From Cynthia McKinney: New Year Message and an Invitation!

[Bill Bored]

Hello All! I know, I know. I'm in the process of rebuilding the website and everything. You'll hear from me on a more regular basis. But for today, Happy New Year, hopefully!

QUESTION: DOES DIEBOLD CONTROL YOUR VOTING RECORDS? THEY THINK THEY DO!

What will you be doing the day after New Year's Day? Wanna spend January 2nd with me? I'll be in court with anti-Diebold forces in Georgia who think that election results ought to belong to the people, not Diebold. Unfortunately, Georgia's outgoing Secretary of State, Cathy Cox, has decided that Diebold owns the election results and therefore we, the members of the public, don't have any access to them unless Diebold says we do. And now she has utilized the apparatus of the State of Georgia to ensure that we don't get what we're asking for. So, we're asking all of our friends in the area to join us in Judge Gail Flake's courtroom on Tuesday morning 9:00 to watch our fantastic lawyer, (you saw him in American Blackout), Mike Raffauf give all the arguments on why election results ought to belong to the people. If you want something interesting to do that is also a lesson in the state of our Republic, then please come. Here's the info below:

WHO: You! Present to protect your right to vote in the people versus Diebold
WHAT: Court Arguments to obtain access to GA voting records
WHEN: Meet us in front of the courthouse at 8:45 am
WHERE: 405 DeKalb County Courthouse 556 N. McDonough Street Decatur, GA 30030
WHY: Because this is about your right to vote and who makes decisions for you in office!

For those of you not in the Atlanta area, you can find information about this lawsuit on the internet under Cox v. DeKalb County, Philip Smith - intervenor.

Support our right to vote and your right to know that those who represent you deserve to be there.

[crickets]

1. Kick nt

[read the law first]

2. give the online url again, please

was this supposed to be a link. i did a search and can't find anything on this.

[Bill Bored]

3. Look here counselor!

http://www.countthevote.org/dekalb/

[read the law first]

4. now that's what I'm talking about! thanks! n/t

[read the law first]

5. what happened at the hearing? n/t

[Bill Bored]

9. Here's an eye witness account of what happened today:

The judge did not rule on the case - we expect his ruling in a couple of days, but..........

Yobie Benjamin, the expert witness for the good guys, blew them out of the water. The AG's lawyer (Ritter) was hanging his head by closing arguments. He tried every which way, but Yobie turned their case upside down by pointing out the difference between programs and the data they output. (Note that this case also involves access to the Ballot Definition "Programming" for the election.)

Yobie had the judge eating out of his hands. He was clear, concise and understandable to the novice. Yobie successfully pointed out that the "data" output by an application such as MSWord is not the "programs." Then he explained to the judge that under the standard asserted by Cathy Cox, every pleading in a legal case would be protected from the open records act as if it were a proprietary computer program!

The AG's lawyer representing Sec. of State Cathy Diebold-Cox (stupidly) tried to exclude Yobie as an expert. This was very serious. After 30 minutes on the stand, he put Ray Cobb of the Kenessaw (Diebold) election center where they program most of the elections in the state to shame. When Yobie finished, the judge denied their motion to disqualify him AND all their objections.

Then, the AG had to cross examine him.........OMG, Yobie chewed him up and spit him out. I fully expect a memo to go out to every AG in the nation saying "don't go up against Yobie Benjamin, EVER."

Their whole case was:

1. The CD contains "pieces of data stored which tell the GEMS program how to function." (Except that that data is produced by the GEMS program!)

2. Title 21-2-500 says this CD has to remain under seal of the court. But never mind that we have 2 MORE copies that are in a "sealed container."

They gave up their "it contains programs" defense in a big hurry.

Ray Cobb tried to claim that Diebold uses "encrypted phone lines!" They may send encrypted data over phone lines, but the phone lines are just plain old telephone service!

Oh, and one more important note - they replaced Judge Flake at the last minute just before the hearing. We had an 80 yr old Judge from the Appeals Court to hear the case - I THINK (I said THINK) we won.

And, on the last note, Ritter (Cox's lawyer) asked Yobie to testify FOR them in another case as an expert!

Hey whatever it takes. They's just doin' their jobs!

If the case is won by the plaintiff, it will allow Diebold election data, including the GEMS ballot definition files, to be viewed by citizens of Georgia after 4 long years of paperless electronic voting.

[read the law first]

were you at the hearing? n/t

[read the law first]

6. the idea that this information would lead to a terrorist attack is just plain silly.

That was a downright silly argument to make.

[FogerRox]

7. Kn R for Cynthia

[petgoat]

8. Cynthia is a hero! She's the one who exposed the ChoicePoint

phony felons list so that ChoicePoint fingered its client,
Katherine Harris.

See clips from the movie "American Blackout:" http://www.americanblackout.com/

See a screening:

Jan 10 Wed Sylmar, CA Michael Centeno
Jan 11 Thu Flint, MI The Shariki Group
Jan 12 Fri Castro Valley, CA South Alameda Peace and Justice Coalition, Code Pink Hayward, South Alameda County Peace and Justice Coalition
Jan 12 Fri Portland, OR Portland State Writers & Artists, Department of English, PSU Film Committee
Jan 12 Fri Salt Lake City, UT Office of the Associate Vice President for Diversity, University of Utah
Jan 13 Sat Estacada, OR Estacada Progressive Action Community Team

http://www.americanblackout.com/


More screenings:

Jan 15 Mon Pine Mountain Club, CA Jizo Peace Center
Feb 06 Tue Boise, ID Boise State University Cultural Center
Jan 14 Sun Portland, OR PSU Film Committee, Portland State Writers & Artists, Department of English
Jan 15 Mon Tempe, AZ Liisa Wale
Jan 19 Fri Tacoma, WA King's Books
Jan 23 Tue Urbana, IL Unit One
Jan 11 Thu Flint, MI The Shariki Group
Jan 25 Thu Albion, NY GO ART!
Jan 18 Thu Batavia, NY Kelly Kiebala
Jan 28 Sun East Point, GA Tenisio DJ 4th Wurld
Jan 24 Wed Bronxville, NY Justin Butler
Jan 24 Wed Savannah, GA Dane Spencer
Jan 21 Sun Newport, RI Rhode Island Progressive League
Feb 22 Thu Wichita, KS Kansas Black Leadership Council, The Community Voice

http://blackout.bravenewtheaters.com/screenings

[Stevepol]

10. This is a great post. If this case again fails, I know

with a certainty that eventually one of these cases is going to come thru and we are going to take another step toward restoring democracy to America after so many years now.

Slowly the people bringing the cases are getting more and more familiar with the arguments and are learning how to present the ideas in such a simple and irrefutable way that even a child could understand.

To me, this feels just like the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, only in this case it's not just blacks who are being denied citizenship: it's every American who has lost his right to vote.

If the vote is counted in secret without any way of verifying that result, it's impossible to have a democracy, just as it's impossible to have equal rights when one race is denied the right to go to the same public businesses and facilities that another race can go to. It's that simple.

[In Truth We Trust]

11. McKinney 08

[In Truth We Trust]

12. McKinney 08 Hand Counted Paper Ballots NOW!