<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:v =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1 =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"><HEAD><TITLE>Message</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2523" name=GENERATOR><!--[if !mso]>
<STYLE>v\:* {
BEHAVIOR: url(#default#VML)
}
o\:* {
BEHAVIOR: url(#default#VML)
}
w\:* {
BEHAVIOR: url(#default#VML)
}
.shape {
BEHAVIOR: url(#default#VML)
}
</STYLE>
<![endif]--><o:SmartTagType name="State"
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType
name="City"
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType
name="place"
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType
name="PersonName"
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><!--[if !mso]>
<STYLE>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</STYLE>
<![endif]-->
<STYLE>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Comic Sans MS";
panose-1:3 15 7 2 3 3 2 2 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:Arial;
color:navy;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</STYLE>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></HEAD>
<BODY lang=EN-US vLink=blue link=blue bgColor=white>
<DIV>Tom,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Now I really liked that!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Dick</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=thansen@moscow.com href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">Tom Hansen</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=dickschmidt@moscow.com
href="mailto:dickschmidt@moscow.com">'Dick Schmidt'</A> ; <A
title=predator75@moscow.com href="mailto:predator75@moscow.com">'Dan
Carscallen'</A> ; <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, November 17, 2004 7:30
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Vision2020] I Smell a
Rat</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Make sure that your
speakers are on when you click on:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
href="http://toostupidtobepresident.com/shockwave/votingmachines.htm">http://toostupidtobepresident.com/shockwave/votingmachines.htm</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Tom 49er
Hansen<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy">We could learn a lot from crayons: some
are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are
different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box.
</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<HR tabIndex=-1 align=center width="100%" SIZE=3>
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">From:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"> <A
href="mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com">vision2020-bounces@moscow.com</A>
[mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">On
Behalf Of </SPAN></B>Dick Schmidt<BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Wednesday, November 17, 2004 6:58
PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> Dan Carscallen;
<st1:PersonName w:st="on">vision2020@moscow.com</st1:PersonName><BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re: [Vision2020] I Smell a
Rat</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Dan,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The president of Diebold, the manufacture of a good
share of the electronic voting machines without paper backup and who has
contributed heavily to the Republicans, made the statement in so many words
that he would do whatever necessary to ensure Bush was reelected. That is a
very brash statement for someone in his position. I smell a rat also in that I
wouldn't put it past anyone to somehow rig the
machines.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Dick<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 3pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 5pt 0in 5pt 3pt; BORDER-LEFT: black 1.5pt solid; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none">
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">----- Original Message -----
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV style="font-color: black">
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4"><B><FONT face=Arial
size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">From:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> <A
title=predator75@moscow.com href="mailto:predator75@moscow.com">Dan
Carscallen</A> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">To:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Sent:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
Wednesday, November 17, 2004 12:27 PM<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Subject:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> RE:
[Vision2020] I Smell a Rat<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=maroon size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">again,
I take issue:</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=maroon size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">1.
Maybe my earlier take on people giving false exit poll answers was wrong,
but maybe some people just refused to answer. I know I wouldn't.
None of their damn business.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=maroon size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">2.
In my limited experience, aren't most "hackers" who would tamper with such
things be more left leaning, therefore swinging the vote Kerry's way?
Heck, I watch movies, those hacker people for damn sure aren't
Republicans.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=maroon size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">3.
Seems a real stretch to think someone would perpetrate such a "fraud".
Maybe I'm just overly honest, and like to think others are as
well.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=maroon size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">4.
maybe the liberals/democrats should take a cue from one of the biggest
anti-Bush sites out there, and MoveOn. There's always
2008.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=maroon size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">DC</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="MARGIN-TOP: 5pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in"><P
class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">-----Original
Message-----<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B>
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com]
<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">On Behalf Of
</SPAN></B>Tbertruss@aol.com<BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Wednesday, November 17, 2004
11:59 AM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B>
<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">vision2020@moscow.com</st1:PersonName><BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> [Vision2020] I Smell a
Rat</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Arial size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
href="http://www.zogby.com/soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=10414">http://www.zogby.com/soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=10414</A><BR><BR></SPAN></FONT><B><FONT
face=Arial color=#ff9900 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12"
BACK="#ffffff"><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #ff9900; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I
Smell a Rat<BR><BR></SPAN></FONT></B><FONT face=Arial color=black size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10" BACK="#ffffff"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I
smell a rat. It has that distinctive and all-too-familiar odor of the
species Republicanus floridius. We got a nasty bite from this pest four
years ago and never quite recovered. Symptoms of a long-term infection are
becoming distressingly apparent. The first sign of the rat was on election
night. The jubilation of early exit polling had given way to rising
anxiety as states fell one by one to the Red Tide. It was getting late in
the smoky cellar of a <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Prague</st1:place></st1:City> sports bar where a crowd of expats
had gathered. We had been hoping to go home to bed early, confident of
victory. Those hopes had evaporated in a flurry of early precinct reports
from <st1:State w:st="on">Florida</st1:State> and <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:State>. <BR><BR>By 3
AM, conversation had died and we were grimly sipping beers and watching as
those two key states seemed to be slipping further and further to crimson.
Suddenly, a friend who had left two hours earlier rushed in and handed us
a printout. <BR><BR>"Zogby's calling it for Kerry." He smacked the sheet
decisively. "Definitely. He's got both <st1:State
w:st="on">Florida</st1:State> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:State> in the Kerry column. Kerry only
needs one." Satisfied, we went to bed, confident we would wake with the
world a better place. Victory was at hand. <BR><BR>The morning told a
different story, of course. No <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:State> victory for Kerry - Bush had a
decisive margin of nearly 400,000 votes. <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:State> was not even close enough for Kerry
to demand that all the votes be counted. The pollsters had been dead
wrong, Bush had four more years and a powerful mandate. Onward Christian
soldiers - next stop, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Tehran</st1:place></st1:City>. <BR><BR>Lies, Damn Lies, and
Statistics <BR><BR>I work with statistics and polling data every day.
Something rubbed me the wrong way. I checked the exit polls for <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:State> - all
wrong. CNN's results indicated a Kerry win: turnout matched voter
registration, and independents had broken 59% to 41% for Kerry.
<BR><BR>Polling is an imprecise science. Yet its very imprecision is
itself quantifiable and follows regular patterns. Differences between
actual results and those expected from polling data must be explainable by
identifiable factors if the polling sample is robust enough. With almost
3.000 respondents in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:State> alone, the CNN poll sample was
pretty robust. <BR><BR>The first signs of the rat were identified by Kathy
Dopp, who conducted a simple analysis of voter registrations by party in
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:State>
and compared them to presidential vote results. Basically she multiplied
the total votes cast in a county by the percentage of voters registered
Republican: this gave an expected Republican vote. She then compared this
to the actual result. <BR><BR>Her analysis is startling. Certain counties
voted for Bush far in excess of what one would expect based on the share
of Republican registrations in that county. They key phrase is "certain
counties" - there is extraordinary variance between individual counties.
Most counties fall more or less in line with what one would expect based
on the share of Republican registrations, but some differ wildly.
<BR><BR>How to explain this incredible variance? Dopp found one
over-riding factor: whether the county used electronic touch-screen
voting, or paper ballots which were optically scanned into a computer. All
of those with touch-screen voting had results relatively in line with her
expected results, while all of those with extreme variance were in
counties with optical scanning. <BR><BR>The intimation, clearly, is fraud.
Ballots are scanned; results are fed into precinct computers; these are
sent to a county-wide database, whose results are fed into the statewide
electoral totals. At any point after physical ballots become databases,
the system is vulnerable to external hackers. <BR><BR>It seemed too easy,
and Dopp's method seemed simplistic. I re-ran the results using CNN's exit
polling data. In each county, I took the number of registrations and
assigned correctional factors based on the CNN poll to predict turnout
among Republicans, Democrats, and independents. I then used the vote
shares from the polls to predict a likely number of Republican votes per
county. I compared this 'expected' Republican vote to the actual
Republican vote. <BR><BR>The results are shocking. Overall, Bush received
2% fewer votes in counties with electronic touch-screen voting than
expected. In counties with optical scanning, he received 16% more. This
16% would not be strange if it were spread across counties more or less
evenly. It is not. In 11 different counties, the 'actual' Bush vote was at
least twice higher than the expected vote. 13 counties had Bush vote
tallies 50 - 100% higher than expected. In one county where 88% of voters
are registered Democrats, Bush got nearly two thirds of the vote - three
times more than predicted by my model. <BR><BR>Again, polling can be
wrong. It is difficult to believe it can be that wrong. Fortunately,
however, we can test how wrong it would have to be to give the 'actual'
result. <BR><BR>I tested two alternative scenarios to see how wrong CNN
would have to have been to explain the election result. In the first, I
assumed they had been wildly off the mark in the turnout figures - i.e.
far more Republicans and independents had come out than Democrats. In the
second I assumed the voting shares were completely wrong, and that the
Republicans had been able to massively poach voters from the Democrat
base. <BR><BR>In the first scenario, I assumed 90% of Republicans and
independents voted, and the remaining ballots were cast by Democrats. This
explains the result in counties with optical scanning to within 5%.
However, in this scenario Democratic turnout would have been only 51% in
the optical scanning counties - barely exceeding half of Republican
turnout. It also does not solve the enormous problems in individual
counties. 7 counties in this scenario still have actual vote tallies for
Bush that are at least 100% higher than predicted by the model - an
extremely unlikely result. <BR><BR>In the second scenario I assumed that
Bush had actually got 100% of the vote from Republicans and 50% from
independents (versus CNN polling results which were 93% and 41%
respectively). If this gave enough votes for Bush to explain the county's
results, I left the amount of Democratic registered voters ballots cast
for Bush as they were predicted by CNN (14% voted for Bush). If this did
not explain the result, I calculated how many Democrats would have to vote
for Bush. <BR><BR>In 41 of 52 counties, this did not explain the result
and Bush must have gotten more than CNN's predicted 14% of Democratic
ballots - not an unreasonable assumption by itself. However, in 21
counties more than 50% of Democratic votes would have to have defected to
Bush to account for the county result - in four counties, at least 70%
would have been required. These results are absurdly unlikely. <BR><BR>The
Second Rat <BR><BR>A previously undiscovered species of rat, Republicanus
cuyahogus, has been found in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:State>. Before the election, I wrote snide
letters to a state legislator for Cuyahoga county who, according to media
reports, was preparing an army of enforcers to keep 'suspect' (read:
minority) voters away from the polls. One of his assistants wrote me back
very pleasant mails to the effect that they had no intention of trying to
suppress voter turnout, and in fact only wanted to encourage people to
vote. <BR><BR>They did their job too well. According to the official
statistics for Cuyahoga county, a number of precincts had voter turnout
well above the national average: in fact, turnout was well over 100% of
registered voters, and in several cases well above the total number of
people who have lived in the precinct in the last century or so.
<BR><BR>In 30 precincts, more ballots were cast than voters were
registered in the county. According to county regulations, voters must
cast their ballot in the precinct in which they are registered. Yet in
these thirty precincts, nearly 100.000 more people voted than are
registered to vote - this out of a total of 251.946 registrations. These
are not marginal differences - this is a 39% over-vote. In some precincts
the over-vote was well over 100%. One precinct with 558 registered voters
cast nearly 9,000 ballots. As one astute observer noted, it's the
ballot-box equivalent of Jesus' miracle of the fishes. Bush being such a
man of God, perhaps we should not be surprised. <BR><BR>What to Do?
<BR><BR>This is not an idle statistical exercise. Either the raw data from
two critical battleground states is completely erroneous, or something has
gone horribly awry in our electoral system - again. Like many Americans, I
was dissatisfied with and suspicious of the way the <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:State> recount was
resolved in 2000. But at the same time, I was convinced of one thing: we
must let the system work, and accept its result, no matter how unjust it
might appear. <BR><BR>With this acceptance, we placed our implicit faith
in the Bush Administration that it would not abuse its position: that it
would recognize its fragile mandate for what it was, respect the will of
the majority of people who voted against them, and move to build consensus
wherever possible and effect change cautiously when needed. Above all, we
believed that both Democrats and Republicans would recognize the
over-riding importance of revitalizing the integrity of the electoral
system and healing the bruised faith of both constituencies. <BR><BR>This
faith has been shattered. Bush has not led the nation to unity, but ruled
through fear and division. Dishonesty and deceit in areas critical to the
public interest have been the hallmark of his Administration. I state this
not to throw gratuitous insults, but to place the <st1:State
w:st="on">Florida</st1:State> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:State> electoral results in their proper
context. For the GOP to claim now that we must take anything on faith, let
alone astonishingly suspicious results in a hard-fought and
extraordinarily bitter election, is pure fantasy. It does not even merit
discussion. <BR><BR>The facts as I see them now defy all logical
explanations save one - massive and systematic vote fraud. We cannot
accept the result of the 2004 presidential election as legitimate until
these discrepancies are rigorously and completely explained. From the
Valerie Plame case to the horrors of Abu Ghraib, George Bush has been
reluctant to seek answers and assign accountability when it does not suit
his purposes. But this is one time when no American should accept not
getting a straight answer. Until then, George Bush is still, and will
remain, the 'Accidental President' of 2000. One of his many enduring and
shameful legacies will be that of seizing power through two illegitimate
elections conducted on his brother's watch, and engineering a fundamental
corruption at the very heart of the greatest democracy the world has
known. We must not permit this to happen again. <BR><BR><BR><BR><I><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: italic">(11/15/2004)</SPAN></I>
<BR> - By Colin Shea, <I><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: italic">The Sierra Times, Freezer Box</SPAN></I>
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=black FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12"
BACK="#ffffff"><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR><BR>---------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>V2020
Post by Ted Moffett<BR><BR><BR><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<HR align=center width="100%" SIZE=3>
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_____________________________________________________<BR> List
services made available by First Step Internet, <BR> serving the
communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<BR>
http://www.fsr.net
<BR>
mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>