Blogged by Brad on the Road…
Still on the road and unable to cover anything as usual. So I’ll leave it to you guys to comment on the notable details. Had an interesting day/night yesterday at the California Democratic Council Annual Convention, and hope to share some thoughts and perhaps pics with you as time allows in the not-too-distant future. But until then…
Both Washington Post today, and AP yesterday, cover the Ion Sancho story is a fair bit of detail with some interesting responses, as well, from both Diebold and Sequoia (ES&S seems to have refused comment for either story).
WaPo’s story in today’s A section (page A7) — headlined “Election Whistle-Blower Stymied by Vendors: After Official’s Criticism About Security, Three Firms Reject Bid for Voting Machines” — focuses on all three companies certified to do business in Florida all now refusing to do business with Sancho.
That story reads nearly identically, to BRAD BLOG’s March 8 story on same. Hey, better two-and-a-half-weeks late than never, we suppose. And no, not a nod nor hat tip to BRAD BLOG’s coverage. And as our friend Larisa Alexandrovna from RAW STORY points out in her dead-on piece over at HuffPo yesterday, the Mainstream Media is far too good too recognize any lowly “bloggers” in their reporting.
On Saturday, AP covered the Sancho story in great detail as well. Though there’s a few more details here, I think I prefer the WaPo story today. Both are worth a read however, particularly since I have no time to cover the deets.
Finally, today’s WaPo story in the Sunday paper included a Tom Toles cartoon which, so far, I haven’t been able to find online. A kind reader scanned it and sent it to me. It’s posted below.
We continue to win this fight…despite the slow and seemingly endless struggle against some forces of evil with a lot of money to back their fight. We may be naive here, but with the truth on our side, we believe we believe David will eventually defeat Goliath.
Hi Brad,
Thanks for posting this while you’re on the road.
It is not right that they used your material and didn’t credit you. I also noticed that neither story mentioned that BBV sponsored the Leon County hacks and the research that made them possible.
Please keep pointing out when you’re not acknowledged.
You are doing important and effective work and it’s not right that you be sidelined.
Perhaps you could contact the author and suggest that they credit your reporting.
And maybe a few others (6 or 7?) could do the same, politely of course, if you feel this would be supportive. Let us know.
Brad and Catherine A
I just got back from seeing V … and I came out of it realizing we are into this for the good of those we are helping.
If the press is afraid to associate with us, and they think our name is a disgrace, well at least the message is getting out to the public.
That is the bottom line. Be the media … someone has to.
SEE V
My 13 year-old son just laughed his head off over the toon.
Remember, Goliath was a Philistine, exactly like the current Republican party. Philistines always had to win…except when they lost.
Slingshot power!
Sorry this is off topic, but…
I love this……..
"Tracking electronic voting fraud issues like a tenacious bloodhound."
– Fairfield Daily Republic
I don’t know the context it came from, but it just makes me chuckle. You are so incredibly committed to this cause, Brad, and I have got to say "Thank God" for people like you. If it wasn’t for you, and I do mean "you", This whole issue would have been left dormant to fester and kill our nation. I just want to say Thank You, to a very courageous man who is refusing to give up. We all owe you!
We know where their stories are coming from. They’ve come about from us all reading the Brad Blog and finally making some noise. Probably not pointing it out so as to keep Feeney safe since you are the ONLY one with that has THAT story.
Thanks Brad
Who’s tracking all this plagiarism? Is there a website keeping track of what the MSM pilfers from the blogosphere without attribution?
Imitation is the ultimate form of flattery.
Finally MSN is printing this, but it is a pity they feel they do not have to give credit where credit is due.
It is plagiarism pure and simple, but … however if they credited bloggers that means blogs are credible. They cannot have that now can they.
What amazed me is when Molly Ivins, a columnist herself, criticized bloggers remarking they just write opinions. I thought to myself and laughed, well so does she. That is what she does for a living!
At any rate yes it is getting the information out there, which is vital and important, but people spending hours on researching that care about whether their information is valid and reliable should be credited.
Reporters who did not do any of the research are lazy and unprincipled and by the same token the media is ripping off the people who do the work they claim is theirs.
Brad you deserve the credit. Notwithstanding, I like you, am grateful this has gotten some coverage in MSN. Last time i heard plagiarism is illegal.
Thank You for all You do Brad.
I can’t express my gratitude to Brad, Bev and others for their unending devotion to the cause – something breaks and they point us in the right direction to sign petitions, donations, make calls, e-mails, pass the word, etc. I know Brad has been on top of this mess for years, sorry to say. So Brad, keep on pluggin and we’ll do the same and hopefully this whole mess will be exposed for what it is!
MyName #8
Media Matters watches plagarism (link here).
But like Dylan’s lyrics indicate ("there is so much oppression … I can’t keep track of it anymore") some of it goes by the wayside.
But often it shows up again and the theft is noted (link here).
Notice that the faces of the couple don’t change into a shocked expression in the second frame.
The artist is making a statement re the people’s lack of response to injustice.
Although that does reflect most people’s response, I don’t know if I agree with him on depicting it as such.
A look of shock on their faces would have said—the correct response to injustice in our country is to DO SOMETHING, America!
"TRIOPOLY"
Posted on Sun, Mar. 26, 2006
More election shenanigans in Sunshine State
BY FRED GRIMM
fgrimm@herald.com
Not even the toadies on the Florida Public Service Commission would allow their corporate buddies to get away with this.
Customers might give the power companies hell. They might rail about FPL’s rotten poles or Progress Energy’s substandard maintenance or Gulf Power’s tardy service. But power companies don’t retaliate against even their fiercest critics. They don’t dare. Not even the Public Service Commission abides such behavior.
The Florida Secretary of State’s office harbors a different ethic. The guardian of Florida democracy raised not a peep of protest when the only three certified vendors of voting machines retaliated against a critic. Diebold Elections Systems, Election Systems and Software (ES&S) and Sequoia Voting Systems all refused to sell machines to Leon County’s Supervisor of Elections.
EASY TO HACK
Ion Sancho offended the election machine triopoly last year when he brought in computer security experts who demonstrated how an insider could hack Leon’s Diebold voting machines, alter the outcome of an election and then wipe out all signs of tampering.
Diebold cut him off like a betrayed lover. ES&S canceled his order for touch-screen machines, claiming that the company was just too busy to supply Leon County. (Oddly, an ES&S official assured Maryland’s election administrator in February that the company could outfit the entire state with new machines.)
Then, after weeks of avoiding Sancho’s phone calls, Sequoia reneged on a verbal agreement to sell him machines. (That may have been a blessing in disguise for Sancho, given that election officials in Cook County, Ill., spent last week trying to coax the results of Tuesday’s election from their brand-new Sequoias.)
The reverse boycott left Leon County unable to meet a deadline set by federal law requiring at least one voting machine in each precinct be outfitted for disabled voters.
It was a Catch-22. Sancho couldn’t buy the machines. None of the three certified vendors would sell to their critic. Other manufacturers would be glad to supply Leon County with machines. Except, of course, they haven’t been certified by the secretary of state.
This was Sue Cobb’s cue to raise hell. This was the time for Jeb Bush’s newly appointed secretary of state to grab vendor reps by their ears and inform them that either they serve Florida or they don’t.
If a company blackballs a Florida county, then Florida blackballs the company.
SANCHO THREATENED
Instead, Cobb, in an act of corporate cuddling that would embarrass Jack Abramoff, threatened Sancho.
She demanded that he return a $564,421 federal grant to buy machines that had been funneled through her office.
She sent letters on Feb. 2 and March 3 threatening legal action because Sancho had failed to buy machines that no company would sell him.
Cobb’s campaign to paint Sancho as a loose cannon lost credibility last month when the state of California, alarmed by his findings, ran its own tests and discovered the same alarming vulnerabilities. Sancho was vindicated. Cobb’s office looked utterly negligent.
Unabashed, Cobb summoned Sancho and a member of the Leon County Commission last week to discuss the voting machine impasse. When reporters — thinking the public might have an interest in how its elections are managed — tried to attend, she called the Capitol police to toss them out. (Her way of observing Sunshine Week.)
”I’ve always said I have no objection to the press, but we do make faster progress without people having to look at cameras,” said our guardian of democracy.
Behind closed doors, Cobb made sure that Florida elections remain the exclusive province of three private corporations. It was a performance that would have embarrassed even the PSC.
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© 2006 MiamiHerald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miami.com
More election shenanigans in Sunshine State
Miami Herald – FL,USA
… Diebold Elections Systems, Election Systems and Software (ES&S) and Sequoia Voting Systems all refused to sell machines to Leon County’s Supervisor of Elections …
It’s like swimming through mud, but at least Brad, et al, is getting the story out there, slowly but surely! Perhaps we’ll win the battle of exposing these crooked machines. It has to happen, or we’re in big trouble.
How the Ion Sancho case plays out will be a big one. The corporations are trying to force him out for exposing their flaws, and using the "law" to do it. It’s got me on the edge of my seat!
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**’Expose Tom Feeney’**
"SUPPORT CLINT CURTIS!"
__www.clintcurtis.com__
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#15 Arlene Montemarano
Thank you for bringing this here! I wrote a thank you to Mr. Grimm. Maybe 6 or 7 others could as well?
Here’s the link to the piece:
More election shenanigans in Sunshine State
Brad, no matter what happens, 6 or 7 of us will always know it was thanks to you and your tireless efforts that this is finally breaking into the Corporate Press!
Come the first of the month I’ll be sending some "love" your way. Sorry I’ve been so remiss in the donations… things have been hectic but I’m finally getting OUT of OH and making my way back to my home! 😀
Jen #16
I agree, Arlene Montemarano was very helpful in sharing the story with us.
If the MSM gets on board, we might just have honest, fair, and open elections one day.
Thanks for your work in Ohio … enjoy home …
Thanks Brad, for all you do. I get a lot of stuff here at Bradblog to hand out here in TN to our state legislators. We got a bill – HB 3211/SB 3457 that we’re trying to pass for Voter Verified Paper Ballots. We’ve got a great group of patriots that is talking to legislators every day the Capitol here in Nashville. Please all y’all fighters against electile disfunction, call everybody you know in Tennessee and let them know the bill numbers and tell them it’s HUGELY important for them to call their state senators and reps in favor of our bills.
As we’ve seen in other states, we get a lot of support from the people and from legislators; but the powers that be (mainlyTN Elections Coordinator Brook Thompson and his boss, SOS Riley Darnell) are fighting for DREs using the same bulls*** stuff we see around the country:
"We test our DREs in Tennessee, so there are never any problems." (answer *** they "test" ’em everywhere, but still have gigantic problems – many times with the tests – see FL and Leon Sancho – see CA)
"Paper reciepts take away the privacy of the ballot." (*** nobody is looking for a reciept that the voter takes with ’em, only a paper ballot)
"We don’t have time to count paper." (*** It’s your job. The rest of the 1st world counts paper. It ain’t hard and it can be done, and it doesn’t confuse Poll Worker Granny like computers often do. Why do we need instant questionable results over verifiable correct results that may take a few hours longer?)
"Y’all must be working for a printer." (***The expenses associated with DREs are so much bigger than those associated with paper ballots, it’s amazing. You must be working for a DRE vendor!)
"People have been stuffing ballot boxes forever." (*** Yes, and that’s why we need to get away from voting systems that allow MILLIONS of stuffed votes and no paper trail to even find them. The physicality of paper is still the safest way to go.)
"We need to use new technology." (Sometimes old technology is better. They used to use Astroturf in football stadiums, now they’re back to "old-fashioned" grass.)
Now’s the time in Tennessee. Can y’all help us?
peace out,
shw
I wrote to Fred Grimm yesterday, thanking him for his story – posted above by Arlene Montemarano #15.
Got this reply today:
Dredd – Thanks! Even though I’m leaving OH I will keep Blackheart – er, I mean, Blackwell in my address book. He hasn’t heard the last from me! 😉
google pr main
Brad, your link to the ap story is busted now. Can you archive the story itself?