Keep your coincidence caps handy folks. Are all of these foul play? Probably not. Are all accidents? Hmmmm.
1.
Dan Rocco -- April 1, 2002 -- ChoicePoint VP -- plane crashHe died on April 1, 2002, in a plane crash in Gainesville, Georgia. He was an executive vice president at ChoicePoint, the firm that gained infamy with their faulty "felons" list supplied to Katherine Harris during the 2000 election in Florida. As a result of this list, over 90,000 voters (mostly African-American voters) were wrongly identified as felons and purged from the rolls.
<<
http://www.bk2k.com/bushbodycount/stolen-election/bodies.shtml>> 2.
Wesley Vance -- April 26, 2003 -- Diebold VP -- plane crashPilot Killed In Plane Crash Was Top Exec At Diebold
April 28, 2003 10:50AM
<<
http://www.wkbn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1253108>> (Jackson-AP) -- The pilot of a single-engine airplane that crashed in southern Ohio over the weekend was the chief operating officer of Canton-based Diebold Incorporated.
The company says 45-year-old Wesley Vance of Canton was flying a private plane that crashed Saturday near the Jackson County Airport. ...The company says Vance joined Diebold in October, 2000, as president of its North America business unit. He was named chief operating officer in 2001. Chief Executive Walden O'Dell will assume the company's daily operational responsibilities until a successor is found for Vance. An airport spokesman says Vance was practicing takeoffs and landings in a six-seat Beachcraft A-36 when it crashed near the airport.
~~~
http://www.abqjournal.com/obits/profiles/vance05-02-03.htmVance was an Eagle Scout, elected to Boys State, and a church-going Mormon, married, father of five. He earned a degree from Brigham Young University. He was described as a confident person who people liked to be around. His senior class in high school voted him "favorite boy". He had been a pilot for over twenty years. He was named to Diebold's No. 2 position as COO in 2001, managing the company's global operations.
3.
Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr. -- July 4, 2003 -- Diebold consultant -- cause of death not confirmedAnthony Celebrezze Dies
<
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1057397985113640.xml>07/05/03
Former Ohio Attorney General Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr., 61, died yesterday in an Urbana hospital. Champaign County Coroner Joshua Richards confirmed that Celebrezze died about 9 p.m. yesterday, but would not confirm a cause of death.
Celebrezze, a Democrat of Columbus, was a stalwart in Cleveland and Ohio politics.... He was 38 when he was elected secretary of state in 1978.
He was Ohio attorney general from 1983 to 1991, and Ohio secretary of state from 1979 to 1983. Celebrezze ran against George Voinovich for governor in 1990 but lost.
Wayne Hill, Celebrezze's longtime communications director during the 1978 campaign for secretary of state and then attorney general, was in shock at Celebrezze's death yesterday.
Hill said Celebrezze, who enjoyed racing cars, was at Shady Bowl Speedway in De Graff for a Fourth of July race when he felt ill. De Graff is west of Columbus.
"It's beyond a shock. Tony had a passion for racing," said Hill in a telephone interview. "It's unbelievable. It's not right."
...After his loss to Voinovich, Celebrezze joined the law firm of Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter, and recently was a consultant for Diebold Inc., promoting electronic voting machines.
4.
Athan Gibbs, Jr. -- March 12, 2004 -- invented the TruVote system -- car crash - collided w/ 18-wheelerWas planning to present his new voting machine, and its paper verification features, to the Georgia legislature within a week of the crash.
"Death of a Patriot: No More 'Blind Faith Voting,'" by Bob Fitrakis
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0318-02.htm"Black Voting Machine Inventor Dies," by Hazel Trice Edney, The Call,
March 26, 2004
http://www.kccall.com/News/2004/0326/Community/081.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And, don't forget the little warning that was sent to US Senators, after 9-11, after the anthrax, and during the sniper hysteria in the DC area, but right BEFORE Congress was to consider Bush's demand for carte blanche to start a war in Iraq.
U.S. senators warned of al Qaeda snipers on golf coursesFriday, October 18,
2002 Posted: 9:19 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (CNN) --
U.S. senators were warned earlier this week that those who play golf may be targets of al Qaeda snipers on golf courses and were given tips on how to protect themselves, a U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman said. Police were notified about the potential threat to senators, said Marcia Krug, a Capitol Police spokeswoman. She would not say which agency notified the Capitol Police or when exactly they were told. But she said her department, in turn, notified the sergeant-at-arms, who then notified the senators that al Qaeda snipers might be looming near golf courses, ready to pick them off. The sergeant-at-arms, who is in charge of lawmakers' security, did suggest precautions the senators should take, Krug said. She would not elaborate.
The threat information was passed as a sniper, who has killed nine people and wounded two others in the Washington area, remains at large. Authorities investigating that case have said there is no evidence suggesting that a sniper working for a terrorist group is behind the shootings. Meanwhile, FBI agents have been questioning an al Qaeda suspect being held in Belgium who bragged to his interrogators that he had witnessed al Qaeda training for snipers, European intelligence sources said Friday. The FBI, one of many agencies involved in the Washington-area sniper shooting investigation, refused to confirm or deny it had sent agents to Brussels.
Nizar Trabelsi has been in custody since two days after the September 11 terror attacks in the United States, accused of plotting a suicide bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Paris. Trabelsi, who confessed to the plot in December, is interrogated regularly. FBI investigators have interviewed Trabelsi within the last two or three days, the European intelligence sources told CNN. The sources said Trabelsi told investigators of a plan in which snipers would attack American senators on a golf course, and described how fighters were trained to shoot targets from up to 250 meters (820 feet) and shoot from the back of pickup trucks. Belgian investigators reacted skeptically to any suggestion of a link with the D.C.-area shootings that began October 2, noting the suspect has had access to newspaper and TV accounts of the spree. In addition, they said, disinformation is a key al Qaeda tactic. As a member of the north African Salafist terrorist group, affiliated with al Qaeda, Trabelsi embraces the doctrine of continuing the jihad struggle by deception of the enemy. Belgian investigators say his interrogations have been consistent with this doctrine. Investigators have recently been questioning Guantanamo Bay detainees about snipers, but Trabelsi was not subject to this. Belgian sources tell CNN he volunteered the topic of his own accord.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/10/18/alqaeda.snipers.senators/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then, there are those two odd Supreme Court justice incidents.
On April 28, 2004, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the cases of two American citizens being held as enemy combatants, Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla. According to a report at Indymedia,
Justice David Souter was critical of the government's position.
Two days later, Justice Souter was attacked by unknown assailants, while out jogging. It was a Friday night at 9 p.m.. He suffered minor injuries, was taken to a hospital, and released about 4 hours later, in the wee hours of the morning. Kathleen Arberg, the Supreme Court's public information officer, said the justice was attacked by "several young men."
The attack took place around 9 p.m. Robbery was not involved, Ms. Arberg said. Justice Souter, 64, is an avid jogger and hiker who runs regularly around the track at Fort McNair, an Army base near his apartment in the Southwest section of Washington. For "security reasons," the court did not identify the precise location of the attack. Nor was the number of attackers or a description of them immediately released.
The attackers, who escaped, did not appear to be armed, Ms. Arberg said. A spokesperson for Washington Metropolitan Police said last week that no suspects had been arrested and that an investigation continues. He said police do not know the motivation for the attack.
Souter is very private, is among the youngest justices and is a regular jogger. He is a lifelong bachelor who lives alone and is the justice least likely to be seen on the speaking circuit or at Washington parties.
When justices of the Supreme Court make speeches or attend functions in their official capacity, they are accompanied by court police officers or U.S. marshals. But in their daily lives, they go about their business mostly on their own.
The incident recalled a mishap last summer involving another justice. It was just a week after the Michigan affirmative action decision and the Texas sodomy decision of the Supreme Court last summer that a heavy frame nearly collapsed on
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The decisions came down the last week of June, 2003.
During July 4th, 2003 festivities in Philadelphia, a large piece of a wood and steel stage frame came crashing down, narrowly missing Justice O'Connor. She was not hit but was heard through an open microphone saying "we could all have been killed." Several other people, including Phily's mayor, were hit. Three were hospitalized and released. At the time of the incident last summer, a spokesperson for the Constitution Center said officials were trying to determine what went wrong.
Supreme Court incidents, SOURCES:
Justice Souter Is Attacked While Jogging
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: May 2, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/02/politics/02SOUT.htmlAttack on Souter shows justices' minimal security
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY
May 2, 2004
http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&oi=news&start=0&num=1&q=http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-05-02-souter-usat_x.htmSupreme Court Justice Souter Assaulted
Was Jogging On City Street In Washington
KDKA Channel TWO
http://kdka.com/topstories/topstoriestv_story_122171152.htmlJustice Souter assaulted during jog
Police sources: Attack appears to have been random
Saturday, May 1, 2004 Posted: 4:48 PM EDT (2048 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/05/01/souter.assaulted/index.html Close Call For Justice O'Connor
PHILADELPHIA, July 4, 2003
CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/04/national/printable561779.shtmlJustice Sandra Day O'Connor nearly clobbered by Constitution
By Michael Fraase
http://www.michaelfraase.com/index.php/hasten/justice_sandra_day_oconnor_nearly_clobbered_by_constitution/Saturday, 05 July 2003