Kucinich publishes Dielbold memos

[Hamel]

Yep, he has them up, including a quote from Diebold executive Walden O'Dell, where O'Dell said he was determined to deliver votes to Bush in '04. The memos were published elsewhere but Diebold threatened legal action~ Not only conflict of interest, but now proof positive of corruption!

Dennis Kucinich's site

Article regarding O'Dell's words

Voting machine controversy

08/28/03
Julie Carr Smyth
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus - The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. - who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush - prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election.

O'Dell attended a strategy pow-wow with wealthy Bush benefactors - known as Rangers and Pioneers - at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch earlier this month. The next week, he penned invitations to a $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser to benefit the Ohio Republican Party's federal campaign fund - partially benefiting Bush - at his mansion in the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington.

The letter went out the day before Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, also a Republican, was set to qualify Diebold as one of three firms eligible to sell upgraded electronic voting machines to Ohio counties in time for the 2004 election.

Blackwell's announcement is still in limbo because of a court challenge over the fairness of the selection process by a disqualified bidder, Sequoia Voting Systems.

In his invitation letter, O'Dell asked guests to consider donating or raising up to $10,000 each for the federal account that the state GOP will use to help Bush and other federal candidates - money that legislative Democratic leaders charged could come back to benefit Blackwell.

They urged Blackwell to remove Diebold from the field of voting-machine companies eligible to sell to Ohio counties.

This is the second such request in as many months. State Sen. Jeff Jacobson, a Dayton-area Republican, asked Blackwell in July to disqualify Diebold after security concerns arose over its equipment.

"Ordinary Ohioans may infer that Blackwell's office is looking past Diebold's security issues because its CEO is seeking $10,000 donations for Blackwell's party - donations that could be made with statewide elected officials right there in the same room," said Senate Democratic Leader Greg DiDonato.

Diebold spokeswoman Michelle Griggy said O'Dell - who was unavailable to comment personally - has held fund-raisers in his home for many causes, including the Columbus Zoo, Op era Columbus, Catholic Social Services and Ohio State University.

Ohio GOP spokesman Jason Mauk said the party approached O'Dell about hosting the event at his home, the historic Cotswold Manor, and not the other way around. Mauk said that under federal campaign finance rules, the party cannot use any money from its federal account for state- level candidates.

"To think that Diebold is somehow tainted because they have a couple folks on their board who support the president is just unfair," Mauk said.

Griggy said in an e-mail statement that Diebold could not comment on the political contributions of individual company employees.

Blackwell said Diebold is not the only company with political connections - noting that lobbyists for voting-machine makers read like a who's who of Columbus' powerful and politically connected.

"Let me put it to you this way: If there was one person uniquely involved in the political process, that might be troubling," he said. "But there's no one that hasn't used every legitimate avenue and bit of leverage that they could legally use to get their product looked at. Believe me, if there is a political lever to be pulled, all of them have pulled it."

Blackwell said he stands by the process used for selecting voting machine vendors as fair, thorough and impartial.

As of yesterday, however, that determination lay with Ohio Court of Claims Judge Fred Shoemaker.

He heard closing arguments yesterday over whether Sequoia was unfairly eliminated by Blackwell midway through the final phase of negotiations.

Shoemaker extended a temporary restraining order in the case for 14 days, but said he hopes to issue his opinion sooner than that.

[Hamel]

Fucking retarded up-the-butt spelling error in title

[Alyrium Denryle]

cant say I am not suprized...

[Alyrium Denryle]

EDIT: Cant say I am shocked... Damn grammar...

[MKSheppard]

and who gives a FUCKING FLYING SHIT?

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20031 ... -1022r.htm

Senate Republicans said yesterday that the internal memos written by Democratic judiciary panel staffers prove what's been said for years: Committee Democrats work at the behest of interest groups such as People for the American Way and those supporting abortion rights.
"Many of us have said over and over again that the Democrats are increasingly the party of special interests," said Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican and his party's conference chairman. "If anybody has any questions about who's really controlling their party agenda, it's pretty clear that they get their marching orders from these special interest groups."
In a June 12, 2002, memo to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, staffers wrote: "t appears the groups are willing to let [judicial nominee Tim] Tymkovich go through (the core of the coalition made that decision last night, but they are checking with the gay rights groups)."
In a Nov. 6, 2001, memo written to Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, a staffer reminded the senator of a 5 p.m. meeting scheduled with eight liberal special interest groups "to discuss their serious concerns with the judicial nomination process."
"The groups would like to postpone action on these nominees until next year, when [presumably] the public will be more tolerant of partisan dissent," the staffer wrote.
Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, was among those included in the Nov. 6 meeting.
"We shared our analysis with The Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal three weeks before we met with Durbin," Mr. Neas said. "This was not secret stuff."
Mr. Neas called the Republican accusation "politics of intimidation and diversion" and vowed he would "not be "intimidated or diverted."
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in a prepared statement that the "memos, if accurate, document our long-standing concern that many Democrats are under the thumb of left-wing special interest groups."
Specifically, Mr. Hatch referred to an April 17, 2002, memo in which Kennedy staffers recommended that a conservative nominee to the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals be stalled until after the court had ruled on the landmark University of Michigan affirmative- action case.
The staffers were "a little concerned about the propriety of scheduling hearings based on the resolution of a particular case," they wrote in a memo that mentioned federal district Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, nominated by Mr. Bush to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. "Nevertheless we recommend that Gibbons be scheduled for a later hearing."
Mr. Hatch said: "It appears that some have attempted to put their thumbs on the scales of justice."
Kennedy spokesman David Smith said: "If you're implying that a judicial nominee was deliberately held up to affect the outcome of a particular court case, then that's patently false."
Democrats have started an investigation into the documents they say were stolen. Democrats say they found the name of a Republican staffer, Manuel Miranda, at the bottom of e-mail that was included in documents posted on the Internet by the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary. Democrats said the staffer may have been involved in obtaining or distributing the documents.
Mr. Miranda, who works for Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, dismissed the concerns, saying that he had received the April 2 e- mail and shared it with Republican Judiciary staffers.

[Joe]

I still don't buy into the Diebold conspiracy theories, but a flawed system is a flawed system.

Make the voting software open source and watch these problems disappear.

[Hamel]

Democrats checking with gay rights groups before making some moves?

Omg Shep. I don't know what to say. That's such a fucking travesty~ I think I'll commit suicide over the shame of knowing that gay rights groups and People for the American Way are consulting with democrats




Nice red herring though

[MKSheppard]

Democrats checking with gay rights groups before making some moves?

Funny isn't it, how Ted Kennedy and the like keep Bush's nominees
for judgeships bottled up on the say so of special interest groups? How
the democrats keep whining about how the NRA and other groups control
the Republican party, and ignore their own 600 pound gorilla in a pink tutu
that dominates their decisions.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Democrats checking with gay rights groups before making some moves?

Funny isn't it, how Ted Kennedy and the like keep Bush's nominees
for judgeships bottled up on the say so of special interest groups? How
the democrats keep whining about how the NRA and other groups control
the Republican party, and ignore their own 600 pound gorilla in a pink tutu
that dominates their decisions.

Well frankly, those religious right judges should never sit on a federal bench... ever...

But that is just the opinion of a homosexual atheist who LIKES the establishment clause...

[Hamel]

Funny isn't it, how Ted Kennedy and the like keep Bush's nominees
for judgeships bottled up on the say so of special interest groups? How
the democrats keep whining about how the NRA and other groups control
the Republican party, and ignore their own 600 pound gorilla in a pink tutu
that dominates their decisions.

Cry me a piss river over Bush's hard-line Christian right nominees that would love to keep the gays down.

Interesting how we discuss Diebold's blatant corruption and efforts at keeping Bush in office, and you bring up gay rights groups as if they were the equivalent.

[Hamel]

OT: I just finished watching this program on Sundance that covered the bullshit that Harris and DBT pulled on the Floridian voters. Hopefully a transcript will pop up somewhere *crosses fingers*

[MKSheppard]

OT: I just finished watching this program on Sundance that covered the bullshit that Harris and DBT pulled on the Floridian voters. Hopefully a transcript will pop up somewhere *crosses fingers*

what bullshit? It's not my fault floridan's can't read a fucking ballot.

Californians didn't have any problems with that mega recall ballot they
voted a month or so ago in.

[Stormbringer]

OT: I just finished watching this program on Sundance that covered the bullshit that Harris and DBT pulled on the Floridian voters. Hopefully a transcript will pop up somewhere *crosses fingers*

And isn't it funny that the media sponsored recount found Bush the winner? Though by the time it was completed September 11th had occured so no one paid attention.

[MKSheppard]

And isn't it funny that the media sponsored recount found Bush the winner? Though by the time it was completed September 11th had occured so no one paid attention.

ANN COULTER MODE=ON


ISN'T IT OBVIOUS?!!??!!?

SEPTEMBER 11TH WAS A LIBERAL TRAITOR PLOT TO DIVERT ATTENTION
AWAY FROM THE FACT THAT BUSH WON LEGALLY!

ANN COULTER MODE=OFF

[Hamel]

what bullshit? It's not my fault floridan's can't read a fucking ballot.

Californians didn't have any problems with that mega recall ballot they
voted a month or so ago in.

I'm talking the state contracting out work to DBT, where they deliberately screwed the felon lists so thousands of black people would be mislabled as felons (with most of these "felons" not having an incarceration date listed and even some with dates in 2007). Black people vote, at least in Florida, over 90% democrat.

I'm talking Harris denying ex-felons that originally came from other states their right to vote (the "ex-felons can't vote" law only applied to native Floridian felons and was originally devised as a racist anti-black measure by confederates). Ex-felons also have over 90% votes for dems.

Jeb Bush required that you send proof of your innocence or right to vote to the authorities. Presumed guilty before innocent.

I'm talking republican operatives flown down to an election office to riot and disrupt counting. All faces were identified as republican operatives.

Then the illegal absentee ballots, SCOTUS citing an equal protection clause on faulty logic (since if a uniform standard wasn't followed according to their view, then the entire election would be invalid since voting machines differ from county to county). Not to mention the fact that they said it this was only going to apply to Florida and a precedent would NOT be set (how convenient).

Then all the fucking conflicts of interests that are so in-your-face it's unbelievable.

[MKSheppard]

So? They have fucking barbed wire in cemeteries in Chicago to keep
the dead from rising and voting Daley.

[Hamel]

So? They have fucking barbed wire in cemeteries in Chicago to keep
the dead from rising and voting Daley.

Ah, the Duchess strategy. It's good for a laugh or two.

[MKSheppard]

And who the fuck gives a shit about convicted felons and their right to vote?
They've given up any claim on participating in the political process by comitting
crimes.

There IS a method to go about to legally restore your rights, but too many
felons are more interested in getting phat with the homies in the hood than
doing the right thing.

[MKSheppard]

For fucks' sake in my home state of Maryland, the Blacks are complaining
that our current "Three Strikes and you can no longer fucking vote, PERIOD,
BITCH" law is unfair to felons....



Hey dumbasses, don't commit three crimes in a row and you can still vote,
is that too fucking hard to get through your gangbanger heads?

[Hamel]

And who the fuck gives a shit about convicted felons and their right to vote?
They've given up any claim on participating in the political process by comitting
crimes.

Right, so someone who gets caught with some drugs in the car deserves that shit? Logic has left the building.

Not to mention that, despite what you say, many disenfranchised ex-felons had the right to vote because local racist laws didn't apply to them.

[MKSheppard]

Not to mention that, despite what you say, many disenfranchised ex-felons had the right to vote because local racist laws didn't apply to them.

How the fuck is it racist to deny the vote to all felons, of any color? Unless
you're admitting that blacks are more predisposed to crime.

[Hamel]

Not to mention that, despite what you say, many disenfranchised ex-felons had the right to vote because local racist laws didn't apply to them.

How the fuck is it racist to deny the vote to all felons, of any color? Unless
you're admitting that blacks are more predisposed to crime.

The law was racist because it was designed (by confederate bastards) to keep more blacks from voting. Back in those days, it was almost a crime in itself to simply be black. The corrupt old southern legal system handed out felony convictions to black people like candy, when some white person wouldn't get nearly so harsh a punishment for the same crime.

[Joe]

I'm talking the state contracting out work to DBT, where they deliberately screwed the felon lists so thousands of black people would be mislabled as felons (with most of these "felons" not having an incarceration date listed and even some with dates in 2007). Black people vote, at least in Florida, over 90% democrat.

Because of the same lists, 6,500 ineligible felons were actually allowed to vote and did so, according to the Palm Beach Post. It was just a giant clusterfuck in 2000, not a Republican plot to disenfranchise blacks. Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

[Hamel]

Because of the same lists, 6,500 ineligible felons were actually allowed to vote and did so, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Cuz Palm Beach said so. Sounds like bullshit but I'll look it up.

It was just a giant clusterfuck in 2000, not a Republican plot to disenfranchise blacks. Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

It wasn't a collaborated effort. Right. That's why DBT sent letters to Florida saying these methods would create grossly innacurate results, and Florida said "we don't care, go right ahead."

[Hamel]

I'm talking republican operatives flown down to an election office to riot and disrupt counting. All faces were identified as republican operatives.

And here they are: