There were two stories that got a vein on the side of my head to pulse today. The first is a follow up to a RoadDave on the old website a few years ago. In that old post, I pointed out that voting machines that do not provide for a paper backup record of my choices were evil little pieces of poo. As our US neighbours go into mid-term elections, my attitude has not changed.
Diebold, one of the two big names in e-voting machines, selling zillions of them, had their ‘secure’ e-voting machine physically hacked. The work was performed by two middle-aged women with little or no skills except some understanding of ‘righty-tighty-lefty-loosey’ and an Allen key wrench. Go to http://www.blackboxvoting.org if you want to see how it is done, as it is so simple as to make you fall over. The most troubling problem with a physical hack is that the memory card that holds your ‘vote’ can be replaced without a trace.
I wouldn’t suggest that the Republicans would do that, any more than I would suggest that a sitting President would lie to the American public about the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
The second vein-throbber for me was this one from ABC News correspondent Brian Ross’ blog:
“Osama bin Laden, America’s most wanted man, will not face capture in Pakistan if he agrees to lead a "peaceful life," Pakistani officials tell ABC News.
The surprising announcement comes as Pakistani army officials announced they were pulling their troops out of the North Waziristan region as part of a "peace deal" with the Taliban.
If he is in Pakistan, bin Laden "would not be taken into custody," Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan told ABC News in a telephone interview, "as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen."
So far, this week, we’ve lost seven Canadian soldiers fighting the Taliban who have cut a deal with the Pakistan Army. To put a fine point on it, Pakistan is not interested in capturing Osama Bin Laden and bringing him to justice. The Afghan Taliban have proven they don’t give a shit either.
The US government is not serious about being in Afghanistan or Iraq, as demonstrated by their refusal to commit the number of troops needed to get the job done. Too much of the budget needed to get an effective number of boots on the ground is being sucked up by Haliburton and the other contractors who look at these occasions as a payday. They know that Dubya and Cheney will just stand up and say “war on terror, evil-doers, national security, axis of evil’ to distract anyone from looking too closely at the money.
Do remember that, my dear American friends, when you go to vote in a mid-term election on an electronic voting machine that can be fudged in four minutes or less. The money to pay for the war on terror and that hackable voting machine came out of your pocket.
RoadDave 