Major security holes found in voting machines

From the story directly below. Some investigative reporters say they’ve uncovered major security holes in Diebold voting systems.

Among their findings:

1) They could open the password file, copy an encrypted password elsewhere, then use that password to access data.

2) The machines keep three sets of books. Set 2 can be changed by anyone who knows how to use Microsoft Access. This will effect the vote totals.

As a programmer, I find it appalling that voting data is kept in Access, is not encrypted, and the system is so badly designed that data can easily be changed.

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This could be huge - or not

It’s late, I’m about to go to bed, and this just zinged in via email. 

Some independent reporters are saying they can prove that voting machines are rigged.

I can’t confirm or deny the story now. I’ll research it more in the morning.

“We have just broken what may become one of the biggest stories in the history of the Internet and we want your assistance and attention.

To cut to the chase, we have just revealed a hole in the U.S. Electoral system through which you could drive a mack truck.  The details follow below and are at the following two links… with pictures….

Inside A U.S. Election Vote Counting Program

Story with, for the first time, a link to the full 40,000 files from the Diebold ftp site”

Can anyone confirn or deny this? Use the comments. Thanks! 

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YES! The Guardian to launch a US edition!!!

“The British are coming—again. The launch of a U.S. edition of the unabashedly liberal Guardian may be just what the Bush-whacked U.S. press needs”.

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Will we need a forklift to pick up the ballot?

“Do you want to be Governor of California? All it takes is 65 signatures and $3,500 to get on the ballot to replace Gov. Gray Davis if voters–on the same ballot–decide to recall him.

There’s no majority vote required. If the field is crowded enough, someone might win with 10 or 15 percent of the vote. Yet virtually all the prominent Democratic contenders are refusing to enter the race for fear of undermining Davis. … This is the political chance of a lifetime, until the next one comes along!”

This, of course, is complete shrieking madness. Rumors that Suzy, one of my cats, is considering getting on the ballot are probably exaggerated. Everyone else in California may be though…

However, since California will be having a recall election, I, of course, support Green Party member Peter Camejo for Governor.

However, couple the recall election train wreck with the ongoing California financial train wreck - well, get out the popcorn and sit back and watch the fun. Just don’t let the trains hit you.

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Cracks in the wall

Bush admits he lied

“The White House acknowledged Monday that President Bush’s State of the Union address in January was incorrect in stating that Iraq had recently sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa.

The acknowledgment came as a British parliamentary commission questioned the reliability of British intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war in Iraq. “

Their finely-crafted walls of lies and denial are splintering. It is our patriotic duty to make sure they fall.

And Blair may be tumbling down too.

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Retired Marine General calls Iraq a “quagmire”

“<Retired Gen. William> Nash is reluctant to make comparisons with Vietnam: ‘There are far more things that were different about Vietnam than there are similarities. Except perhaps the word “quagmire“. Maybe that is the only thing that is the same.’

Nash said the US had ‘failed to understand the mindset and attitudes of the Iraqi people and the depth of hostility towards the US in much of the country’.

‘It is much greater and deeper than just the consequences of war,’ he added. ‘It comes from 12 years of sanctions, Israel and Palestinians, and a host of issues.’

As a result, he says, ‘we are now seeing the re-emergence of a reasonably organized military opposition - small scale, but it could escalate.’

Nash made these comments on June 27. Things have indeed escalated rapidly since then.

“Recent Iraqi attacks on U.S. troops have demonstrated a new tactical sophistication and coordination that raise the specter of the U.S. occupation force becoming enmeshed in a full-blown guerrilla war, military experts said yesterday.

The increase in the use of mortars in recent attacks is especially troubling, military experts noted, because it indicates a previously unseen level of organization in the Iraqi resistance. Unlike more portable arms such as AK-47 rifles, mortars are heavy weapons that need to be stored, moved, fired, then broken down and quickly moved again. Military organizations using mortars tend to operate in teams of at least 10, noted one specialist in infantry tactics. “That means a leader and a plan,” he said.”

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