Elections

In March 1969, John Kerry, a 25-year-old Navy lieutenant, reached down from the boat he was piloting in Vietnam's treacherous Bay Hap River and in a spray of enemy fire pulled a soldier out of the water to safety. For his valor, Mr. Kerry won the Bronze Star with a combat "V" and his third Purple Heart.

That very same month, George W. Bush was on far-safer ground in Valdosta, Ga., learning to fly fighter planes for the Texas National Guard, a coveted post that greatly reduced any risk that he would be sent to Vietnam — and one that he might not have obtained had his father not been a member of Congress.

Republicans roared back on Tuesday, accusing Mr. Kerry of "smear tactics" for saying the president should answer questions about his service record. Taking the rare step of angrily rebutting the charges directly from the White House, the Republicans are trying to turn the issue back on Mr. Kerry and question the character of a man who they say is running a vicious campaign. But they are concerned enough about the political impact of the charges to consider sending Mr. Bush out to begin his official campaigning early, rather than waiting until spring as previously planned.

"Obviously we're in a period where the Democrats have been center stage politically and they've said a lot of tough things about the president," said one Bush campaign official, who was reacting in part to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released on Tuesday showing Mr. Kerry leading Mr. Bush by 53 percent to 46 percent among likely voters. "But it won't be too long now before there are two candidates in the race."

Late Tuesday night, r. Kerry fired back. On Fox News, he subtly slashed at Mr. Bush by implying that joining the National Guard was just another way of dodging the draft.

"I've never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into the National Guard," Mr. Kerry said. "Those are choices people make."

Newsweek: Patriot Games (Bush was AWOL)

Bush strategists may feel tempted to attack John Kerry’s opposition to Vietnam. Why itÂ’s a battle they canÂ’t win

The voters don't want to refight the Vietnam war, but with John Kerry looking like the likely nominee, Vietnam returns to the front pages. Kerry is accompanied on the campaign trail by the men he served with in the Mekong Delta. "I know a little something about aircraft carriers for real," he says, in an allusion to President George W. Bush's premature "Mission Accomplished" landing last spring on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

...

Retired general Wesley Clark was widely criticized for not objecting when left-wing activist Michael Moore called Bush a "deserter" in his presence. As a military man, Clark knows that deserting is a capital offense, reserved for those who have been court-martialed and found guilty. The charge against Bush is that he was AWOL for a year of his service in the National Guard. Once the pundits finished critiquing the impact on Clark of the presumed gaffe, the next logical question is to ask where Bush was during that year, how he got away with his absenteeism, and does it matter?

...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4114162

Andy Stephenson Announces Candidacy for Sec'y. of State

Immediately calls for Sam Reed to justify his position on Black Box Voting, and his apparent support for a paperless unverifiable computer system.

SEATTLE - Seattle Subway owner, Andy Stephenson came out swinging 14 months ago as one of several researchers for Bev Harris, a Seattle based writer who broke the story on Diebold's voting machines and the inherent lack of security in paperless voting machines currently being installed throughout the United States.

"Most people don't realize this is very much a state issue," said Andy "Katherine Harris was the Secretary of State of Florida. Diebold machines threw the election. And King County is already famous for using these machines for doing end-runs around the official vote tallies. These machines have the capability of being manipulated built-in, pure and simple."

"It is imperative that the American public know about this issue, and how it absolutely politicizes the position of Secretary of State in every State of the Union, starting now, here, in Washington."

"Today I announce my candidacy for Secretary of State. I pledge to prevent the theft of the election by government forces that are colluding with industry officials as we speak to install these machines throughout the country. I pledge to keep elections free in Washington, and I challenge you, the public across the country to rise up and support candidates for Secretary of State in your state who pledge to fight these paperless voting machines, that have ability to steal your vote. "

"I believe the right to a secret secure ballot is the most important right we have. I decided to run for Secretary of State because of that belief. Thomas Paine said it best: 'The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which all other rights are protected. To take away that right is to reduce man to slavery.' I wonder if Sam Reed, the current Secretary of State, believes the same.

Kucinich Says Bush Admin 'LIED' about reasons for WAR and that they are CORRUPT via ENRON!

CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER

US election fraud scandal looms?

STEALING ELECTIONS is a sordid tradition in the United States, though it's certainly not unknown in some other countries, as well.

From Tammany Hall's machine politics in the 19th century through Mayor Daley's grasp on Chicago elections, right up to Lyndon Johnson's first election and John Kennedy's 1960 cliff-hanger defeat of Richard Nixon, many US elections have been thought to have had "irregularities".

So much so that it's not really certain where "Vote early, and often!" originated, whether in Boston, New York, or Chicago. It is also well known that many lesser US cities had political corruption, including rampant election fraud, at one time or another in their histories.

Now a New Zealand political activist has published suspicions, along with supporting evidence, that electronic voting in the US is being manipulated by right-wing politicians with the connivance of several voting machine manufacturers. The story revolves around some highly volatile conjectures and might be explosive, if fully investigated.

The article is reprinted below with permission, lightly edited merely for formatting, minor typos and a minor fact (G.W. Bush isn't a Jr.).

Here at the INQUIRER, we can't help but notice that the highly, er... accommodating database software that drives these allegedly dodgy and easily tampered electronic voting machines is... Microsoft Access.

And we're trying to decide on a catchy term that ends in "gate".Âµ

L'INQ
www.scoop.co.nz

Follow up: Bald-Faced Lies About Black Box Voting Machines and The Truth About the Rob-Georgia File - By Bev Harris

Receipts Reflect Fears Over Electronic Votes

posted by admin on Thursday February 27, @07:23PM

from the votingmachines dept.

"By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 25 Â— The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted today to invest $20 million in 5,000 voting machines that produce paper receipts, a move that reflects concerns about the trend toward electronic voting machines.

The vote makes Santa Clara the first county in the nation to purchase the so-called voter-verified paper backup system.

The popularity of electronic voting machines is growing as counties replace the kinds of antiquated systems blamed for Florida's 2000 presidential election debacle. At least 1 in 10 voters nationwide cast ballots in the last presidential election using electronic machines.

Computer scientists in Silicon Valley are calling for a halt to the trend, at least until voting machines are redesigned to produce a paper record of every vote.

NYT: Bush 'Draft Dodger'?