Freak!

i’m a paranoid freak after reading that wired piece es – glad oregon does all its ballots on paper – by mail.

nice tune

I always insist on a paper ballot (which I have a right to in KS)

I want one of those silver alien costumes.

It’s a strange article. I didn’t have time to read the actual .pdf report. But why would it take so long to discover an illegal button… is one of my many questions.

diebold has a long history of needing questions, no matter what they call themself now, they are very questionable.

TGIF ES!! I read that article earlier this week. E-Voting is way too easily manipulated in its current iteration, the only way I see to make them work is if every voter has their own cipher key which is attached to their voting choices. To keep voting secret it would only be able to be verified by two entities, the Voter and the Central issuing authority. That way the data could be proved to correct and not subject to unauthorized changes as the key would be destroyed. Or maybe use the individuals DNA signature instead of a central Authority!.

LOL!
Eureka!
Like The Trews

Well, I am a paranoid freak, and I take a certain pride in it.

At least TPM had good news in re voting;

Schloz-Backed Voter Fraud Lawsuit Bites The Dust

Another nail in the coffin for those bogus GOP claims of voter fraud…

Remember how Todd Graves was fired as US Attorney for the western district of Missouri, after he wouldn’t go along with a Bradley Schlozman-backed effort to sue Democratic state officials for failing to purge ineligible voters from the rolls, alleging that this failure could open the door to rampant voter fraud? The Bushies then moved Schlozman himself into Graves’ position as US Attorney so that he could push the case personally.

Well, the case has quietly dragged on, after being dismissed by one court, then reinstated by another. But yesterday, lawyers for the Obama Justice Department asked a judge to drop the suit.

There wasn’t much doubt by this point about the suit’s bogusness, especially given what we’ve learned about Schlozman’s politically motivated approach to his work both at main DOJ and as US Attorney. But now it’s more or less official.

Welcome all freaks..)

I don’t know if I’m paranoid …. or just painfully cynical. Ah welll……

poor schloz – can’t win for losing

Funny thing about it; I was listening to that song for the first or second time when I stumbled across the diebold news. I just had to keep them together for tonights post..)

(Sigh)-on reserve battery power now.
Goodnight, all. The best of all possible tomorrows to you all.

Speaking of paranoia: NSA news

Cybersecurity official quits, blasts NSA power grab

A top federal cybersecurity official resigned this week in a letter sharply critical of what he described as a power grab by the National Security Agency.
Rod Beckström, director of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity Center, said in his letter that NSA “effectively controls DHS cyber efforts through detailees, technology insertions,” and has proposed moving some functions to the agency’s Fort Meade, Md. headquarters.
Beckström was picked for the job in March 2008 and reported to DHS secretaries Michael Chertoff and Janet Napolitano. His letter also took aim at DHS, saying the center “received only five weeks of funding” in the last year because of “roadblocks engineered within the department” and by the White House. (DHS has claimed that cybersecurity was one of Chertoff’s “top four priorities for ‘08.”)

snip

G’ nite RonD.

g’nite rond

Weired coincidence. Wired too.;) Good song, thanks, ES.

I was chatting with my Repub twin brother today — the guy who drove me half crazy during the election cycle — and he agreed with me that neither of us had any idea of how incredibly corrupt American politics is. We, one a RushBot and one a DFH, were kind of nonplussed to realize that we’ve both been, well, basically ‘had.’ Our individual well-planned retirements are toast. I’ll be planting a vegetable garden in my front yard. He’ll be coming over for dinner. Jeez.

When I look at stories like Attackerman’s post a couple hours ago, and remember just how secret and powerful just the intel world is… I really wonder if we will ever know. So many people don’t want to know.

Glad you liked it, and hi Margot.

Hey, ES, I know about other people…..but I want to know. An itch that needs scratching. I want ‘em all brought up before the public. And I want answers. I may go into retirement poor and scared, but I’d rather do it without also being stupid and used and with no answers.

Did I do something to shut down the chat?

I watched a story unfold in Arkansas over the last ten days or so which really brought home to me just how quickly people will insist information be kept by the state in secret.

The NRA responded to a bunch of paranoid gun nuts who flipped out when they discovered a link in a local press article to the public (State) database listing all conceal and carry permit holders.

Anyway, from what I can tell many people threatened the guy who published the link and within days they had the NRA and a state legislator w/ new bill in hand. The bill took all of that information out of the public eye for good. Passed 98 yeas to 1 nay yesterday.

All of this was blogged daily and the rationale of the wing-nuts was head spinning-ly knee-jerk. They refused to consider freedom of press or even their own ability to access info kept on them.

I say this as a gun totin’ liberal. The NRA Shot our first amendment this week! Shot it down.

been a slower paced nite tonight – not you at all

Gloria Estefan was approached by the CIA to be a spy.

The Cuban-born singer – who speaks English, French and Spanish – was asked to become an undercover agent by the American intelligence agency and admits she had to be talked out of saying yes by her mother.

The 52-year-old star – who was working as an interpreter for customs in Miami airport when she was approached – said: “They realised I was someone who could pass for a regular person without raising any eyebrows. So the CIA approached me and asked me to train in their Atlanta HQ.”

The ‘Turn the Beat Around’ star was advised not to accept the position by Gloria Snr., who worried the stress of the job would be too much for her daughter.

Company shares $9 million with employees
Says one happy worker: ‘We’re fortunate to have great bosses’

Well DWR1 you could have worked for this company! Lucky bastards!!

Gloria Estefan – Turn The Beat Around

love to hear percussion

Would fund a nice vegetable garden.

The new Valerie Plame. /s

Thats for sure.. definitely not chump change!

did she turn them down before or after that bus crash that broke her back?

Isn’t that great! But, no, I worked for my RushBot brother for the past 13 years — :)~. But he is still keeping me on and we’re sharing the cost of health care…..and I am not complaining about that. When I look back, however, on what I grew up seeing as a kid whose dad worked for a corporation in the 1950s and what today’s young workers are facing, I am horrified. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, I was a school teacher in California. I lost money every year that I worked — and had classes of up to 39 students….I finally gave up and stayed home to raise my own kids. One of the lucky ones to be able to do so. Then I re-entered the work force with an advanced degree when the kids were in junior high and high school…..and had a job I loved working with troubled kids. Later I became an attorney. I made some money and satisfied my need to help people. I thought I’d planned a reasonable and careful retirement. I hate — really hate — that I’m now worried about whether or not I’ll be able to make it through. And I feel stupid for not seeing that the greed-generation was going to bring me down no matter how rational and frugal I was. Silly me.

Dunno, this is the first I heard about the injury or the offer to join the CIA.

More spy news.. the promise of continued coverup and immunity.

Panetta: No one to be punished for interrogations

WASHINGTON – CIA Director Leon Panetta says agency employees who took part in harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects are not in danger of being punished.

Panetta delivered that message to CIA employees in an e-mail Thursday, reiterating what he told Congress last month. He said then that he would oppose prosecutions of any CIA employee who adhered to their legal guidance on interrogations.

He sent the message after the Senate Intelligence Committee announced its review of the CIA’s interrogation and detention program under President George W. Bush.

The committee will look at how the CIA decided whom to interrogate, whether it told Congress the truth about the program and whether it was legal. It will also try to determine whether the harsher methods the CIA used elicited valuable intelligence.

LOL
Unitarian Jihad name generator
http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/jihad?

fuck

I thought I would have a decent retirement benefit working for Xerox… but no once the bean counters started running the company they kept paring down what you would get for a retirement, including taking away health care ever so slowly and then removing it from the retirement plan. Oh well they outsourced me after 25 years so I guess its a moot point! Good thing I am also a Vet so I do get health care from them. My 401K has gone up and down so many times
I feel like it is just a seesaw and now when I could use the money it is almost worthless. Good thing I purchased an annuity which protected at least some of my principle.

Brother/Sister Axe of Serenity

Yeah… conspiracy and or intent to continue or coverup crimes, imo.

He should be out on the street by sunrise.

Good on you! I remember just months back — before the downturn started — when someone tried to sell me an annuity promising 5%. Back in the day…and I didn’t think that was smart enough. Oh, silly me! I was counting on dividends…..and now I’m watching to see when BofA goes down the tubes and I have nothing. I wonder if Wal-Mart can use another greeter. You gotta laugh. What else can one do?

Rely on Social Security?? I know I will be taking it at 62… which is soon.. no sense waiting in this environment when there are no jobs here in bay area.. Valley’s unemployment has reached almost ten percent and the outlook is getting worse as this mess spreads around the world!

Well I am off to watch Bill Maher… nite Pups(:>))

I’m so sorry, DWB. I really am.

We do have to laugh… and thank goodness we have places like this to come together, sift info, organize or not, vent…. even sing.

You’ve always shown a kind patient and wise spirit… Things will work out… you have your head up, someone to plan/work with…and are paying attention.

Hey DRW1 Bill just said Warren Buffet has lost so much he will be a greeter at Walmart! Sound familiar?? LOL

POOF!!

Evening all. Been in and out of here for the last hr. Phone line totally effed up. Crap.

G’ nite nahant.

EPU’d Please.

Good Morning Folks,

I’m serious. It’s an honor to chart a new course. To “boldly go” and all that.

Two years ago I set out with my trusty Gizmo, on a quest to quantify the ancient wisdom. Look, friends, either this whole “Eternal Life” stuff is pure malarky or it ain’t. Either the human heart is the connection to the Eternal, as thousands of years of spiritual and romantic writings indicate, or it ain’t.

There is a moment when Lovers feel like two halves of the same person, or there ain’t. Either Love is God, or it ain’t.

I appreciate all of you for putting up with my rants for the past two years. My experiment is nearly complete, and it’s important that I recap what’s happened before I take the next step.

1. My first video demonstrated that the human electromagnetic field dances to music, and I developed the Dance Music Protocol.

2. The second video shows that this field instantly changes as the songs change, and that concentrating on the music increases Heart Coherence.

3. The third video shows that I was the first person in history to discover and demonstrate the “Coherence Burst.”

4. My fourth video quantified the human smile.

5. The fifth shows that I was the first person in history to discover and demonstrate the “Polarity Burst.”

6. The sixth and seventh videos show the “Polarity Bursts” gaining in frequency, intensity and duration.

The next step in my experiment is to achieve Coherence/Polarity Bursts of sufficient intensity and duration to demonstrate transcendence in a way that is quantifiable and teachable on a global scale.

I personally can’t think of a more effective way of advancing the Liberal Agenda. The sheer simplicity of it is breathtaking, and the people who created this thing haven’t even begun to understand what I’m doing with it.

So I’m here among the most astute hearts in the entire blogsphere, asking for your help.

I’d like everyone to pass my research on to your networks, friends, news contacts and even your representatives. In the “Law of Divine Accidents,” the more people who know about this, the faster the information will actually reach people who have the means, desire, and the resources to move this project along.

In 2003 I listened to Howard Dean and, like everyone here, took him seriously when he said that one person can make a difference. What you see written here are my results so far. I think it’s pretty impressive stuff.

Thanks for hearing me out.

David

Hi SunnyN

g’nite nahant

time for me to head out too – g’nite all

I had a 22 second polarity burst tonight. If my electromagnetic field is anywhere near as crazy as I am, it’s gonna start runnin amok any day now.

Just looking at the term “Polarity Burst” freaks me out. I discovered them, demonstrated them, quantified them and recorded them, AS THEY OCCURRED WITHIN ME!

This discovery is so huge. As sure as I can sing a Love song, the Polarity Burst is the key to transcendent awareness.

I actually felt my electromagnetic field consciously start to climb upward…but that’s subjective and unprovable, and the Science is just too much fun.

Being broke and in Love can be very romantic. When all you have is each other, it seems you don’t really need anything else.

Being broke and alone sucks dancing plantains. Srsly. I could digitize the Maharishi Effect and take it global for less than the price of an afternoon in Iraq.

If Bill Gates leaned on my donation button for a few minutes, that would be nice. lol. I’ve earned it.

Thanks for the good times, ES……

OK, I’ll pass it around face book.. it’s all I can think of at the moment.

G’ nite Suz.

nite suz

Thanks ES.

Good Morning all.

Time for bed.

Is it a ‘reset’ button or an ‘overcharge‘ button?

Funny you should ask. I just realized I used “reset” incorrectly and changed it to “delete’.

Considering all machines need to be trashed and a stolen vote in 2000 was worth trillions in loot and a Bush in the White House, ‘overcharge” is an understatement. /s

That is so funny, Teddy.

They’re trying to sell us some electronics?

Big Brother has been watching us for a long time…starting with J.Edgar Hoover…the War protesters of the 60’s were listed…before that McCarthy…before that the Union organisers.
Big Brother has better tools now…
Satelites that can read your licences plates…guide a bomb to your house (Gaza)
Listen to all of your conversations by cell or land line and trace where you are
That is openers…no FISA court warrant required
1984 And HAL 2001. No you are not paranoid.

Thank you big brother… good thing too, because I am out of tinfoil!

Signing off here.

G’ nite firedogs

They watch because we let them get away with it under the rubric of ’security.’ Or we did, anyway.

Morning, folks; it’s really pretty nice this morning in upstate NY – yesterday, it got as high as 63!!! Of course, we do still have a month when we could get snow… /s

Mornin’, pups -

Gail Collins dumps rather a nice load of snark on rethuglicans, individual and collective:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03……html?_r=1

And Charles Blow piles on:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03…..7blow.html

Dessert courtesy of Bob Herbert:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03…..rbert.html

All in all, a rather fun day brought to you by the NYT. Enjoy! :-)

Apologies for stepping on Marion’s balliwick, but these were just too delicious to wait for breakfast. *G*

hey, good morning…

Good morning, pups. I see that Waccamaw was up especially early and enjoying the snark at the NYT! Ms. Collins, in “Just Steele Yourselves,” says the fact that Republicans are debating whether to get rid of Michael Steele as chairman underlines the fact that this is a party with more woes than Job. Mr. Blow tells of “Three Blind Mice.” His question? Who has surfaced as the saviors of the Republican Party? Bobby Jindal, Michael Steele and Rush Limbaugh, otherwise known as the axis of drivel. [snort… axis of drivel…. guffaw] Mr. Herbert says “Miracles Take Time,” and that the renegade clowns who ruined this economy, the Republican right in alliance with big business and some feckless Democrats, have no basis for waging war against efforts to get us out of their mess.

If you prefer one-stop-shopping, here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got lemon poppyseed muffins this morning. Spring may be almost here, it’s going to be in the high 70s today and tomorrow. The seed packets and I will be meeting in the back yard by the raised beds… Have a great day.

Marion – spring is trying its best up where we are also; I saw some kale coming back up in the garden…despite the deer’s best efforts over the winter. However, we have had some ferocious snows here in the last half of March or early April up here. My last day of winter is Tax Day.

We’re considered past frost season by St. Patrick’s day. Last year I had full grown leaf lettuce by this time, and it was 27° last week. (If I were a Republican I’d trumpet that there was no global warming because of this…) I’m going out with leaf lettuce, mesclun, peas and beans. And I’m going to deep water the asparagus patch.

Well, I’m thinking seriously about getting the plastic out on top of one of our beds to warm it up — I’ve already got little lettuce plants under the lights and if I get the soil warmed up, I can get those in, under plastic. Even if it snows, they will be good under there, cabbages too.

There were some priceless quotes running around loose in that batch today…..yuuuuummmm!

Hoping to head to the coast latter part of next week if nighttime temps stay above freezing for waterlines on the house; that’s where I’ll be doing gardening. Got lotsa stuff in flats under grow lights that have already come up or still germinating that need to get into pots/ground ASAP. Car is gonna be packed to the gills and have absolutely NO idea where those seed flats will fit in.

Trying lotsa new stuff seed-wise, over and above the usual spinach and lettuce.

Good morning.

It’s going to be a gorgeous spring day here, but I made plans to be indoors in the city at an historic preservation conference. Drat.

What new things are you trying this year?

Marion -

Hang on a tick….gotta go get the packets

Don’t remember where you are, but mentioning ticks in the gardening context in my neck of the woods, raises the issue of lyme disease. *g*

WaPo shill for Big Finance on WJ.

•Three heirloom pumpkins from Baker Creek: a “blue” and two “warty” ones
•Zucchini-Tristan F1 Hybrid
•Zucchini- three color mix from Renee’s
•Tomato-Balconi Red (basket variety)
•Tomato- Red Grape heirloom from Baker Creek
•Sweet Peas – one red, one blue, one pink
•Marigold -Citrus Mix
•Imperial Larkspur – French Alouette (put those in-ground down east last fall)
•Heirloom Cornflowers – Blue Boy (also in-ground already)
•Lettuce Butterhead – Speckles
•Alyssum – Sweet White
•Alyssum -Summer Peaches
•Climbing Nasturtium – Spitfire

Probably more that I can’t put my hands on right now. Pardon any spelling errors….

Also just ordered a 3X3 grow bed (raised bed), some folding tomato cages and something called a “potato bin” for growing potatoes from Gardener’s Supply. They should be waiting for me when I get down east.

Far SENC and far SWNC depending on the time of year. Tick problems throughout the state……one of the less pleasant aspects of warm weather. ;-)

Gotta get off to my conference. Enjoy the great weather everyone.

Great stuff! I’m going to try zucchini again this year, because it’s a great favorite of mine. The problem is the squash vine borer… I’m hoping that it got cold enough for long enough to discourage them. It’s heartbreaking to come home from work and see a lovely healthy squash plant that you were admiring in the morning all flopped over and gnawed to death in the afternoon.

Do you have separate flower and veggie beds, or do you mix things up? I had marigolds in with the tomatoes and peppers last year.

good morning.

this is the first morning this year that i’ve heard song birds calling. could it be? spring is coming?

sunny and already above 40F (forecast high of 58F). i just turned off the heat and opened all the windows.

We’ve got clouds of red wing blackbirds now, which means we’re filling the bird feeders every day. They’re eager eaters, and love peanuts.

hehehe…almost started to add previously that I have no idea where all this stuff is gonna go. *GGG* We’re talking beach sand as a growing medium which means a tremendous amount of time and money in any kind of bed development. A lot of it will be put in pots on the deck and because of all the additional stuff, I’ll probably be forced to set up a drip irrigation system with timer. All new deck last year with lots of railing so I’m planning to try training the climbing stuff, like sweet peas, snow peas, etc. up the railings. Should look fabulous…..if it works. Another reason for the deck growing is major deer problems….they’re gonna have to come up a flight of stairs if they wanna eat me outta house and home.

May even try the squash in pots on the deck……do ya think that might avoid those bloody borers?

Days are getting longer; that’s all I need to know. :-))))

grab the coffee cups…drag your chair. Christy is upstairs..

We put in a drip irrigation system last year for the herb beds and along the fence where I’m planning on putting the peas and beans. It’s great. I may try the squash in big pots… Good idea. Oh, I forgot to mention that I’ll be planting radishes too.

since the borer is the larval stage of a butterfly, the only way to beat them that I can think of is using row covers and burying the edges so that the butterfly does not get in underneath to lay her eggs.

marion – lovely!
waccamaw – that reminds me, isn’t the change to day light savings time soon?

” Premier had known about the vulnerability for years and even had a workaround for it,

That Premier knew that this capability to delete crucial log information existed despite being a violation of federal standards was surprising, Gideon said. “Audit logs are part of the history of the machine. It is supposed to be there for the life of the system,” he said. “They clearly violated federal requirements, and we have been trying since early December to get the [Election Assistance Commission] to refer this to the Department of Justice.” What was surprising was that “this system was federally certified more than once,” Gideon said. “

http://www.computerworld.com/a…..geNumber=2

Sunday 2:00 AM in Canada. Assume the same for you?

There is no legitimate reason to put in a button to delete audit trails except to facilitate fraud. It doesn’t happen by accident. I am a computer programmer.

There are legitimate ways to delete audit trails. They should be done by wiping the machine completely and resetting it from a standard system image. There is no legitimate reason to facilitate anything else, not even in development (and if someone’s development code got into live voting machines, someone needs to go to jail).