Republican Bad Deeds for 10-12-06

Number two person at the White House Office of Faith Based initiatives says administration repeatedly uses evangelical Christians for their votes while consistently giving them nothing in return, and routinely speaks of the nation’s most famous evangelical leaders behind their backs, with contempt and derision

David Kuo’s new book, Tempting Fate, due out Monday, says Faith-Based Initiatives were not only stiffed on one public promise after another — the office itself was eventually forced to answer a higher calling: Electing Republican politicians. Kuo’s bottom line: the White House is playing millions of American Christians for suckers. According to Kuo, “White House staff didn’t want to have anything to do with the Faith-Based Initiative because they didn’t understand it any more than did congressional Republicans . They didn’t lie awake at night trying to kill it. They simply didn’t care.” The Office was also, literally, a taxpayer-funded part of the Republican campaign machinery.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/11/olbermann-exclusive-dissecting-new-book-tempting-faith/

Group Trying to Suppress Voters;U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Buries Report
The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) commissioned, received, and then buried a report concerning the issue of Voter Fraud (as opposed to Election Fraud and other legitimate disenfranchisement issues) when they didn’t like the results they received. The report, which the commission received four months ago but failed to release, found “little evidence” of the “problem” now being pushed nationwide by Republican operatives as evidence that disenfranchising Photo ID requirement laws should be passed in states across the country. Such laws have been passed to keep Democratic-leaning voters, who are far more likely to lack drivers’ licenses, from voting, but have been found unconstitutional in several states.

Now chaired by outgoing Bush-appointee Paul DiGregorio since the original chair Rev. DeForest Soaries resigned in frustration, citing lack of support for true electoral reform from both the White House and Congress, the EAC has been much criticized for their failure to oversee implementation of and standards for new Electronic Voting Systems across the country.

The report goes on to quote from Republican operative Mark F. “Thor” Hearne, who is still pushing his deceitful line about the non-existent “epidemic” of voter fraud in the country. Hearne and his crew created the phony, self-described “non-partisan” Republican front group, calling themselves “American Center for Voting Rights” (ACVR) on March 22nd, 2005, shortly after they were the only “Voting Rights” group called to testify before congressional hearings held by the now-disgraced Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) on what went wrong in Ohio’s 2004 Presidential Election.

Hearne testified before Ney’s House Administration Committee on behalf of ACVR just three days after the group was created. He testified only that he was “a long time voting rights advocate,” and didn’t bother to mention that he had been the General Counsel for Bush/Cheney ’04 or that ACVR’s co-founder was Jim Dyke, the Republican National Committee Communications Director. Dyke now works out of Dick Cheney’s office in the White House. After exposure of the sham organization by this reporter, the group eventually added “Democrat” Brian Lunde as Executive Director. However, Lunde is a close advisor to Karl Rove and worked hard for Bush in 2004 and to retain a Republican Majority.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3609

Brian Bilbray, the Republican who took over Duke Cunningham’s seat, being investigated by Grand Jury Possible perjury or voter fraud
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/11/225811/09

Republican National Committee e-mailed list of names, Social Security numbers, and race of fundraiser attendees
Of 76 guests on the list, the race of all but three were listed as “Caucasian.” One was identified as “Asian,” and the race of two others was listed as “Muslim.” “Muslim is not a race. It is a religion,” complained one of the identified Muslims on the list.
http://www.nysun.com/article/4134

‘Conservative’ NewsMax.Com Labels Foley as a Democrat
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3612

HACKING DEMOCRACY to be aired on HBO exposes gaping holes in the security of America’s electronic voting system
The timely, cautionary documentary HACKING DEMOCRACY exposes gaping holes in the security of America’s electronic voting system when it debuts THURSDAY, NOV. 2 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT) – less than a week before the midterm elections – exclusively on HBO. Other HBO playdates: Nov. 5 (9:00 a.m.), 7 (9:00 a.m., 6:30 p.m.), 13 (12:30 p.m., 10:00 p.m.), 18 (6:00 p.m.) and 26 (1:15 a.m.).HBO2 playdates: Nov. 4 (noon), 7 (11:45 p.m.), 10 (6:30 p.m.) and 15 (3:00 a.m.).

In the 2000 presidential election, an electronic voting machine recorded minus 16,022 votes for Al Gore in Volusia County, Fla. While fraud was never proven, the faulty tally alerted computer scientists, politicians and everyday citizens to the very real possibility of computer hacking during elections.

In 2002, Seattle grandmother and writer Bev Harris asked officials in her county why they had acquired electronic touch screen systems for their elections. Unsatisfied with their explanation, she set out to learn about electronic voting machines on her own. In the course of her research, which unearthed hundreds of reported incidents of mishandled voting information, Harris stumbled across an “online library” of the Diebold Corporation – which counted more than 40 percent of the presidential votes nationwide in 2000 – discovering a treasure trove of information about the inner-workings of the company’s voting system.

Harris brought this proprietary “secret” information to computer security expert Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins University, who determined that the software lacked the necessary security features to prevent tampering. Her subsequent investigation took her from the trash cans of Texas to the secretary of state of California and finally to Florida, where a “mini-election” to test the vulnerability of the memory cards used in electronic voting produced alarming results.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3605#more-3605

Regards,

Jim