Not a single post in the past four hours. Are we dead yet?

[Fly by night]

I sure hope not. This forum has been one of the most useful places on the 'net where patriotic warriors have congregated to overcome the 2004 election theft and we need to keep "working hard", not giving up. Our power was well represented by the rapid-fire (and information-rich) responses to DemoDonkey's request for help over the weekend in combating the nonsense being presented by a keynoter at the NASS convention.

Maybe it's the heat (or, here in the Orange State, the humidity.) Or maybe the board is being serviced and I missed the memo. But regardless, I hope all of ya'll are still out there. Now back to writing my state and national representatives about VVPB. Anybody home?

[catnhatnh]

1. If so,have Jeb...

...protect your feeding tube...

[EFerrari]

2. I'm reading, Fly by night. A lot to catch up on.

:hi:

[Amaryllis]

3. I don't hang out here nearly as much as I used to because I am now

out doing it as opposed to hanging out here trying to figure out what to do. maybe that's the case with others as well.

[Fly by night]

4. Great. There's lots to do & a whole lot of talent among this board's alums

[FogerRox]

8. DOin it-- you got that right

[Amaryllis]

21. And you, FogerRox, and FLy, are both out there doin it too!

[Bill Bored]

5. I was sleeping damn it!

That's about the only time I'm not here.

We all can't be waking up with the chickens, or whatever other farm animals make noise before noon!

That said, participation here has dropped, but a couple of us have found new ways to promote this forum which might get some new blood. Some people are just waking up to the possibility that the election was stolen.

We just passed a major law in NY and some of us are thinking about what to do next. In fact, I emailed you for your input about that Bernie and you never answered me. But I know you're a busy guy!

Peace.

[Fly by night]

13. Sorry I didn't respond to your earlier email. Like this forum, ...

... once messages get off my screen, they tend to be overlooked. My bad.

But I did want to congratulate you (and New York) for passing a VVPB bill. The mandatory random manual recount is a critical piece that we also need to push everywhere. Here in the Orange State, we're working on a minimum of 5% MRMR. I would also work everywhere to make sure that the wireless function in the precinct-based optical scan equipment is disabled during elections (or at all times, for that matter). And one thing we're also concerned about is the fact that our appointed election officials can serve as paid "consultants" to voting machine companies. That was a shocking discovery here and one we're trying to focus some attention on.

Glad we're both awake now (though for me, I'm not sure for how much longer.)

[byronius]

6. I'm here.

[mod mom]

7. Remember, for all us activists that post on DU, there are scores of others

working behind the scenes, contacting BOE and state officials, pushing voter initiatives and getting our story out. Our day is coming, Fly by Night, when this faux administration will be exposed for their ruthless theft!

[troubleinwinter]

9. Kickin' to show I'm here and awake!

[garthranzz]

10. Harper's article

A colleague alerted me to an article in this month's Harper's titled, "None Dare Call It Stolen". Guess what it's about? :woohoo:

[FogerRox]

11. Sorry Bill Bored and me were busy posting and reasearching STUFFF

[mod mom]

25. It's a great article by Mark Crispin Miller. I bought 5 copies to

distribute and leave in public places for the sheeple to find.

[Fly by night]

12. Good to see folks here and on other threads. Just slow getting going today

It's like when I told my brother recently about what I hoped would be the last words at my funeral:

"Look, I think he's still breathing!!"

I myself had a good day visiting my county election commission and viewing the ES$S opti-scan equipment (including my first look at the AutoMark). Had an hour conversation with the ES$S rep, several local polling officials and our local newspaper reporter (who I referred to the Mark Crispin Miller article in Harper's as background for his article). This evening, I'll put the finishing touches on a letter we're sending out to 570 county election officials in the Orange State about VVPB. We're all DUing what we can with what we have (while we're still awake).

PS: It was a bit disturbing to see the ES$S precinct-based optical scan equipment is configured with both modem and wireless access. I will ask follow-up questions about how my county can disable the wireless function. If we can't, then we need to disable it ourselves.

[Bill Bored]

14. Also, see if they are pushing the use of unprinted ballots with Automark.

ES&S had stated once that they can do this to provide privacy. But doing so would make the ballots difficult or impossible to recount manually. It would be better to use a printed ballot with the Automark and just hide it in a sleeve or something when the blind or disabled voter takes it to the scanner, with or without the assistance of a poll worker.

One thing we don't want is for votes cast by the disabled to be more hackable or less recountable than the others.

[Fly by night]

17. They weren't pushing it but they did say it was an option.

The examples they showed us used printed ballots that the AutoMark marked just as an able-bodied voter would do with a pen. They did say that a voter (obsessively IMO) concerned with privacy could mark a blank ballot, but the ballot marks would be read just as a printed ballot would be. Likewise, the voter could confirm their votes on the ballot auditorially (is that a word?) by pushing the "confirm vote" option and the AutoMark would read their vote selections on the blank ballot back to them.

The TN Disabled Voters made me sensitive to the privacy problems with the disabled voting on different equipment than other voters and (if only one or two of them used that equipment) having their votes revealed. That is the beauty of AutoMark -- it simply is a marking device to mark the same paper ballot that everyone else uses.

Again, my biggest concern was to discover that the precinct-based optical scanners have both modems and wireless communication capacity. I can see no legitimate reason AT ALL to have wireless technology in a precinct-based optical scanner. I will follow up with the ES$S rep to ask about that tomorrow.

[Bill Bored]

28. You are doing a great job Bernie! nt

[meganmonkey]

15. It sure isn't like the manic days we used to have in here

I spent more time in here than I did sleeping for awhile.

Maybe some folks gave up, or burnt out, I don't know.

But like you pointed out with the Demodonkey request - we got real tight again for a little while there - we bombarded her with links!

But like others have said - some folks are spending more time doing stuff outside of DU for the cause... I don't mean to imply that the forum isn't still productive - I still read in here sometimes, although I don't post much in here anymore.

It has changed a lot. There is a different dynamic here now. There is some weird factioning and fractioning. I hope I don't offend anyone saying that.

There's my 2 cents...

[Melissa G]

19. I agree meganmonkey! I 'd guess we are up to 4 cents!

Agree about the no offense intended part also...Nice to see you you posting again. I'm reading more than posting these days myself. :hi:
Also I think the general populace is catching on to the fact that the election was stolen and so we folks are not as isolated as we were right after the election! Many people are now spreading the news far and wide trying to fix our broken voting systems.

[meganmonkey]

24. Yes - the word is spreading for sure

even my Dad is becoming more open to the idea (!), and I've sent out the lastest Crisis Paper to a bunch of folks and haven't gotten the 'you're crazy' replies yet! :)

[Amaryllis]

26. Back in the manic days we were all frantic trying to figure out what to do

We've reallly come a long way since November. Long way to go, but sooner or later, we reach the tipping point if we keep at it. Anytime I need info, I know I can come here and get whatever I need, and get it fast! It's still an invaluable resource for that, and for connecting. I look at the work I'm doing now, and most of my national connections have come through DU. Even though we are mostly focused on our own states, being able to connect and ask for ideas and references and share info is crucual, as demodonkey demonstrated a few days ago!

[MelissaB]

16. I'm still here, but

I won't be around much starting next week. I have to go back to school :cry: and I'm blocked from DU at school. This week is hectic because I'm trying to squeeze everything I've put off all summer.

[Fly by night]

18. We'll miss you, MelissaB. Why are you blocked from DU at school?

Do you attend Bob Jones U. or Liberty U? (Just kidding.)

Seriously, why can't you maintain access to DU at school?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[MelissaB]

20. We aren't supposed to be able to access any message boards.

I teach at a K-12 school, and this will cut my DU time down a lot.

[demodonkey]

22. I just walked in the door to my house from MN, so I'M dead for now, lol...

But lots of good stuff happened and happening, Bernie and everyone. NGU.

More later... too tired now to type...

Nighty-night -- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[MelissaB]

23. I can't wait to hear.

Please post after som sleep. :hi:

[autorank]

27. We're here. They can try to ignore us but WE WILL NOT BE QUIET

or go away.

Check out GD at 11:00am EDT tomorrow for a post promoting the great stuff on ERD.

A comprehensive explanation of election fraud--text and key links
or try…
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0507/S00238.htm

[Nightjock]

29. NEVER!

People just need to wake up including Duers!

In another forum I posted a comment that said Kerry won the election by 3 million votes and a 1,000 post member replied:

"Where did you hear that?"

I just put the link for this forum that Skinner seems to be trying to squelch.

[Peace Patriot]

30. I'm posting in other forums, and no matter the issue, adding this tag:

"The answer to the stink in Washington DC is restoring our right to vote, by throwing Bushite electronic voting machine companies--Diebold, ES&S and brethren--out of the election business NOW! At best, we need a return to paper ballots and hand counts. At the least, we need to achieve some measure of election transparency with paper ballot backups to electronic systems, strict auditing, and no secret, proprietary programming code!

"The only place where we can get this done is in state/local jurisdictions, where the authority over election systems still resides, and where ordinary people still have some influence. The bipartisan corruption in the electronic voting business at the state/local level is daunting, but it is nothing compared to the bipartisan corruption in Washington DC, and it is local and therefore much more fixable.

"Join your local election reform group--or form your own--and help get this done. Our right to vote is fundamental and essential to achieving "consent of the governed." Without it, we have no say in DC or anywhere else. This is a very urgent matter! It is something that WE can do. And it something we MUST do!

"See the DU Forum "2004 Election Results and Discussion" for information and action ideas:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203

"Also see Amaryllis' post on Diebold/ES&S/Sequoia lobbying of election officials at the Beverly Hilton this August--it will burn your eyeballs!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

--------------

So that's one of the things I'm doing. On EVERY OTHER ISSUE that I am concerned about, in other forums, I comment on that issue and then I tell them what the solution is, no matter the issue--Iraq, the Supreme Court, Treasongate: Reform the election system!

[anaxarchos]

31. I learned somethin' here in the last few weeks...

I learned how you can kill interest in a forum but you can't really create it. I learned that the Internet is still inherently democratic but that click counts still matter too....

Hmmm... might come in handy someday.

[MelissaB]

32. You are right

and I hate this lesson.

[garybeck]

33. It's OK

the hard corp activists are still here.

[Fly by night]

34. One last kick -- glad to see we're still alive