From the Wall Street Journal:
Both the Bush Administration and former President Jimmy Carter were quick to bless the results of last month’s Venezuelan recall vote, but it now looks like they were had. A statistical analysis by a pair of economists suggests that the random-sample “audit” results that the Americans trusted weren’t random at all.
Previously, I’ve written about voting machines and my frustrations with the critics of voting machines on insisting on a paper trail. I think the case in Venezuela illustrates too things:
Paper isn’t going to prove anything
Its important to get this right, because if we do, we can clean up elections worldwide.
I think that with existing technology, we can implement the most secure elections on earth, but the paper trail issue is a distraction. What we really need is Objective Witnessing. I voted on Tuesday, and yes, there was a paper trail (AZ now uses optical scan ballots). That doesn’t reassure me though, because how do I know the ballot boxes didn’t get stuffed? In Hugh Hewitt’s book, If its not close they can’t cheat, Hugh talks about a lot of the historical cheating in elections by Democrats.
Personally, I’m not so worried about national elections as I am about the local ones, or the Roadhouse Effect. That is, nationwide, there’s more opportunity for the local sheriff to cheat then anyone else.
So let’s talk about what I mean about Objective Witnessing.
What I mean by that is when you vote, your vote should immediately be transferred to a number of third parties over the Internet. As an example, lets use three Objective Witnesses:
- The Republican Party
- The Democratic Party
- The League of Women Voters
Personally, I would trust their acknowledgment a lot more then any paper receipt. Of course, voting is a very complex issue it turns out, so the details of this are more then I can cover here. (See previous rant for a brief overview of some issues.)
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NY Attorney General Ignores Citizens’ 9/11 Criminal Petition
Eight months after outraged NY citizens demanded a criminal probe into Bush’s 9/11 ties, virtually nothing has been done; Citizens now may have to convene their own grand jury in order to get the wheels of justice turning. June 2, 2005
By Greg Szymanski
Eight months after outraged citizens handed a petition to New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to probe criminal charges against the Bush administration’s complicity in 9/11, there has been little effort made to get to the bottom of the citizens’ complaint.
A spokesman from Sptizer’s office said the petition presented Oct. 28, 2004, is still under investigation. However, those close to the investigation said Sptizer has no intention to actively investigate corruption in the Bush administration since it may disrupt his plans to run for Governor in 2006.
“I’ve been told that the petition is just sitting on his desk and nothing has been done for eight months,” said one of the 9/11 activists who signed the petition.
The 27-page complaint and petition, seeking an independent grand jury probe, presents a compelling case that the official government 9/11 story lacks credibility and is seriously flawed.
Those who signed the petition, including many victims and first responders to the WTC attacks, were hoping Spitzer would present their independent findings to the grand jury since previous government investigations have been unsatisfactory.
To further complicate matters, petition supporters also claim the recent 9/11 Commission investigation failed to even address the possibility of government foreknowledge or complicity in 9/11.
They added that since Spitzer now appears to also be ignoring them, it may be necessary to form and organize independent citizen grand juries in order to get at the truth.
Although specific allegations are cited, the petition claims the terrorist attacks were an inside job and that government officials should be investigated for a series of crimes, including murder, enterprise corruption and obstruction of justice.
Supporters cite a massive conspiracy and government cover-up aided by the Bush administration, who they say has attempted to block efforts to uncover the truth about 91from the very beginning.
A recent Zogby Poll regarding 9/11 seems to also back up the need to further investigate the events before, during and after 9/11. The poll, mentioned in the petition, reported that 66% of New Yorkers wanted the 911 Commission investigation reopened.
Furthermore, it found that 49% of those polled believed high-ranking government officials knew about the impending attacks and stood by without doing anything to stop them.
Since day one, after the official 9/11 story aired, speculation mounted as to its credibility, critics citing numerous common sense errors and blatant inconsistencies.
Suspecting a cover-up, independent investigators began attacking the official story, first on web sites such as www.911truth.org and several others. These web sites continued to multiply with cyber space critics emerging daily, despite a mainstream media that to this day still ignores their claims as it continues to essentially echo the official story without mounting any type of credible journalistic investigation.
More recently, though, the attacks on the government story have become organized, surfacing not from the media but from federal lawsuits, numerous conspiracy theory books and grass roots civic campaigns to raise public awareness.
After three years, critics have compiled a virtual library of information, including specific facts about government complicity with terrorists, detailed timelines citing an ordered stand down of defense systems on the morning of 911, meticulous data on the explosions and structural demise of the WTC, Pentagon and Flight 93 as well as a thorough analysis of the FBI and FEMA’s efforts to quickly eliminate evidence.
The five original signatories of the petition handed to Spitzer, which now has grown to thousands of names, include Dr. Faiz Khan, a first responder to 911; Robert McIIvaine Sr., father of Robert McIIvaine, Jr., who lost his son at Ground Zero; Jenny Orkin, chairwomen of the World Trade Center Environmental Organization; Megan Bartlett, 911 EMT and founder of Ground Zero for Peace; and Santa Barbara businessman, Jimmy Walter.
For more informative articles, go to www.arcticbeacon.com.
http://www.arcticbeacon.citymaker.com/articles/article/1518131/26798.htm
www.karlschwarz.com www.reopen911.org
Posted by Amy Sasser | June 5, 2005 9:41 PM
Posted on June 5, 2005 21:41