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I was one of ten people present at the "hack" of the Leon County, Florida voting system, which took place on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 around 4:30 in the afternoon at the county elections warehouse. Leon County's voting system is the Diebold Accu-Vote OS 1.94w (optical scan).

?The Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho, authorized a "test" of his Diebold voting system to see if election results could be altered using only a memory card. Harri Hursti (photo at right), a computer programmer from Finland, who has been working with Black Box Voting, facilitated the test and it has come to be known as the "Harri Hursti Hack."

Following is a description of that hack and its significance for our nation, which I hope will correct much of the misinformation circulating regarding this event.

The Hack

To select which voting machine to use for the test, Ion drew a serial number of one voting machine from a container holding all the serial numbers of all the Leon County machines.

Over the past few months, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been questioning witnesses in the CIA leak case about the origins of the disputed Niger documents referenced in President Bush's January 2003 State of the Union address, according to several current and former State Department officials who have testified in the case.

The State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because some of the information they discussed is still classified, indicated that the White House had substantial motive for revealing undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to reporters.

They said the questions Fitzgerald asked them about the Niger documents suggested to them that the special prosecutor was putting together a timeline. They said they believe Fitzgerald wants to show the grand jury how some people in the Bush administration may have conspired to retaliate against former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, an outspoken critic of the administration's pre-war Iraq intelligence.

In mid-January, the Associated Press published a report on the controversy currently brewing between America's religious right and families headed by gay parents. The issue? Whose children should be allowed to participate in the White House's annual Easter Egg Roll this April? The Family Pride Coalition invited its members to attend and numerous religious fundamentalist groups sprang into action. Even the White House has weighed in.

'Will the president take any measures to prevent these activists from using this non-political event as a way to push their agenda on the rest of us?' White House spokesman Scott McClellan's response to the pool reporter's question included, '.I've seen a couple of reports about it; I don't know how extensive that reporting has been. But this has been a family event for a long time and the president always looks forward to this event. we'll talk about it as we get closer.'

The BROWNSHIRTS and the NAZI PARTY rose to power because the world let them!

Their vision of a One World Government exerting total dominion, manipulation and control over the people is no different that what the new Internationalists and Global Czars; Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Blair, and others are ushering in upon us. Their euphemistic terms are designed to conceal their true agenda of total world dominance beholden to no one and no thing, God, the people and you included. Neoconservative is a nondescript term for this movement and they know it. For the world to take notice their goal and agenda needs to be exposed and their movement labeled for what it is, total WORLD DOMINANCE at the expense of freedom and free choice.

He had his day. Now let's drag him out of sainthood and back into controversy and relevance.

Martin Luther King has more to give us in the 21st century than a three-day weekend. Just read the speeches that haven't been chiseled in stone yet.

"This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation's self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers."

The public accolades ladled upon this fallen leader embalm him in sentimentality, in some glass case in the pantheon of national heroes, next to Washington, Lincoln, Elvis, et al. Then once a year we cherry-pick a memorable phrase here or there ("I have a dream" comes to mind for some reason), as though the words are frozen in history, part of a time when there was struggle and disagreement and prejudice.

Dec. 1 was the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks arrest whose courageous actions sparked an entire civil rights movement.   Columbus joined cities nationally speaking out against current events to commemorate Park's half century ago arrest. Over 5,000 people saw or heard the seed message of needing a new movement to turn the country around.  It's hoped the words bloom in the listener's life, producing a harvest of activism.

Three events took place..a two hour march downtown around lunchtime, a three hour rally at the statehouse from 3 to 6 pm, and a 7-9 pm candlelight vigil.  At the march, over 2,000 people actively listened and supported what was said, many stopping to listen or rolling down windows while at the  light. Some lingered, concurred, thanked us, or returned to the protest. Throughout the day, we received many car honks, thumbs up, and personal stories of hardships.

The eight speakers at the protest were told that they spoke with great passion, compassion, and knowledge. The local activists, who spoke their hearts and shared extensive research, incorporated a  great numbers of facts, quotes, topics, and
Convicted of 23 felonies for computer crimes, Jeffrey Dean was sent to prison for four years. Shortly after his release from incarceration, his company was awarded one of the largest ballot printing contracts in history.

In a 2003 deposition, Dean states that he was a scapegoat who was left holding the bag in a series of unapproved payments from Culp, Guterson & Grader, one of the most politically connected law firms in Washington state.

One of this firm's partners at the time was Egil "Bud" Krogh, who headed the White House "plumbers" unit under Richard Nixon. Krogh ordered the burglary of Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.

Dean claimed that other persons from the firm were involved in a scheme, and upon discovery of illicit payments (averaging $14,000/month) he was made to take the blame. Krogh was a partner at Culp Guterson & Grader during the time period that Dean was receiving illicit payments of approximately $15,000 per month.

Like Jeffrey Dean, Krogh did time in prison -- four months for Watergate-related crimes. He was disbarred, but after a fight
Dear Molly,

My 86 year old mother and I greatly appreciate your honesty and logic.  There was a recent congressional hearing on Halliburton's refusal for an entire year, to even minimally treat with chlorine, the contaminated Euphrates River water it was supplying to our troops in Iraq.  The water had been taken from the river a mile downstream from an untreated sewage outlet.  Two previous employees reported this gross negligence to higher-ups several times over the year, and were told to just keep silent about it.  The two repeatedly complained that the fecal bacteria was giving them and troops digestive and intestinal problems but their pleas were ignored.  I believe Halliburton's reaction should constitute treason, considering that such intentional negligence jeopardizes the very lives of our troops as well as their mission.  Don't our soldiers have enough with which to contend under this incompetent "Commander in Chief" and Administration without sleezy, no-bid, thieving contractors trying to poison them?

Sincerely,
Nancy Khoury

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