Free Republic

"There is by now no doubt that there are serious problems with electronic voting machines: they fail to record votes, and even flip votes from one candidate to another..."

"Problems at the polls experienced in November by voters in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties were emblematic of nationwide failures of electronic voting systems..."

"A laboratory that has tested most of the nation's electronic voting systems has been temporarily barred from approving new machines after federal officials found that it was not following its quality-control procedures and could not document that it was conducting all the required tests."

"The evidence presented indicates that electronic voting in its current form is systematically flawed and will require significant corrective measures to remedy the problems that have been exposed..."

Billions in Highway Taxes Diverted to General SpendingOnly one-third of fees collected by state and local government from motorists goes directly to road construction and maintenance. Billions of dollars collected from motorists from gasoline taxes, tolls, and registration fees are being diverted by state and local governments into uses that have nothing to do with roads and highways. According to the latest figures from the Federal Highway Administration, motorists gave state and local government $40.3 billion in 2005 for the ability to drive and own a vehicle. Gasoline taxes accounted for $20.5 billion in revenue while registration fees and miscellaneous...

"Last week, Chris Murphy pointed to a new e-voting security study in his InformationWeek blog. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology took a hard look at paperless e-voting systems. Here is how Murphy summarized the NIST study group's findings: The study group concludes that paperless electronic voting can't be made sufficiently secure, since there's no reliable record. It also concludes there's no effective way to assure software is free from errors or intentional malicious code. And it asks the question of how big a conspiracy it would take to rig a large election. It concludes a conspiracy...

"...The study suggests strategies that governments could use to make better decisions, including adequate voting system standards, appropriately timed funding, transparency throughout the system certification process and ability to perform audits..."

"... severe financial burden for state and local jurisdictions..."

"The federal government gave us money for new machines but they didn't give us money for storing the machines. They didn't give us money to hire new technicians for these machines."

"An MIT computer-science professor warned federal officials that there is no satisfactory way to ensure the security of electronic voting machines..."

"...If you have an error in an election and the wrong person is announced the winner, you may not know it..."

"... if it happens that a machine malfunctions, without a voter-verified paper ballot, there is no way to know the results of an election..."

"...the most sweeping condemnation of such voting systems by a federal agency..."

"WASHINGTON Paperless electronic voting machines in widespread use across the country may be vulnerable to errors or sabotage and cannot be made secure, a draft report by a federal agency said. The report by researchers at the influential National Institute of Standards and Technology said the paperless voting machines - essentially notebook computers programmed to display ballot images and record voter choices - "in practical terms cannot be made secure." "Many people, especially in the computer engineering and security community, assert that the (voting machines) are vulnerable to undetectable errors as well as malicious software attacks," the report said..."

"...These machines must go. There is no way to know if one's vote is accurately accounted for..."

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 25, 2006 – A Saudi man facing trial by military commission today followed the example of several detainees before him and rejected his detailed military defense counsel. Jabran Said Bin Al Qahtani, who is accused of constructing circuit boards to be used as timing devices in bombs, appeared in court wearing his tan detention uniform and sporting long, unkempt hair and a long beard. Qahtani was muttering to himself as he was lead into the room and took the first opportunity he had to decry the commissions process. "I don't want this court," Qahtani...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 7, 2006 – Defense and prosecution attorneys in the military commissions case of an accused al Qaeda propagandist continued the argument here today about whether the detainee has the right to represent himself. Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, a Yemeni believed to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden, did not appear at his commissions hearing today, leaving Army Maj. Thomas Fleener, his appointed military defender, alone at the table. Bahlul asked to represent himself in August 2004, but a ruling by John D. Altenburg Jr., the appointing authority for the Defense...

Politics as usual has been playing itself out the past month or so over the confirmation of John R. Bolton as the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The Republicans, who clearly have demonstrated they have no concern over our freedoms and sovereignty, have been singing Bolton's good virtues while the Democrats rant Bolton is a rat. Then, to confuse this diversionary tactic even more, a handful of Republicans suddenly decided they had questions about Bolton. For these United States of America to continue even appointing a U.S. representative for this communist body is to give legitimacy to America's...

As the new year approaches, major questions loom for Georgia's two dominant political parties. Both have little time — and control of state government at stake. For Republicans, it's how to govern. Glenn Richardson (R-Dallas), who will be speaker of the Georgia House next year, has begun to lay the groundwork. Fewer bills will pass and the ones that do will be judged on four points, he said. Among them: Whether they reduce the size of government, strengthen the traditional family, lower the tax burden or increase personal responsibility. "Unless proposed legislation answers yes to one of these questions, it...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!