There’s plenty of “crazed liberals” throwing around fallacious facts about voter fraud, etc… A lot of these lately have been based around the wonderful Diebold machine used to count/tally the votes per ballot. I ask, if the theory has merit why not give it a fair shake?  Here’s one that I found extremely curious.  This was written by Ricky Walker a Political Science student at the University of Toledo.  It was originally posted by the author on the Michigan Hardcore Board, which I reluctantly admit I still occasionally read.

I’m pretty sure this was a hot topic in the board for a minute, but I haven’t had the chance to see much of what people typed.

Anyway, I did see that someone posted a link about Diebold with the quote from the CEO . . . which I’d been telling people for the last year. Another interesting fact is that an internal company memo leaked from the intranet to the internet over a year ago in which company “higher-ups” acknowledged that they had problems with voting machines but said basically “Well, we were already paid for them so it doesn’t really matter.”

What people should understand is how much issues that, on the surface, may seem to have little to do with each other really affect each other. The chief reason that there would be concern about vote fraud/election engineering at the software level of Diebold machines is because under 1998 copyright/intellectual property reforms the software is protected from any sort of scrutiny . . . To see how it works and check its authenticity would be considered “reverse engineering.”

The Patriot Act(s) strengthened these reforms by, among other things, making reverse engineering/piracy a “terrorist act.” With a Supreme Court that is going to be deferential to President Bush, these things will only get worse. So everyone who thinks that his dubious reelection is no cause for alarm is very much mistaken.

That said, I don’t believe for a minute that George Bush actually won the popular vote and, quite frankly, I’m disgusted that Kerry would concede the election prior to the the vote tallying being straightened out/investigated. To me this is just another example political grandstanding: A career politician quietly deferring so as not to be perceived the “sore loser” . . . so that he can plot his next political campaign. This is the same thing that put the despot in office last election.

Now before you say “The OH results didn’t matter, Bush already had it locked,” consider a few things: (1)Bush was receiving thousands of votes from districts where it is revealed that he only had hundreds,(2) many of the machines used to count votes– not just in the swing state of OH (where Diebold is based, actually)–were Diebold machines,(3) for months prior to the elections, there were plenty of highly questionable actions taken by the GOP which could serve no purpose other than to confuse the voting process. . . Let’s be realistic– the vast majority of new voters being mobilized were inclined to vote against Bush. The Bush administration knew this. Voter apathy was (and is) their greatest political ally. Stories are still rolling in about Black voters being challeged at the polls. I’ve witnessed it firsthand. And those are just the stories you hear about . . . On top of that those are just the blockades that challenged voters knew about themselves.

If you honestly believe that vote fraud in favor of Bush amounts to a few regional irregularities and wasn’t widescale, you’re a fool. If you believe that the pre-elections opinions polls that cited Bush and Kerry as “neck and neck” were accurate and were anything more than attempts by the arm of the Bush admin known as the media to preemptively diffuse post reelection suspicions, you are a fool. Bottom line, there is no way that the thousands of motherfuckers in Iraq now because they wanted a college education– the same college education that will be financially inobtainable in the next 4 years– were going to vote for Bush. By and large, their families weren’t either. Even the military brass hate this fucker. The dude who lost his factory job this year wasn’t going to vote for Bush. These people account for a significant portion of the general populace, and this election a very significant part of the voting population (save for those currently stationed).

Whether firebombing (empty) standalone army recruitment centers or threatening conservative state representatives, if there is a time for it, it is now.

Thanks Mr. Walker…

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