The Right Wing has Declared War; An Emergency Call-to-Arms:
A Five-Step Battle Plan for YOUR Future
By Eric A. Smith
OpEdNews.Com
This is a call to arms to you -- as an American and a custodian of your
nation's future. Please act as if your life depends on it -- it well
might.
We have been led down a dark, perilous road.
The journey has touched us all, from mothers and fathers burying children
in a war over nonexistent WMD, to firefighters and policemen promised
vital funds only to be cheated and asked to work for free. Millions of
Americans have been cut loose as corporations exploit foreign workers on
the cheap and CEOs gorge themselves on riches unprecedented in history.
While Americans take second and even third jobs just feed their families,
the Bush Administration has poured America's wealth into the greedy hands
of defense contractors and tax-dodging megacorporations, notorious
companies like (#1 Bush donator Kenneth Lay's) Enron or Cheney's wartime
ripoff-artists at Halliburton.
Our environment, safety, economy, national security, labor protection and
Constitutionally-guaranteed rights have all been gutted and left to die in
a worker-hostile economy.
NOW WE FIGHT BACK.
Here's what we're facing:
This November, the Bush election machine has more than three times the
spending power of its opponents(1)
And they are fighting dirty, just as they did in 2000, when they purged
Florida voter rolls(2), rioted to stop recounts(3), barred citizens from
voting (ibid) and even threatened the Vice President and his family on
their front lawn (4).
This year, through gerrymandering, data theft from Congressional
computers, impeachments and recess judicial appointments, they are trying
to consolidate their unprecedented power. And they have a special
election-season surprise in store for us as well -- as the AFL-CIO argued
before the Supreme Court last December(5), the Bushites have MADE IT A
CRIME FOR THIRD PARTIES TO CRITICIZE THE PRESIDENT OR SAY THINGS TO
INFLUENCE THE ELECTION during the election's most critical phase:
"This blackout will become national in scope on July 31, 30 days
before the August 30-September 2 Republican National Convention . . . and
it will then continue without interruption throughout the remaining 60
days until the November 2 election. Thus, from July 31, 2004 until
the election, it will be a crime for a union, corporation, or incorporated
non-profit organization to pay to broadcast any 'reference' to the
President by 'name,' 'photograph,' 'drawing' or other 'unambiguous' means
anywhere in the United States." (6) [Emphasis added. -v]
They are ruthless, and will not concede victory without a vicious
fight. Expect the outlawing of gay marriage to "divide and
conquer", marginalize opponents and consolidate support from the
religious right, a base estimated to be 30 million strong (7). Expect
Ralph Nader to syphon off votes yet again. Expect the Supreme Court to
halt recounts again. Expect a "surprise" discovery of WMD even
after Blix, David Kay and Iraq's scientists saying they were all
destroyed. (8) Expect the "suprise" capture or
"destruction" of Bin Laden conveniently close to the election
(9). Expect lots of scary terrorism warnings and perhaps even an
attack. (10) General Tommy Franks has even suggested a second
9-11-scale attack will lead to martial law in America (11). [Emphasis
added. -v]
None of this should deter you; remember it was the same group
(Rumsfeld, Cheney, Baker, Bush Sr., Perle, etc.) that armed and funded
Hussein and Bin Laden in the first place. The blood of our dead is
therefore on their hands. [Emphasis added. -v]
We must not underestimate the ruthlessness of those willing to start an
international war based on known and transparent lies -- virtually against
the will of the entire planet. Make no mistake; they are willing to throw
away American lives in their quest for global dominion. And if you rise up
and oppose them, you may be bullied, harassed and threatened, perhaps even
by the FBI.(12) YOU MUST NOT LET THIS DETER YOU. WE MUST NOT BE
BULLIED INTO LETTING THEM SEIZE POWER AGAIN! [Emphasis added. -v]
For example, from the NY Times: "When a Times editorial writer
dropped in on one Palm Beach precinct where there were reports of
malfunctioning machines, county officials called the police to remove
him."(ibid)
And here we come to the deep, dark heart of the matter:
[Emphasis added. -v]
This year 28% of the vote (and counting) will be tallied on electronic
voting machines or scanners, which have been repeatedly hacked and can be
used to fix an election -- all without a trace. Below you'll find a link
to the diagrammed, step-by-step report of how e-vote activist Bev Harris
hacked one(13). If you think this is exaggeration, please follow the links
listed below, where everything has been well-documented and by the NY
Times, the Washington Post, CNN, ABC, CBS, the BBC, etc. (14)
Once paperless, effortlessly hackable (10) voting machines have been
installed, the situation will be PERMANENT -- we will never know or be
able to prove if an election has been stolen. And if it HAS -- those who
have stolen it CAN NEVER BE VOTED OUT. And without the fear of voter
reprisal, whoever takes advantage of such a situation could do literally
anything they wanted and NEVER LOSE POWER. It will mean the end of
Democracy. And if you work for an activist group, it will certainly mean
the end of your organization.
We have less than six months to prepare to fight the biggest power grab in
human history.
Do your part.
Help save America.
There will not be a second chance.
A 5-STEP BATTLE PLAN:
I. LOBBYING (20 minutes approximately)
Tell your representatives to support Bills H.R. 2239 and ESPECIALLY 1980
(14)
Online e-petitions:
http://www.mediafordemocracy.us/campaign/evote
http://www.truemajority.org/actionregister/
http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2821
http://www.verifiedvoting.org
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/petition.cfm?itemid=14993
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/348035553?ts=1079111375&sign[partner_userID]=304336170&sign[memberID]=304336170&sign[partnerID]=1
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/cleanvote.html
Congress
http://www.senate.gov/
Toll free: 1-800-839-5276
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ State
elections boards
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/htdocs/dcforum/DCForumID29/47.html
State Attorneys General
http://www.naag.org/ag/full_ag_table.php
State Election Officials
http://www.nased.org/ Members, Natl.
Assoc. of County Recorders, Election
Officials and Clerks
http://www.nacrc.org/leadership/st_coord.htm
Penelope Bonsall, national director of the Office of Election
Administration
Office of Election Administration
Federal Election Commission
999 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20463
vss@fec.gov
(202) 694-1095 (phone)
(202) 219-8500 (fax)
II. MEDIA BLITZ (one to three hours approximately)
Write a letter and email or fax it to Radio and TV stations, newspapers
and magazines in your area:
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/News/
http://newslink.org
http://www.cantufind.com/american_newspapers.htm
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Radio/Formats/Talk_Radio/Networks/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Radio/Formats/Talk_Radio/Stations/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/Networks/Cable/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/Networks/
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Broadcasting/Information/
National Media Contacts:
CBS Evening News
212-975-3691
evening@cbsnews.com
NBC Nightly News
212-664-4971
nightly@nbc.com
Peter Jennings : ABC World News Tonight
Tel : (212) 456-4025, Fax : (212) 456-2381
PeterJennings@abcnews.com
Washington Post :
abramowitz@washpost.com, colemanm@washpost.com,
letters@washpost.com, hadarm@washpost.com,
kingc@washpost.com, milbankd@washpost.com,
New York Times:
nytnews@nytimes.com, oped@nytimes.com,
president@nytimes.com, publisher@nytimes.com,
society@nytimes.com, washington@nytimes.com,
web-editor@nytimes.com, letters@nytimes.com
USA Today: editor@usatoday.com
Houston Chronicle: viewpoints@chron.com
San Francisco Chronicle: letters@sfchronicle.com
Los Angeles Times: letters@latimes.com
Chicago Tribune: ctc-TribLetter@Tribune.com
Washington Post: letters@washpost.com
Newsday: letters@newsday.com
New York Daily News: voicers@edit.nydailynews.com
CNN HeadLine News executives :
cameron.baird@turner.com, dave.willis@turner.com,
bill.schneider@turner.com ,
james.broyles@turner.com, jason.evans@turner.com,
lou.dobbs@turner.com, moneyline@cnnfn.com,
kathy.slobogin@turner.com, paul.varian@turner.com,
judy.fortin@turner.com, bill.galvin@turner.com,
susan.jalali@turner.com, kurt.kasting@turner.com,
tim.mallon@turner.com, wade.mckinney@turner.com,
jerry.mihoch@turner.com, stephanie.minter@turner.com,
dennis.newman@turner.com, alan.schrack@turner.com,
rolando.santos@turner.com, steve.shusman@turner.com,
jennifer.c.thomas@turner.com
USA Today :
editor@usatoday.com, fanklam@usatoday.com,
jbacon@usatoday.com lbranson@usatoday.com,
dcolton@usatoday.com
Los Angeles Times :
dean.baquet@latimes.com, op-ed@latimes.com,
john.carroll@latimes.com, janet.clayton@latimes.com,
letters@latimes.com, latmag@latimes.com,
marjorie.miller@latimes.com,
john.puerner@latimes.com,
james.rainey@latimes.com, bill.stall@latimes.com
REUTERS :
michel.gelbart@reuters.com,
eddie.evans@reuters.com,
editor.reuters@reuters.com,
daniel.grebler@reuters.com,
stephen.jukes@reuters.com, reshma.kapadia@reuters.com,
andrew.mitchell@reuters.com,
dick.satran@reuters.com,
david.schlesinger@reuters.com,
eddie.evans@reuters.com,
washington.daybook.newsroom@reuters.com,
miami.newsroom@reuters.com,
michel.gelbart@reuters.com,
boston.newsroom@reuters.com,
toronto.newsroom@reuters.com,
mexicocity.newsroom@reuters.com
Associated Press:
info@ap.org, msilverman@ap.org,
gjohnson@ap.org, hjung@ap.org,
tkorte@ap.org, sthomsen@ap.org,
etompson@ap.org, ntrott@ap.org,
rtanner@ap.org, mtighe@ap.org,
kathleen.carroll@ap.org, dcrary@ap.org,
adinnocenzio@ap.org, jaffleck@ap.org,
mfeldman@ap.org, paula.froke@ap.org,
tfuentez@ap.org, kgazlay@ap.org,
chanley@ap.org, bharpaz@ap.org,
lheinzerling@ap.org, rherschaft@ap.org,
hitalie@ap.org, sjacobsen@ap.org,
ajesdanun@ap.org, tkent@ap.org
III. WITNESS E-VOTE EVALUATIONS (one afternoon)
Ask your elections board (about any e-voting purchase evaluations meetings
to be held in your district. As a member of the voting public, it is your
legal right to attend as a witness, although, out of convenience, they may
try to avoid giving you the information. Insist on your rights.
If you do attend as a witness, you may well be a victim of intimidation
tactics. Insist on voter-verified paper ballots. Bev Harris has written
comprehensive answers to arguments you will hear. DO NOT BACK DOWN OR BE
INTIMIDATED BY CIVIL SERVANTS -- they are your EMPLOYEES, paid by YOUR
TAXES:
From Bev Harris, http://www.BlackBoxVoting.Org
Assertion: "Upgrading the printer already in the (Diebold)
machine costs money"
Fact: Diebold has stated in writing that their pre-installed
internal printers are sufficient to generate a voter-verified paper trail.
Assertion: "The paper is very expensive"
Fact: Thermal paper is the cheapest made, and with an estimated
maximmum of 300 people voting at each touch screen a LARGE precinct may
have seven touch screens, but many have just two or three, it might cost
$15 per precinct to print those ballots.
Assertion: "The paper won't last"
Fact: If the report to be provided by the machine will last the
required amount of time, the ballots will too, if printed on the same
paper. The printer is there to report totals at the polling place.
Assertion: "The machines will jam"
Fact: The printer is similar to models used in supermarkets and
WalMart. Remember: the total number of transactions will be about 300. Do
supermarket and WalMart printers jam every 15 sales? No. They process
thousands of printouts without jamming.
Assertion: "The ink will run out"
Fact: There is no ink in a thermal printer
Question: "If a paper ballot record doesn't match a machine
record, which is the legal vote?"
Fact: The voter-verified paper must trump the machine unless a
mechanical defect or fraud is shown, because it is a physical record seen
and verified by thousands of individual voters, whereas the machine is
bits and bytes that can be changed by a single technician!
Assertion: "Paper ballot systems have been tampered
with"
Fact: Yes, and machines have been frequently wrong as well. Do
not allow sidetracking of the discussion or assertions that you are
"against electronic voting" -- no, we want them to put paper in
a printer and use it for auditing.
Assertion: "Officials won't know what to do with paper
ballots and new laws must be written."
Fact: Laws and procedures set up for optical scans are
applicable.
Assertion: "A paper trail will only lead to demands for more
complicated and stringent auditing"
Fact: Yes, it will. We're asking for that anyway, with optical
scanning. It is still cheap and efficient compared to many of the changes
currently being implemented to accommodate the sales of more touchscreen
machines.
Question: "Why use machines at all if you're demanding paper
ballots?"
Fact: Voting machines are helpful for the visually impaired
Assertion: "Paper ballots prevent the visually impaired from
voting"
Facts: Wheelchair-assisted voters can use a touch screen with the
same efficiency whether or not there is a paper printout, and the
visually-impaired can be provided with headphones for these machines. Nor
does a paper printout hinder their ability to vote.
Alternatives DO exist to those Diebold, Sequoia and ES&S machines
which are operated by heavily partisan CEOs and are designed to operate
WITHOUT a paper trail. Those Diebold types' code and components are not
allowed to be examined.
Avante Systems has a machine that shows a printout through a glass screen.
After the voter confirms it is correct, the paper ballot is dropped into a
storage box so it can be checked against the machine totals and the
AccuPoll system has a scanner that can pass over the printed ballot to
verify votes.
Sequioa machines can be attached to normal printers. If your group has
some at its disposal, by all means, bring them.
Alternative, secure e-voting machines you can suggest to your elections
officials:
http://www.accupoll.com/
http://www.aitechnology.com/avantetech/home.html
IV. VOLUNTEER ELECTIONS MONITORING (three days approximately, including
preliminary training)
Vootewatch is organizing election monitor volunteers here:
http://www.votewatch.us/forum/register.php?
Bev Harris has outlined a
point-by-point strategy on specifically what to look for when monitoring
electronic voting machines. It is also recommended that you either
download her free e-book "Black Box Voting", or better yet,
purchase it here: http://www.blackboxvoting.org
CITIZEN WATCHDOGS:
What to look for and report -- Let's get good at this before November!
Optical-scan systems and absentee ballots:
We have information that all systems recognize carbon-containing marks
(soft lead pencil). Some DO NOT recognize all inks. You may want to bring
a soft lead pencil to the polling place with you to mark your optical-scan
ballots.
All Diebold counties (AccuVote and AccuTouch are Diebold brands) -- Demand
that the poll workers print a report and post a copy at the polling place
at the end of the day, whether they are required to or not. All Diebold
machines, both touch-screen and optical-scan, contain internal printers
and have the ability to print a polling place results report. This takes
60 seconds and costs nothing, and is an important check and balance to
compare with the county results from the GEMS system, which we believe to
contain security flaws. Votes should not change from the polling place to
the county.
Report any instance of mismatched polling place/county tabulations here.
Do NOT accept the excuse that they won't match because early votes,
absentee, provisional, or challenge votes were added into the polling
place totals. That is called "co-mingling" the data and is not
an acceptable record-keeping practice. Additional categories of votes must
be accounted for as separate line items.
Sequoia touch-screens do not have an internal printer. A printer can
easily be hooked up with a serial port. If you see printers, demand
a polling place report.
Watch for any "wandering vote tallies" on
election night, especially if any votes go DOWN. (Yes, this has been known
to happen).
Late poll openings: Report these immediately and we'll
try to get cameras there. This is a form of vote suppression, often
occurring in minority areas.
Late vote results: Report late incoming tallies. These
can be indicative of the county trying to resolve voting machine anomalies
before filing reports.
Observe how many cords come in and out of the voting machines. Report any
evidence of networking the machines together. Report any time you
see more than a simple power cord plugged in while the election is in
progress.
Wardrive election sites. See if you can pick up wireless
signals either during or after the election. Wireless communication is not
permitted. Also, report any use of cell phones for vote transfers, which
is also not permitted.
Election workers: Report the procedures used for training
if they seem insecure. For example, we have already had reports that in
Georgia, some poll workers were told to take voting machines home after
training; Georgia flag artwork was uploaded right before the election; and
other unwise and insecure procedures were followed.
Go visit the polling place at the end of the day and see how
secure it is. We had reports recently of machines left in the
polling place unattended.
Felony watch: In some states, IT IS A FELONY for
technicians who are not sworn elections officials to touch the vote
database in any way, shape or form after votes have been cast. In fact, if
you look at Chapter 13 of Black Box Voting, the San Luis Obispo incident
was probably illegal (Diebold tech Sophia Lee was tied to a live vote
database that appeared on the Internet five hours before the polls
closed).
Watch for statistical anomalies. Look at everything. Time
is of the essence, as these analyses take some time and there are only a
few days before the election is certified.
V. LEGAL CHALLENGES (indeterminate)
Author Lynn Landes has questioned the constitutionality of voting
machines.
http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingMachinesUnconstitutional.htm
If your organization has the wherewithal to raise a legal challenge on
these (or other grounds) here are some resources below:
Election campaign and civil rights lawyers listed for every city:
http://lawyers.findlaw.com/lawyer/practice/Election%20Campaign%20&%20Political%20Law
http://lawyers.findlaw.com/lawyer/practice/Civil%20Rights
Institute for Justice:
http://www.ij.org/index.shtml
Center for Indiviual Rights:
http://www.cir-usa.org/intake.html
Class actions:
http://www.bigclassaction.com/civil_rights.html
Southeastern Legal Foundation:
http://southeasternlegal.org/
Electronic Frontier Foundation attorneys:
gwen@eff.org
jason@eff.org
owlswan@eff.org
wendy@eff.org
tien@eff.org
fred@eff.org
Other challenges:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/tuesday/local_news_04d49255058760a400d8.html
http://www.electionguardians.org/actions.htm
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/dieboldlawsuit.pdf
Pax Christi is also organizing an international group of elections
monitors. More information here:
http://www.paxchristiusa.org/news_events_more.asp?id=887
REFERENCES
1 (GOP:$115,667,827 ; Dems:$44,175,502).
http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/index.asp
2. Greg Palast, Harper's Magazine "The Great Florida Ex-Con
Game"
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=122&row=2
3 a."Unprecedented" -- internet preview of the film
http://www.unprecedented.org/UnprecedentedPreview.htm
3 b. Lynn Landes: "Mission Impossible -- Federal Observers &
Voting Machines"
http://www.ecotalk.org/FederalObservers.htm
4. Barabara Walters interview "The Note":
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/791744/posts
5.McConnell vs the Federal Election Commission
http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/1637/
6. http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0404/hentoff.php
7. "Bush Assures Evangelicals of Commitment to Marriage
Amendment"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/12/politics/12EVAN.html?pagewanted=print&position
8a. Online Journal: "Wag the Osama"
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/031004Burns/031004burns.html
8b.NewsNet5: "Ridge Sidesteps Question On Bin Laden's Capture"
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/2917298/detail.html
9. U.S. Unloading WMD in Iraq
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=3/13/2004&Cat=4&Num=011
10. Aljazeera.net: "Purported Al Qaida Statement"
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2CDD53D6-7AF7-40C7-AF88-32A16072F81B.htm
11. NewsMax: "Tommy Franks: 'Martial Law Will Replace
Constitution After Next Terror Attack'"
http://infowars.com/print/ps/franks_martial.htm
12. The New McCarthyism, the Progressive:
http://www.progressive.org/0901/roth0102.html
NY Times: "Florida as the next Florida"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/14/opinion/14SUN1.html
13. Scoop: "Inside a US Election Vote Counting Program"
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm
14a. NY Times: "Hack the Vote"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120303A.shtml
b. CBS: "Electronic Voting Causing Concern"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/03/eveningnews/main591185.shtml
c. UK Independent: "All the President's Votes?"
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1013-01.htm
d. Salon: "Will the Election be Hacked?"
http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/02/09/voting_machines/index_np.html
e. BBC: "Concerns over US Computer Voting"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3489877.stm
f. ABC News: "Avoiding Another Florida Fiasco"
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/SciTech/Voting_machines_040305-1.html
g. "Comparison of Senate Bills 1980, 1986, and 2045"
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/senate_bill_comparison.asp
You are encouraged to distribute this document freely and
widely.
Contact: Eric A. Smith, snowdog@juno.ocn.ne.jp
Hot Damn! Design, Tokyo, Japan ?? 81-03-3959-5371
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