Who said I was paranoid? Why would they say that?

Paranoia runs deep. Or, is it high? Well, I don't know, really. I have never considered myself to be paranoid before, but I kinda feel that way now. I guess.

Actually, what worries me is that it might not be paranoia. In fact, I spend a great deal of time worrying that this or that were connected in some devious way. There are conspiracy theories running rampant right now, and conspiracy movies are being produced en masse, and what is even worse, is that some of them might be true.

I have always had somewhat of a fancy for conspiracies, in general--it is a natural by-product of an inquisitive mind. You learn to ask questions. You learn to find patterns. And, you look for more questions to ask. The interrelated-ness of life and living is more than just System's theory. The patterns that tie life together so succinctly is not just Gestalt Theory. Einstein saw existence as a fabric, and that fabric is tied together like many pieces of string from the same ball of yarn.

But, what do we DO about these conspiratorial theories? I think that a better question might be to ask how do we investigate them? Having a specific process to collect information is a way out. It is active. And, it is helpful. If you are willing to share your information, then your efforts will help more people than you might now.

EMTs have this neat little trick that they do when they show up to the scene of any accident. After they make sure that the scene is safe, they immediately check the victim for some basic information (I am overexaggerating, of course--it is more complex than that, but hear me out). They take pulse, bloodpressure, and collect some basic information if the victim is conscious. The call this "establishing the base-line vitals."

Baseline vitals are important. And, that is where we are in America--right now. We need to establish the Baseline vitals of the country. We need to check what we know, establish a snapshot image of the situation of things as they are at this very moment. And we need to track the progress--improvement, or otherwise.

How we accomplish this tracking is really where we need to begin.


[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.normsoft.com/hblogger/]

Fraud in Florida: BlackBoxVoting.Org

This article is re-printed, in full from http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
They need help: If you are a lawyer, please contact them.

TUESDAY NOV 16 2004: Volusia County on lockdown

County election records just got put on lockdown

Dueling lawyers, election officials gnashing teeth, Votergate.tv film crew catching it all.

Here's what happened so far:

Friday Black Box Voting investigators Andy Stephenson and Kathleen Wynne popped in to ask for some records. They were rebuffed by an elections official named Denise. Bev Harris called on the cell phone from investigations in downstate Florida, and told Volusia County Elections Supervisor Deanie Lowe that Black Box Voting would be in to pick up the Nov. 2 Freedom of Information request, or would file for a hand recount. "No, Bev, please don't do that!" Lowe exclaimed. But this is the way it has to be, folks. Black Box Voting didn't back down.

Monday Bev, Andy and Kathleen came in with a film crew and asked for the FOIA request. Deanie Lowe gave it over with a smile, but Harris noticed that one item, the polling place tapes, were not copies of the real ones, but instead were new printouts, done on Nov. 15, and not signed by anyone.

Harris asked to see the real ones, and they said for "privacy" reasons they can't make copies of the signed ones. She insisted on at least viewing them (although refusing to give copies of the signatures is not legally defensible, according to Berkeley elections attorney, Lowell Finley). They said the real ones were in the County Elections warehouse. It was quittin' time and an arrangment was made to come back this morning to review them.

Lana Hires, a Volusia County employee who gained some notoriety in an election 2000 Diebold memo, where she asked for an explanation of minus 16,022 votes for Gore, so she wouldn't have to stand there "looking dumb" when the auditor came in, was particularly unhappy about seeing the Black Box Voting investigators in the office. She vigorously shook her head when Deanie Lowe suggested going to the warehouse.

Kathleen Wynne and Bev Harris showed up at the warehouse at 8:15 Tuesday morning, Nov. 16. There was Lana Hires looking especially gruff, yet surprised. She ordered them out. Well, they couldn't see why because there she was, with a couple other people, handling the original poll tapes. You know, the ones with the signatures on them. Harris and Wynne stepped out and Volusia County officials promptly shut the door.

There was a trash bag on the porch outside the door. Harris looked into it and what do you know, but there were poll tapes in there. They came out and glared at Harris and Wynne, who drove away a small bit, and then videotaped the license plates of the two vehicles marked 'City Council' member. Others came out to glare and soon all doors were slammed.

So, Harris and Wynne went and parked behind a bus to see what they would do next. They pulled out some large pylons, which blocked the door. Harris decided to go look at the garbage some more while Wynne videotaped. A man who identified himself as "Pete" came out and Harris immediately wrote a public records request for the contents of the garbage bag, which also contained ballots -- real ones, but not filled out.

A brief tug of war occurred, tearing the garbage bag open. Harris and Wynne then looked through it, as Pete looked on. He was quite friendly.

Black Box Voting collected various poll tapes and other information and asked if they could copy it, for the public records request. "You won't be going anywhere," said Pete. "The deputy is on his way."

Yes, not one but two police cars came up and then two county elections officials, and everyone stood around discussing the merits of the "black bag" public records request.

The police finally let Harris and Wynne go, about the time the Votergate.tv film crew arrived, and everyone trooped off to the elections office. There, the plot thickened.

Black Box Voting began to compare the special printouts given in the FOIA request with the signed polling tapes from election night. Lo and behold, some were missing. By this time, Black Box Voting investigator Andy Stephenson had joined the group at Volusia County. Some polling place tapes didn't match. In fact, in one location, precinct 215, an African-American precinct, the votes were off by hundreds, in favor of George W. Bush and other Republicans.

Hmm. Which was right? The polling tape Volusia gave to Black Box Voting, specially printed on Nov. 15, without signatures, or the ones with signatures, printed on Nov. 2, with up to 8 signatures per tape?

Well, then it became even more interesting. A Volusia employee boxed up some items from an office containing Lana Hires' desk, which appeared to contain -- you guessed it -- polling place tapes. The employee took them to the back of the building and disappeared.

Then, Ellen B., a voting integrity advocate from Broward County, Florida, and Susan, from Volusia, decided now would be a good time to go through the trash at the elections office. Lo and behold, they found all kinds of memos and some polling place tapes, fresh from Volusia elections office.

So, Black Box Voting compared these with the Nov. 2 signed ones and the "special' ones from Nov. 15 given, unsigned, finding several of the MISSING poll tapes. There they were: In the garbage.

So, Wynne went to the car and got the polling place tapes she had pulled from the warehouse garbage. My my my. There were not only discrepancies, but a polling place tape that was signed by six officials.

This was a bit disturbing, since the employees there had said that bag was destined for the shredder.

By now, a county lawyer had appeared on the scene, suddenly threatening to charge Black Box Voting extra for the time spent looking at the real stuff Volusia had withheld earlier. Other lawyers appeared, phoned, people had meetings, Lana glowered at everyone, and someone shut the door in the office holding the GEMS server.

Black Box Voting investigator Andy Stephenson then went to get the Diebold "GEMS" central server locked down. He also got the memory cards locked down and secured, much to the dismay of Lana. They were scattered around unsecured in any way before that.

Everyone agreed to convene tomorrow morning, to further audit, discuss the hand count that Black Box Voting will require of Volusia County, and of course, it is time to talk about contesting the election in Volusia.

Pro-Life Origins: Any Takers?

I understand the dilemmas with Christianity--the hatred and killing that goes on in the name of "the Lord" is terrible.

My personal belief is not very dogmatic. Even after 12 years of Catholic education, and courses in Medieval Philosophy (1000 years of Catholic-dominated Theology), I believe that the Lord does not follow our individual lives. I think that He created the choices and consequences system of the world and our existence. We make our choices (say, pick what's behind door number three), and then another set of choices are presented to us. And, we must make another set of choices (okay, this time, I'll take door number two).

But, this isn't the only place I disagree with the Church. For example, I don't think that we should be forced to choose between Pro-life and Pro-Choice. There is actually a logical fallacy there—the concepts are unfairly dichotomized. And, the worst thing of it all is that the Christian idiots don't know that the first premise of their entire argument (that God breathes life into the a fetus at the point of conception) was written as a trailer bill to a longer philosophical treatise. Or, if they know it, they are not letting on . . . .

In the Middle Ages (mid 1400's), there was a Philosophical battle between St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. The Church (all Christians at the time--they had not split yet) had originally adopted St. Augustine's philosophies around 300AD, and those theories dominated Church Theology unchallenged until the Mid-1400's. St. Thomas Aquinas crafted an alternative philosophy that ultimately won favor and replaced St. Augustine's philosophy as the official perspective of the Church.

To make his theories align with the book of Genesis, St. Thomas Aquinas arbitrarily chose the point of conception as the moment when God animated a baby. In China, and in the Middle East (and ancient Greece, for that matter), doctors were already aware that a baby's heart did not start beating until later in the pregnancy. But, in medieval Europe, that information was not available. Perhaps he made his decisions based upon the currently available medical knowledge. At the time, the Church was also hanging people who did not publicly agree with their philosophy. Aquinas was already treading on thin ground publishing his works. So, fear could have been involved with his decision-making process, as well.

The reality is that St. Thomas Aquinas selected that moment as part of his philosophy. He could have easily chosen the first breath, the first heart beat, and if the information we have now was available, the moment a fetus is "viable outside of the womb." Consequently, all of the major church schisms in the church (with the exception of some Orthodox Christian churches) occurred after this event, and the archetypal modern Christian inherited his or her Pro-Life values from this nearly 600 year old attached legislation.

So, while I believe in God, I know the entire Pro-Life stance to be a farce based upon personal beliefs. If everyone were to say that they believe this to be true, there really wouldn't be any substance for their legislation. But, alas, that is not what we have. Instead, we have millions of people masquerading that they know the truth about God and Life, and everything else they profess to KNOW. In actuality, they are mere puppets to a handful of medieval church Theologians.

Are you beyond sadness, yet?

For those of us who are working our way through the election woes and making it day-by-day, this is a link that might accelerate the "healing" process.

http://www.fuckthesouth.com/

Just a little warning. The name of the site is indicative of the level of language that is part of the entire, one-sided discourse. It is a rant, and it is hilarious.