 08 July 2003 The story you are about to read is in this writer's view the biggest political scandal in American history, if not global history. And it is being broken today here in New Zealand. This story cuts to the bone the machinery of democracy in America today. Democracy is the only protection we have against despotic and arbitrary government, and this story is deeply disturbing. Imagine if you will that you are a political interest group that wishes to control forevermore the levers of power. Imagine further that you know you are likely to implement a highly unpopular political agenda, and you do not wish to be removed by a ballot driven backlash. One way to accomplish this outcome would be to adopt the Mugabe (Zimbabwe) or Hun Sen (Cambodia) approach. You agree to hold elections, but simultaneously arrest, imprison and beat your opponents and their supporters. You stuff ballot boxes, disenfranchise voters who are unlikely to vote for you, distort electoral boundaries and provide insufficient polling stations in areas full of opposition supporters. However as so many despots have discovered, eventually such techniques always fail – often violently. Hence, if you are a truly ambitious political dynasty you have to be a bit more subtle about your methods. Imagine then if it were possible to somehow subvert the voting process itself in such a way that you could steal elections without anybody knowing. Imagine for example if you could: secure control of the companies that make the voting machines and vote counting software; centralise vote counting systems, and politicise their supervision; legislate for the adoption of such systems throughout your domain, and provide large amounts of money for the purchase of these systems; establish systems of vote counting that effectively prevent anybody on the ground in the election – at a booth or precinct level - from seeing what is happening at a micro-level; get all the major media to sign up to a single exit-polling system that you also control – removing the risk of exit-polling showing up your shenanigans. And imagine further that you install a backdoor, or numerous backdoors, in the vote counting systems you have built that enable you to manipulate the tabulation of results in real time as they are coming in. Such a system would enable you to intervene in precisely the minimum number of races necessary to ensure that you won a majority on election night. On the basis of polling you could pick your marginal seats and thus keep your tweaking to a bare minimum. Such a system would enable you to minimise the risks of discovery of your activities. Such a system would enable you to target and remove individual political opponents who were too successful, too popular or too inquisitive. And most importantly of all, such a system would enable you to accomplish all the above without the public being in the least aware of what you were doing. When confronted with the awfulness of your programme they would be forced to concede that at least it is the result of a democratic process. How To Rig An Election In The United States So how would such a system actually work? Well one way to run such a corrupt electoral system might look like this: Each voting precinct (or booth) could be fitted with electronic voting systems, optical scanning systems, punch card voting systems or the more modern touchscreen electronic voting machines; At the close of play each day the booth/precinct supervisor could be under instructions to compile an electronic record of the votes cast in their booth; They might print out a report that contains only the details of the total votes count for that precinct/booth, and then file via modem the full electronic record of votes through to the County supervisor; The County Supervisor could be equipped with a special piece of software and a bank of modems that enables all these results to be received and tabulated in the internals of the computer; The County Supervisors themselves could be assured that their system was bullet proof, certified and contained tamper-protection mechanisms par excellence; The Country Supervisor could be given a range of tools for looking at the data within this software, but nothing to enable them to directly manipulate the results; But unbeknownst to the County Supervisor the software could actually create three separate records of the voting data; Meanwhile - also unbeknownst to the County Supervisor - these three tables of voting data could be in fact completely insecure and accessible simply through a common database programme, say Microsoft Access; Having the three tables would enable you to keep the real data in place – so the system could pass spot tests on individual precincts and booth results (should a precinct supervisor be particularly astute) -while simultaneously enabling you to manipulate the bottom line result; Finally you might also enhance the election hacker's powers by including within the software a utility to enable them to cover their tracks by changing the date and time stamps on files and remove evidence of your tampering. Read On...Fantasy Becomes Reality More > |
| Fox News Fauxs Up | 2 comments |
 11 Jul 2003 @ 09:11Fox News Fauxs Up BY LEE NICHOLS July 11, 2003: Common sense would have said to ignore it, and it would die a quiet death. But common sense, lawyers, and Fox News obviously don't mix. At several anti-war protests this year, much ire was vented toward Fox News (aka the media wing of the Republican Party), spawning the "Faux News" T-shirts (see photo) that popped up, first here in Austin and then around the nation. The T-shirts parody both Fox News' logo and its laughable "We Report, You Decide" motto as "We Distort, You Comply." A companion T-shirt featured an Aryan boy wearing a Nazi Brown Shirt uniform with the motto "O'Reilly Youth," referring to Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly. Fox found this none too funny, and last month sent a cease-and-desist order to the T-shirt's Austin creators, Richard Luckett, Brad First, and Rick Elms (doing business as Agitproperties). Fox's cease-and-desist letter not only accuses Agitproperties of copyright infringement, but also declares that the O'Reilly youth T "shows incredibly poor taste on your part, [and] is highly offensive." "Fuck these guys -- I'm offensive?" said Luckett, a former merchandising manager for South by Southwest, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Duran Duran, and others. "This is the network responsible for reality shows like Temptation Island and Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire." Predictably, sales have boomed. "Sales had been depressed lately, and then Fox sent the cease-and-desist letter." That led to press coverage, first by the British Register newspaper. "We went from 300 hits a day on our Web site [www.agitproperties.com] to 41,000 a day," Luckett says. "My Internet service provider shut me down [for using too much bandwidth], but we got our own server." That was followed by more media coverage from Salon.com, Fox competitor MSNBC, and numerous other sources. "We're getting support from all over the world," says Luckett. "And orders ... I can't tell you how many we've sold, but it's been phenomenal. I go to the post office twice a day with huge shipments. The post office hates me." But the American Civil Liberties Union doesn't -- the New York chapter of the ACLU is taking Agitproperties' case, no doubt armed with the extensive case law that protects parody. "We're going all the fucking way with this," Luckett says. More > |
| How important is African oil? | 0 comments |
 11 Jul 2003 @ 09:06How important is African oil? BBC NEWS 2003/07/09 President George W Bush is in Africa to launch HIV/Aids, development and anti-terrorism initiatives. But his visit has also highlighted the growing importance of oil imports for the United States. The US imports two thirds of its oil needs. About 15% of that amount comes from West Africa and that figure is projected to rise to 25% in the next 10 years. The oil sector in Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest growing in the world. Production has taken off in the Gulf of Guinea which includes Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, Angola and Congo. By the end of 2003, hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude will be flowing from oil fields in Chad, through rain forests in Cameroon to tankers docked off the Atlantic coast. An American company has secured a concession in the neighbouring Central African Republic. In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, America is seen as looking to reduce its dependence on the Middle East by looking elsewhere for energy supplies. Despite a reputation for political and economic stability, oil flows from Africa can be reliable, especially as production often takes place off-shore. "Usually oil production takes place in enclaves, so continues regardless of what goes on around," said Douglas Mason, Africa specialist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "Political problems are much more localised in Africa." US military involvement America may even eventually increase its military presence in the region to secure its oil supplies. Sao Tome - which has big oil reserves - has invited the US Navy to build a port from which to patrol the Gulf of Guinea. But some analysts say investing in African oil reserves will not solve all America's energy problems. "It is as well to diversify as much as possible. But no one oil source is more reliable than the other," says Robert Mabro, President of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. "There is a move to reduce reliance on the Middle East but Africa also has its problems. Look at the recent strikes in Nigeria." Professor of Petroleum and Economics at Dundee University, Paul Stevens describes as "mis-informed" officials in Washington who see African oil as crucially important to the US. They want to reduce America's reliance on Saudi Arabia's goodwill, he says. "It doesn't matter where you get it from, it's how much you pay. If oil cost $60 a barrel in the Middle East, it's still going to cost $60 in Africa. "Africa and Russia are not going to replace Saudi Arabia which has excess capacity which can stabilise the market." |
| Cheney told to hand over Enron papers | 1 comment |
 11 Jul 2003 @ 08:58Cheney told to hand over Enron papers (link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk|Telegraph UK} By Simon English 10/07/200 The Enron scandal was under renewed scrutiny yesterday after a US court dismissed an attempt by the Bush administration to keep details of its contact with the company secret. Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, tried to persuade the Federal Appeals Court that a lawsuit calling for paperwork relating to the government's controversial energy task force to be made public should not be heard. In a blow to President Bush's attempt to distance himself from the energy group's collapse, the court voted 2-1 that the case should go ahead. The energy task force that wrote the nation's energy policy consulted lobbyists and executives including Enron's discredited chairman Ken Lay, a big supporter of Mr Bush. Mr Cheney argues that his conversations with advisers should be private, so that all involved can be honest. The court called the vice-president's invoking of executive privilege "extraordinary" and "drastic", raising the likelihood that embarrassing details will emerge about the extent to which a contributor to party funds influenced lawmaking. Judge Emmet Sullivan said the Bush administration was really asking for "virtual immunity" from lawsuits, something the court had no power to give. Judicial Watch, the government watchdog behind the suit, said in a statement: "The court has affirmed that the vice-president is not above the law. This ruling is a legal blow to the Bush administration's arrogant view of executive branch power. We look forward to finally gaining access to the inner workings of the energy task force." Judicial Watch claims that Mr Lay and others were for all practical purposes members of the task force, something the government denies. Senator Bob Graham, one of nine potential presidential candidates, said Mr Bush and Mr Cheney should "stop hiding this public information". The court drew on rulings against a health task force headed by Hillary Clinton in 1993, saying Mr Cheney's legal team had failed to show that irreparable harm would be done if the case went ahead. With some reluctance, Mr Cheney's office admitted last year that the vice-president had met Mr Lay six times before the task force devised an energy policy that was immediately implemented by Mr Bush. The energy policy advocated opening more public land to oil and gas drilling and cutting back regulations on the sale of electricity, a decision some argue led to a power crisis in California. Last month, Enron was banned from selling power at market rates anywhere in the US in punishment for rigging the energy market and causing price increases. Regulators dubbed this a "death penalty" for a business that still hopes to emerge from bankruptcy. Enron became America's worst financial scandal when the extent of the Houston company's fraud emerged in late 2001. It was the first in a run of corporate calamities that mired Wall Street in allegations of sleaze. Mr Bush's ties with Enron were strong. In letters he called Mr Lay "Kenny Boy", which has been taken either as proof of a close personal friendship or just more evidence of Mr Bush's informal style. The court decision did offer some hope to the Bush administration that it may keep at least some of its paperwork private. The judges said Judicial Watch is asking for more documents than is reasonably needed. Lawyers for the administration are now expected to ask a lower court to restrict the request for minutes, reports and emails. More > |
| Indian Country Unites In Opposition To Trust Measure | 0 comments |
 11 Jul 2003 @ 08:52Indian Country Unites In Opposition To Trust Measure Photo: Elouise Cobell, center, has uncovered government mismanagement of Indian funds. She testified in Congress with Tex Hall, left, president of the National Congress of Indians, and Jimmy Goddard, a Blackfeet. WASHINGTON, July 10 -- Indian Country has delivered a united message to Congress: don't attempt to legislate an end to a lawsuit that soon could give Indians a full accounting of their trust accounts. That was the message a wide array of Indian leaders gave members of the House Resources Committee Wednesday. Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., responded with a promise that his committee will challenge an effort by members of the House Appropriations Committee to legislate an end to the lawsuit brought seven years ago by Elouise Cobell of Montana and four other Indians. "If there is a legislative resolution of this problem, then it will be done in this committee and not in the appropriations committee," he promised the Indian leaders. "I'm sorry that in the past Congress has not stepped up to the plate," he said, adding: "We're entering a different era." Pombo's comments came as his committee delved into whether the litigation can be settled out of court. Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Nation and the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, expressed a willingness to reopen talks with government lawyers. A just-concluded 44-day trial of how to reform the long-troubled trust will give a better foundation for new talks, she told the committee. Tex G. Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians, joined Cobell and others in denouncing the appropriations committee's measure. "It was a bad idea a year ago [when the House rejected a similar measure] and it's a bad idea today," said Hall. David Lester, executive director of the Denver-based Council of Energy Resource Tribes, reminded the committee that Indians had no choice when the trust was created by Congress in 1887. "The Cobell litigation is not the problem," he said. "Cobell is symptomatic of the problem." The bigger problem, Pombo and the Indian leaders seemed to agree, is that Congress has failed to resolve the many, long-standing problems with the trust including the government's inability to give trust beneficiaries the full accounting of their funds that every trust in the country is required to provide as a matter of law. The tribal leaders and Pombo also agreed that any resolution of the Cobell litigation must be developed in concert with trust beneficiaries, tribal leaders and government officials. James Cason, deputy associate Interior secretary, also agreed that his department cannot resolve the trust problems on its own. But he also said that the parties appear far apart on what constitutes a full and fair accounting and hinted that one solution might be to force trust beneficiaries to pay the cost of the accounting. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., the ranking Democrat on the committee, said he would once again battle to remove the appropriations committee restrictions from the Interior Appropriations bill when it come to the floor later this month. Rahall express reservations about one provision that would allow the secretary of Interior to dictate the terms of any settlement. "The alleged solution which would have the wolf guarding the hen house is not the answer," Rahall said |
| Thw Two Dolphins | 2 comments |
 11 Jul 2003 @ 08:41Stress Test This is a simple test to determine your stress levels. More > |