:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 11.26.2003 ::

:: E-voting update ::

From Wired News:
Dust-Up Over E-Vote Paper Trail
A decision by California's secretary of state to require a paper audit trail for electronic voting machines angers county election officials, who may be considering steps to fight the move. By Kim Zetter.

posted by me

:: 9:45:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Congress Expands FBI Spying Power" ::

From a Wired News report:
A new bill boosts the scope of the Patriot Act by extending the FBI's power to acquire records from almost any business without a judge's approval. It's a huge blow to checks and balances, critics say. By Ryan Singel.

posted by me

:: 10:49:00 AM [+] ::
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:: More JFKill info ::

Here's a special section from The Dallas Morning News.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy remains a defining moment in the history of the United States. This special report is designed to put the story in its proper historical context and track current coverage of the 40th anniversary of the assassination. This online area will be updated through Nov. 22, 2004.

Here's one of the many stories:
Networks return to find new take on JFK observance

posted by me

:: 10:44:00 PM [+] ::
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:: JFKill: the 40th anniversary ::

From the HoustonChronicle.com:
JFK conspiracy cottage industry thriving
By JIM HENDERSON

Every year in late November, the death of a president draws the world's attention back to Dallas and America's most absorbing and enduring mystery.

Who killed President Kennedy?

That question will never be answered to everyone's satisfaction, and even the curator of the 6th Floor Museum in the old Texas School Book Depository on Dealey Plaza has been unable to come to his own conclusion.

"The Warren Commission compiled a huge amount of information," he says. "It's just not convincing."
For months, the communications industry -- newspapers; television networks; and magazine, book and CD publishers -- have been compiling histories and historical revisions to solemnize the 40th anniversary of the shots that altered a nation.

Could a lone sad sack have left such a large mark on history?

NEWS POLL from the HoustonChronicle.com:
Who do you think killed JFK?

Lee Harvey Oswald: 25%
The CIA: 18%
The Cubans: 3%
The Mafia: 13%
The Russians: 2%
The FBI: 3%
LBJ: 30%
Someone else: 6%
Total Votes: 1901

posted by me

:: 7:31:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Diebold update ::

From InternetNews.com:
Judge Needs Time For E-Voting Decision
By Jim Wagner

A federal judge Monday said he needed more time before making a decision on a restraining order request made by an ISP against e-voting machine maker Diebold.

Getting approval for the restraining order filed by the Online Privacy Group (OPG), a non-profit Web hosting company and ISP out of San Francisco, is the legal first step to determine whether Diebold has the constitutional right to make an ISP shut down a customer's Web site because it contains information that highlights the vulnerabilities of its e-voting machines.

posted by me

:: 12:43:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Leonid meteor shower hits peak tonight" ::

From FloridayToday.com:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Tonight's the night when Florida stargazers have their best chance of spotting Leonids meteors.

Astronomers are forecasting a peak in in the meteor shower at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. Night owls who go to a dark place and look up - and perhaps a bit east, toward the constellation Leo - could be rewarded with the sight of a shooting star a minute.

ALSO
From Yahoo! News:
Leonid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight into Wednesday Morning
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer, SPACE.com

The Leonid meteor shower will peak late tonight into early Wednesday, hurling bits of ancient comet debris into Earth's atmosphere. While it will not match grand displays of recent years, the 2003 version is expected to provide a good number of shooting stars and a handful of spectacularly bright fireballs.

Weather permitting, skywatchers with dark skies could see a shooting star every minute or two. City and suburban dwellers will see much lower rates.

The annual Leonids are impossible to predict with certainty. Combined predictions by a handful of astronomers suggest residents of North and South America, Europe and Africa could see a modest show of swift shooting stars punctuated now and then by fireballs anytime from 11 p.m. Tuesday night through dawn Wednesday morning, local time.

"Skywatchers up and down the U.S. East Coast will have the best view," says Bill Cooke of the Space Environments Team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. For a short stretch centered around 2:28 a.m. EST, easterners "could see more than one meteor per minute."

posted by me

:: 8:47:00 PM [+] ::
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:: The George love tour ::

From The Guardian UK:
Bush flies in to Fortress London
The US president, George Bush, today boarded Air Force One to fly to London for the most heavily-policed state visit in British history.

ALSO:
While we have your attention, Mr President...
It's not often that we get the chance to speak directly to the most powerful man in the world. So as George Bush lands in Britain for his first state visit, we asked 60 Brits and Americans to make the most of it

Here's one:

Dear George,

I hate to wake you up from that dream you are having, the one in which you are a superhero bringing democracy and freedom to underdeveloped, oppressed countries. But you really need to check things out in one of the countries you have recently bombed to freedom. Georgie, I am kind of worried that things are going a bit bad in Iraq and you don't seem to care that much. You might want it to appear as if things are going well and sign Iraq off as a job well done, but I am afraid this is not the case.

Listen, habibi, it is not over yet. Let me explain this in simple terms. You have spilled a glass full of tomato juice on an already dirty carpet and now you have to clean up the whole room. Not all of the mess is your fault but you volunteered to clean it up. I bet if someone had explained it to you like that you would have been less hasty going on our Rambo-in-Baghdad trip.

To tell you the truth, I am glad that someone is doing the cleaning up, and thank you for getting rid of that scary guy with the hideous moustache that we had for president. But I have to say that the advertisements you were dropping from your B52s before the bombs fell promised a much more efficient and speedy service. We are a bit disappointed. So would you please, pretty please, with sugar on top, get your act together and stop telling people you have Iraq all figured out when you are giving us the trial-and-error approach?

Anyway, I hope this doesn't disturb you too much. Have a Regards,
Salam Pax
The Baghdad Blogger nice stay in London, wave hello to the demonstrators, and give my regards to your spin doctors. I bet they are having a hell of a job making you look good.

Read more here.

AND
Readers' letters to George Bush

Bush's alternative itinerary

posted by me

:: 8:45:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Quote Marks" ::

From Wired News:
"This is an experimental network that may or may not be the next Internet."
— A board member for a massive scientific research system imagines larger possibilities.

posted by me

:: 12:48:00 AM [+] ::
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:: So weird ::

From Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird (.823):
On Oct. 29, thousands of rush-hour riders had to be rerouted on New York City commuter trains as firefighters tried to free Edwin Gallart, 41, whose arm got stuck in one train's toilet when he reached in to retrieve his fallen cell phone. (Ultimately, the toilet had to be ripped out.) And the next day in South Philadelphia, a 25-year-old man who had apparently been indecently exposing himself to girls and women in the neighborhood for several weeks, tried it one time too many and was chased by "20 to 30" girls from St. Maria Goretti High School, caught, roughed up, and held for police. [New York Times, 10-31-03] [Philadelphia Inquirer, 10-31- 03]

Also, in the Last Month
Catholic priest Antonio Caetano apologized for hitting a parishioner on the head when she would not leave after her daughter was denied a place in Sunday school because she registered too late (Souto Redondo, Portugal). The city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, installed 10 surveillance cameras to help combat pilferage at a municipal dump. Vegetable grower A. Duda & Sons introduced a product 15 years in the making, to delight Bloody Mary fans: celery stalks that are hollow in the center (Oviedo, Fla.). [Agence France-Presse, 10-21-03] [Winnipeg Sun, 10-22-03] [Palm Beach Post, 10-25-03]

Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or WeirdNews@earthlink.net

posted by me

:: 2:59:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Scene of the crime 11/22/63" ::

From SFGate.com:
From Dealey Plaza and the grassy knoll to the tale of Nick Beef's grave, conspiracy is still a big draw in Dallas
By John Flinn

People the world over make the pilgrimage to Dealey Plaza in search of answers, or some sense of closure, and most go home with neither. As the nation marks the 40th anniversary this week, the assassination of John F. Kennedy remains for many of us a disturbing mystery, a still-purple bruise on the national psyche.

But still we are drawn to Dallas. We come to gaze at the sniper's perch, hidden behind a wall of children's schoolbooks; to stand on the very spot where Abraham Zapruder shot history's most notorious home movie; to poke through the shrubs for clues that somehow eluded the thousands of searchers before us.

Driven by a morbid obsession, some are compelled to visit every site associated with the assassination, no matter how trivial: the former location of Jack Ruby's strip club, the Texas Theater, the street where Officer J. D. Tippit was gunned down, Oswald's quasi-secret gravesite.

John Flinn recently made his own pilgrimage.

posted by me

:: 2:50:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Reports from the Wired road trip ::

You Gotta Stop, Smell the Roses
It's midpoint on the Great Route 1 Road Trip. The main lesson learned so far is that slow is the way to go -- but that's easier said than done. Michelle Delio reports from charming rural North Carolina.

A Peek Inside the Secret World
WASHINGTON -- George Washington was a spy master extraordinaire.

Washington's decisive victory in the 1775 War of Independence can be attributed as much to his skills as a director of clandestine intelligence activities as his military savvy, according to Eugene Poteat, a retired CIA scientific intelligence officer.

This fun fact and many more can be discovered at the new International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. The museum traces the evolution of espionage and explores the role intelligence gathering plays in current world events.

Sad End to Computing's Inventor
PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia artist Jim Reed grew up figuring that everyone's grandfather had invented something.

So he didn't feel like his grandfather John Mauchly was in any way out of the ordinary, even though Mauchly is widely credited with having invented the computer.


posted by me

:: 12:56:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Put pepper in my coffee..." ::

Here's the lyrics to "Bad Day" from the official r.e.m. Web site:

A Public service announcement followed me home the other day
I paid it nevermind. Go away.
Shits so thick you could stir it with a stick
Free Teflon whitewashed presidency
We're sick of being jerked around
Wear that on your sleeve

Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, lord,
Count your blessings.
We're sick of being jerked around
We all fall down.

Have you ever seen the televised St. Vitus subcommittee prize
Investigation dance? Those-ants-in- pants glances.
Well, look behind the eyes
It's a hallowed, hollow anesthesized
"save my own ass, screw these guys"
smoke and mirror lock down

Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, lord,
Count your blessings.
the papers wouldn't lie!
I sigh. Not one more

Its been a bad day.
Please dont take a picture
Its been a bad day.
Please

We're dug in the deep the price is steep.
The auctioneer is such a creep.
The lights went out, the oil ran dry
We blamed it on the other guy
Sure, all men are created equal.
Here's the church, here's the steeple
Please stay tuned--we cut to sequel
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.

Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, lord, Count your blessings.
Embrace the lowest fear/Ignore the lower fears
Ugh, this means war.

Its been a bad day.

Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, lord,
Count your blessings.
We're sick of being jerked around
We all fall down.

Its been a bad day...

posted by me (had another bad root canal today)

:: 1:53:00 AM [+] ::
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:: Quote of the day ::

Bush is an idiot. What's Blair's excuse?
-Michael Moore

posted by me

:: 12:36:00 AM [+] ::
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:: Dubya: I luv Ya Big Brudder ::

From Wired News:
Gore to Bush: Rescind Patriot Act
An Associated Press report

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Al Gore says the Bush White House is using the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to justify a major offensive against the freedoms and liberties Americans have enjoyed for centuries.

"They have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, 'big brother'-style government -- toward the dangers prophesied by George Orwell in his book 1984 -- than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America," Gore charged in a speech.

Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 presidential election to President Bush, brought many in the crowd of 3,000 to their feet Sunday when he called for a repeal of the Patriot Act, which expanded government's surveillance and detention powers, allowing authorities to monitor the books citizens read and conduct secret searches.

He said terrorism-fighting tools granted after Sept. 11, 2001, amount to a partisan power grab that has led to the erosion of the civil liberties of all Americans.

The Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, said Monday that while he's not ready to support repealing the Patriot Act, he is skeptical of the way it's been used by the White House and said there is "a lot of concern about the assault on civil liberties."

In my opinion, it makes no more sense to launch an assault on our civil liberties as the best way to get at terrorists than it did to launch an invasion of Iraq as the best way to get at Osama bin Laden," Gore said (in a speech sponsored by Moveon.org).

You can find Gore's remarks -- "Freedom and Security here.

posted by me

:: 10:36:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Why War? Diebold-related press release ::

From Scoop (New Zealand):
Diebold Documents Spark International Campaign
Tuesday, 4 November 2003, 10:42 am

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Diebold Documents Spark International Campaign: Will Your Vote Count?

Swarthmore, Pa. -- When American citizens step into the voting booth tomorrow, will their votes be counted? Today, with Diebold Elections Systems operating electronic voting in 37 states, the answer is a resounding "maybe." As a result of widespread security flaws and the lack of any verifiable check on their systems, Diebold cannot guarantee the accuracy of any election in which their machines are present.

An electronic campaign initiated two weeks ago by Why War? has sparked students from fifty universities nationwide to host copies of internal Diebold memoranda which demonstrate the insecurity and unreliability of their voting machines.

Why War's website has been innundated with e-mails and visitors from individuals worldwide pledging their support and offering to defy Diebold's attempts at suppression by hosting mirrors of the provocative documents.

"We've been receiving more hits than ever before," said Why War? member Micah White, who originally found and posted the memos in October. "Our goal when we started this campaign was to provide public access to this information, and we've been so successful that Why War? recently had to purchase higher bandwith to accommodate the sheer number of people who wanted to read the memos."

Why War? has built a coalition of concerned citizens across the nation who will soon be taking charge of the campaign against Diebold. "This is not a partisan issue," said Ivan Boothe, another member. "The people who have taken the initiative to host these documents come from all parts of the political spectrum."

In response to growing national interest, the coalition will soon be moving its center of operations from Why War's website, why-war.com, to a new location devoted specifically to voting issues and resisting Diebold's attempts to keep this information a secret.

Why War? believes that the Diebold documents are akin to the Pentagon Papers in their potential to reveal systemic corruption within the American election process. The task now at hand is to analyze the content of these documents.

More information about the campaign can be found here.

List of municipalities that use Diebold machines can be found there.


Press contacts: Ivan Boothe, Swarthmore College, media@why-war.com, 267.496.6819 Joseph Lorenzo Hall, University of California-Berkeley, joehall@pobox.com, 510.918.0050 C. Scott Ananian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cscott@cscott.net, 617.233.1238 Derek Slater, Harvard University, slater@fas.harvard.edu, 617.493.0039 Austin Heap, Bentley College, HEAP_AUST@bentley.edu, 614.477.6579 Marquis Eusung Hwang, University of Chicago, mhwang@midway.uchicago.edu, 678.438.0137 Sechyi Laiu, Grinnell College, laiu@grinnell.edu, 641.269.3278 Matthew Hornyak, Carnegie Mellon University, matth@cmu.edu, 412.726.6968

###

posted by me

:: 11:27:00 AM [+] ::
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:: Diebold updates ::

From Wired News:
Calif. Halts E-Vote Certification
The discovery that uncertified software may have been used in electronic voting machines has prompted California officials to delay plans to approve new machines made by Diebold Election Systems. Kim Zetter reports from Sacramento, California.

From CNET News.com:
Students buck DMCA threat
By Declan McCullagh

When Diebold Election Systems learned that its internal e-mail correspondence had popped up on the Web, it used a common legal tactic: sending cease-and-desist letters to Webmasters.

But in the months since the North Canton, Ohio-based company began trying to rid the Internet of those copyrighted files, it has arrived at a very unusual impasse. Far from vanishing, the files have appeared on more than 50 Web sites, run mostly by students who claim Diebold has a suspiciously cozy relationship with the Republican Party and that the e-mail conversations demonstrate its election software is flawed and should not be trusted.

On Tuesday, Diebold will find itself on the defensive in court as well. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society are planning to file a lawsuit asking for a temporary restraining order that would effectively halt Diebold's campaign against the loosely organized network of mirror sites. A hearing could be held as early as Tuesday in federal district court in San Francisco.

EFF attorneys say the case is the first time that someone who has received a "notice and takedown" request--one of the many Diebold made, repeatedly invoking the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)--has attempted such a pre-emptive strike before being sued.

"We're saying that the hosting of the documents is fair use" and therefore legal, said Wendy Seltzer, an EFF staff attorney. "They're very thinly protected by copyright in the first place and being posted as part of a political debate."

Diebold did not respond on Monday to a request for comment.

From Slashdot:
CNN Reports on Diebold
An Anonymous Reader writes "CNN has finally picked up the story about concerns about Diebold voting machines. It's about time this made it into the mainstream media." If you're interested, here are a couple of related stories.

From InternetNews.com:
EFF Looks To Block Diebold Threats
By Jim Wagner

The ISP Online Policy Group (IOPG) will find out later today whether a San Francisco judge will approve its restraining order against Diebold Inc., which has been sending the non-profit company cease-and-desist orders over publication of vulnerabilities in Diebold e-voting machines.

The e-voting machine flaws, which allow hackers to change vote tallies through Microsoft Access, have been published on several Web sites; Diebold has sent cease-and-resist orders to the ISPs hosting these Web pages, as well as ISPs who host Web sites that provide a link to the e-voting machine weaknesses.

The ruling will be the first test for ISPs who refuse to comply with the "safe harbor" measures provided in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The provision in the Act frees ISPs of liability over its customers publishing copyrighted material if they take down the site within 10 days of getting a cease-and-desist order from copyright holders.

posted by me

:: 11:04:00 AM [+] ::
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:: On the Road w/ Wired ::

Salem Selling a Dubious Past
What better place to spend All Hallow's Eve than in Salem, Massachusetts, site of the infamous witch trials of 1692. Or was it? Michelle Delio reports from Salem.

ALSO:
Seafaring the Smart Way

posted by me

:: 10:55:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Aussies Do It Right: E-Voting" ::

From Wired News:
As doubts about electronic voting systems grow in the United States, the Australians take the lead in offering a system that doesn't freak anyone out. Their solution is to make the whole thing open source. By Kim Zetter.

posted by me

:: 8:42:00 AM [+] ::
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:: RE George II & Iraq ::

Bush Losing Support on Iraq, Poll Says
November 2, 2003 09:23 AM EST

WASHINGTON - President Bush is losing public support for his war and economic policies, according to a new poll which for the first time shows that a majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of Iraq.

A slim majority, 51 percent, disapprove of his Iraq policy, while 47 percent approve, according to the ABC News-Washington Post poll released Sunday.

Most Americans, 54 percent, continue to believe the Iraq war was worth fighting, but that's down from 70 percent in April. A new high - 62 percent - say the level of U.S. casualties is unacceptable.

Fewer than one in 10 Americans say Bush has made the nation more prosperous, while 58 percent - a new high - say the president fails to understand their problems.

The economy remains a major issue, with 45 percent of Americans approving of the way Bush is handling the economy and 53 percent disapproving. By a wide margin, 62 percent to 35 percent, the public sees the economy as a more pressing problem than terrorism.

posted by me

:: 9:46:00 AM [+] ::
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