Hi,

Just thought I'd say that I worked on ATM systems at a major bank when I was younger. I was there until they changed out the old 910 models for the 911 ATMs. ATMs haven't changed much in the last 15 - 20 years. Remarkably little.

For what it's worth, I wrote a scenario for the bank showing how to remove all the money from an ATM with no record. You see, the ATMs would not print either a journal entry or a receipt without a command to do so, which was independent of the command to dispense bills. Not much happened as a result except some meetings.

So even if you have printed receipts, that isn't anywhere near enough to ensure electronic voting machines are honest. You can only know if they are honest if you can easily count and compare the hardcopy record with the electronic record. There is no reason to believe that the receipt corresponds to the journal or the journal agrees with the vote recorded. They won't agree unless someone makes sure they do.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have gone and gotten themselves in big trouble. For those of you who do not follow the business pages, I only wish we were talking about pregnant teen-agers. Fannie and Freddie are the two government-sponsored mortgage companies that help most of us buy homes. Trouble is, they've run themselves into big-time debt -- they've doubled the amount they owe in just the last five years. When I say big-time, try $2 trillion. And guess who's on the hook if these things go under? Congratulations, taxpayers.

            This week, Alan Greenspan, the Great Pooh-Bah of the financial world, opined in his usual Delphic style before the Senate Banking Committee, "To fend off possible future systemic difficulties, which we assess as likely if the expansion continues unabated, preventive actions are required sooner rather than later." The Wall Street Journal helpfully translates this as, "Act quickly." Hard to tell with Greenspan: I yield to the Journal's long experience in Greenspan translation, but it could also mean, "Push the panic button now!"

If "Building Seven" says nothing to you, you have lots of company.  On 9/11 it caught fire and fell to the ground, all 47 stories.  Yet today, two and a half years later, no one knows why--that is, unless they are privy to some inside knowledge.  When World Trade Center Tower One (WTC 1) collapsed so inconceivably at 10:28 a.m., WTC 7, to its north, began sprouting fires that could be seen through windows, here and there.  Seven hours later it was a heap of smoking debris that looked exactly like a demolition by use of explosives, a pile of rubble within its own footprint.  

President Bush today called for passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that if ratified, would define marriage as a union only between one man and one woman.

"What this president has done is appalling and is not in defense of anything, instead its a promotion of hate and bigotry against taxpaying American citizens solely on the basis of their sexual orientation" says Perry Slone, Director of Ohio Citizens for Social Justice (OCSJ), an organization working to create social change and address social justice issues.

"This man is only interested in getting himself re-elected, and those of us who support diversity and freedom must do everything we can do to defeat him and also work to defeat this hateful Amendment" says Slone.

Democratic Presidential candidates John Kerry and John Edwards, are opposed to same-sex marriage, but they also oppose a constitutional amendment, saying that its an issue that should be decided by the states and not the federal government.