I have felt torn between these two responses for years... I have had T-shirts printed that I give away occasionally; "Starve the Beast, DON'T ENLIST!!"

Off topic here, but it took me a week to find the article I wanted to reference. I could no longer track a link to the source on line, but saved the text when it first was published after Scott Walker's recall "victory". I am re-posting below. It is long and the links detailed, but worth reading to understand how pervasive electronic electiion fraud has indeed become. I live across the street from one of the biggest voter precincts in Mason Co. KY. Allison L. Grimes' Grandmother still lives in my town. Her local campaign headquarters were just down the street. The Lexington Herald Leader endorsed her. She was forecast to take Mason Co. easily. For the first time since voting here 3 years ago, I had to wait for a paper ballot. (though they are scanned and disgarded). African American turn out was very heavy. Urban areas had very heavy turn out all over the state and they weren't voting for McTurtle! After the election, I was told by a friend of mine that the Leader reported she lost Mason Co. nearly 2-1!

Meet Command Central, the People in Charge of Wisconsin Voting Machines
By Barbara With, Marianne M. Moonhouse and John Washburn

Command Central is one of Wisconsin’s leading vendors of voting machines and election supplies. They are distributors for Dominion Voting Systems, a privately-owned electronic voting equipment company. Founded in Canada in 2002, Dominion is now based in Denver, CO, since their acquisitions of Premier Election Solutions, from Election Systems & Software (ES&S), and Sequoia Voting Systems.

Command Central deals directly with Wisconsin county and municipal clerks and is closely involved in their selection of voting machines, ballots, and other election supplies. Command Central does all the maintenance on the voting machines and provides tech support throughout the year, with a special “hot line” should clerks need help with glitches, etc., on election day.

In June 2011, the Wisconsin County Clerks Association held their annual summer conference in Ladysmith. Seventy-five county clerks from across the state came together to, among other things, “assist the legislators in developing sound legislation that affects county clerks and county government by providing accurate and useful information.” WCCA Legislation Committee chair at the time was Kathy Nickolaus.

Last summer’s meeting featured a break-out session entitled, “Mastering Tough Questions from News Media, Directors and Other Audiences”:

Whether it’s a news event, a hostile public hearing or a difficult internal meeting, the knowledge and skills gained in this class will increase our ability and confidence to succeed as mastering the tough questions everyone fears. By understanding the anatomy of ‘tough questions’ you will gain power of them. Learn response techniques and model answers that you can apply to any situation.

Al Guyant, president of Guyant and Associates, a training firm specializing in human communications, conducted the session. Guyant has prepared clients for 60 Minutes, Dateline and other “tough question” formats. When asked why county clerks would need this kind of training, he said, “The obvious public scrutiny of elections has increased so much that the clerks need to be able to convey the essence of their statement in the 10 to 15 seconds because of the short attention span of America, and relative space and time in the media.”

Another break-out session was scheduled specifically to spend time with the election vendors: Command Central and Dominion. Command Central was represented by Vice President Aaron Storbeck. On display at his booth was an Edge DRE touch screen machine much like the kind that have been documented flipping votes on Election Day.
Many of our clerks have undoubtedly met Aaron Storbeck, who travels to conventions and sets up wares to show county clerks how easy these machines are to use. In a follow-up email interview Storbeck denied his machines could be corrupted:

BW: So as far as you know, you don’t know how anyone could create corruptible programming that would not show up until Election Day.

CC: Hasn’t happened and we have 46 counties as customers in Wisconsin and 3,000 pieces of equipment out there.

I asked if these machines force a straight party ticket. But unless a voter knows how to back out and re-enter the choices to force a split ticket as he explains below, how would they know?:

BW: Voters have to vote straight ticket. There is a way to overwrite having to vote straight ticket by selecting the first choice, then unselecting it, and then selecting the second choice. Even if voting Republican and the second choice is a Democrat, it will register a split ticket.

CC: Yes It check-marks the office in a straight party, however you can go in and deselect names if you wanted to change your vote(s).

But perhaps the most disturbing answer Storbeck gave was to the question of who programs the computer pacs that tabulate the votes.
CC: My step-mother is Sue Wahl and she does the programming.

Who is Command Central? Listed only as a P.O. box number on Storbeck’s card, on further investigation, Command Central’ s office can be found in Marketplace strip mall, 110 2nd Street South, Suite 300, in Waite Park, a suburb of St. Cloud, MN. They also are listed as doing business from suite 219 at this address. Coincidentally, Michelle Bachman’s campaign office is also located at this address, right down the hall in Suite 232.

Command Central's offices are located in this strip mall west of St. Cloud, MN. Michelle Bachman's campaign office is across the hall.

And who is Sue Wahl-Storbeck and should we trust her with our voting machines?
In 2007, Sue Wahl-Storbeck filed suit against a former employer and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development for disqualifying her from receiving unemployment benefits because she had been fired. The company, ACS Enterprise Solutions, claims that in 2005, Wahl-Storbeck refused to take the annual ethics exam that was required for employment with ACS. She claimed the organization was so dysfunctional that it was “hypocritical” to take the test. She lost both her original case and the appeal. “Because each refusal to take the ethics exam was intentional conduct that displayed clearly Storbeck’s refusal to comply with ACS’s reasonable request, her actions do not constitute a single incident under Minn. Stat. § 268.095, subd. 6(a). Accordingly, the ULJ properly determined that Storbeck is disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits because she was discharged for employment misconduct.”

This is the woman who has control over the programming of 3,000 voting machines in 46 districts in the State of Wisconsin.

Sue Wahl-Storbeck programs the software for 3,000 voting machines in Wisconsin.
Regardless of her achievements, whenever anyone is given the sole responsibility to program our voting machines, we are placing the vitality of our entire democracy in their hands.

Forty-six Wisconsin counties and 3,000 voting machines are being controlled by a two-person company operating out of a strip mall in Minnesota.

By law, voting machines must be publicly tested prior to every election. A Programmable Read Only Memory (P.R.O.M.) pack or cartridge is used to reprogram the machines with the details of the current election. Clerks receive two PROM packs from Command Central: A PRE-LAT, which is used a week or so before the election for the public test, and an “Official” pack used on Election Day. Whoever programs the PROM packs has the ability to inject all the machines with a virus that will flip votes only on Election Day. With two different PROM packs in play, it’s easy to see how public tests could be flawless and the machines could still flip votes Election Day.

In his report of his experience with the November 2010 gubernatorial election for Scott Walker, John Washburn, an election integrity investigator and professional software tester for almost 20 years, states, “I have been to dozens of voting system test sessions and have never seen any of this faux ‘testing’ actually test the voting system software correctly. This is the professional opinion of a software tester testing software since 1994.”

Washburn also filed an open records request with Command Central to examine the PROM packs from the July 15, 2011 recall election in wards 1-4 in Fox Point. When they responded that it would cost him $450, Washburn filed a complaint alleging that Command Central LLC wasn’t cooperative in responding to the open records request.

Command Central Makes Its Move—A Shady Deal With WI County Clerks Last September, Election Integrity investigators discovered that unbeknownst to average citizens of Wisconsin, Command Central sent those 46 districts an offer: trade out your old Optech Insight Scanner for two DRE Touch Screen models, at no charge. The Optech machine is the one that paper ballots are fed through to read and register the votes.

While these machines are also susceptible to hacking in the case of a recount, it is possible to physically monitor the paper ballots as they are fed through the machine to see if they match the machine totals.

With DRE Touch Screens, however, one’s vote could be flipped and one would never know because there is no receipt or paper trail voters receive to confirm their vote was counted as voted. All that is left is a paper tape that shows votes and vote totals. If the machine is hacked, those totals have no other verifiable trail to confirm the results.

And yet according to John Washburn, this swap-out two-for-one offer violates the statutes issued by the GAB for State approved system as described on the Government Accountability Board’s website that requires the inclusion of an Optech Insight Scanner.
On January 13, 2012, Washburn emailed the GAB about this situation. When he did not receive an answer, he submitted an Open Records request to the GAB, with no reply. On May 2, he submitted another, again to no response. On May 4, he turned the case over to Dane County Attorney, and on May 14 he kicked it up to the Department of Justice.
Why is Command Central offering free machines? Why does the GAB not respond? Will the Department of Justice respond in time to help protect our June 5th recall elections?
Sadly, No.

After our experience in Ohio, all voting machines should be banned. The DOJ must confiscate these machines and check them out. I'll bet they are all "fixed", Why else would that Koch sucker walker win twice, once in the recall election and now in the last election. We should also question why asshole scott won. The people of Florida hate his f'ing guts if comments on Facebook are true. If they find that fraud was committed then we must act and arrest the governors, attorney general and whoever else was involved in the fraud. If fraud was involved, we need to cancel the last election and disbar all republicans from Congress and hold another election.

Tom, I know what you mean about the treatment of veterans. Asshole hannity today was fawning over veterans saying they must be given jobs, He went on and on about this. There seems to be a disconnect here somewhere. hannity kisses the ass of the right wing hypocrites whining and lying daily about President Obama and laughing that we "lost" the election. I am so sick of his bullshit that I could chew nails an spit horseshoes. He must be corraled and removed from OUR airwaves along with his host Faux Not News. What the hell is wrong with the FCC. Are they left over from the cheney administration? They must act to prevent him from calling our president stupid every damn second word out of his vile mouth. Let's get him off the air. Savage is just as bad. He is also a vile POS like hannity.

I am a veteran of the Cold War Era and got out of the Army just before the war in Vietnam. After Nixon lost the war Vietnam veterans were treated like crap when they came back. I remember the "Hell no I won't go" demonstrations. Veterans returning from Vietnam really took a lot of heat which was really unfair.

When I got out in 1962 I was given a fast track to a Federal Job at a higher starting grade than the average engineer. In 1969 I used my GI Loan and my GI Bill to go back for a master's degree in Engineering. When I retired from the Federal Government I was able to count my three years in the Army against my years adding 3 years to my Federal Retirement.

I have often wondered if veterans are still treated as I was or did Saint Raygun screw the pooch like he did all Federal workers when he was unfortunately "elected" president despite his Iran/Contra treason. I know that Saint Raygun cut the hell out of our U.S. Forest Service budget as he did other agencies.

Veteran seems to be almost a dirty word, rather like "resident" in my senior HUD housing. Yesterday I had "recertification" at my HUD housing. Today I had to go back to the Manager's office to finish an application for help with utility bills. I took along a picture to show. I felt like the bitch didn't really get it: FIFTY YEARS AGO yesterday I was commissioned in the USAF! And my picture shows a 22-year-old, 126-pound blond dolly in mess dress and high heels. I had played the piano at our formal dining-in and John Glenn, our guest speaker, had to sit still and listen! The officer trainee MC was drinking for courage and made an improper comment about me! As a result, he served his time as an enlisted man. I was harassed to tears by gay NCO's and eventually I blasted open an international vice ring in Europe. This I did in self-defense because the gay men were sabotaging my work. Both military and civilian people from several countries were involved in drugs, prostitution, etc. etc. So I ended up doing a lot more than sign orders. Across my desk came not only SECRET and TOP SECRET documents, but many marked OBSCENE. I had needed to get away from hometown family micro-management. I gave some good years to my country. At age 41 I finally got to be a white bride, the third wife of a Vietnam vet. Our pillow talk included renditions of what the little "fuck you" lizard said, descriptions of horrific torture, men cut down in the jungle having suffered unspeakably. I was the first to listen to these stories. How many stupid women would have said, "Eu -- that's negative! Don't tell me!" I loved and I listened. He got better. We had some fun. . . . We were all young and strong and gorgeous once. We gave that away. Now too many people are watching the boob tube and all concerned with physical perfection and their own crappy little lives. How I wish ordinary citizens could better support their town Vet Centers, even invite a couple of homeless vets home for Thanksgiving. I can hear these damned upscale housewives saying, "Eu, they might have lice!" I realize old homeless vets are hard to help. But, dammit, God is watching! Okay, enuf! Happy Veteran's Day, everybody!

Thank you very much for posting this!

I was touched by a caller on today's show, an Iraq war veteran who passionately shared about being actitively involved in the anti-war movement. Twenty-two veterans commit sluice each day. Thom highlighted the comment noting one suicide each hour.

Today was the 100th anniversary of the breakout of WWI with the introduction of mechanized armies, aerial warfare on civilian populations; submarine attacks on passenger ships; and unthinkable chemical and biological warfare. "The war to end all wars," at least that is what was said. Two million soldiers dead.

A mere twety years later, World War II with 60 million dead as mankind ventured into the realm of psychotic, mass murder. Progress lead to the nuclear age, a "cold war" and pushing the hairpin trigger towards mutually assured destruction.

Perhaps WWII was a fight against "evil" proliferated by the Nazis and the Japanese in Manchuria. Perhaps the evil forces are but an extension of similar corporate, socio-political forces often disguised behind religious doctrines.

I find myself often saying, "Thank you for serving," though my heart wants to apologize for not providing adequate tools, amble number of troops, and insulting their commitment knowing Halliburton pays 4 times as well delivering supplies made in China. Mostly, I want to apologize the American dream for which they defended has largely evaporated over the last ten to twenty years.

Rich

Yes, JohnBest: as another Ohioan talking about voting "irregularities" in Ohio. Do you remember when Diebold's CEO on mike said he would guarentee a victory for Bush? And the independent group that came in later and found--I cannot remember the number now--of violations. But nothing has ever been done. We bitch about the elections in other countries, but ours stink, too.

As a Democrat, I am usually harrassed at the polls in my largely rethuglican county; I keep going and keep voting--it's my right--it's the right all my family fought for in the American Revolution and later the Women's movement and later the Civil Rights Movement. And the restrictions on who may vote is just crazy.

America stinks with the poop of the wealthy and powerful--and without US they would have NO WEALTH and POWER.

Just curious -- When you went in for recertification (for HUD), why did you take along a 50 yr old photo? What point were you trying to make? Presumably, when you applied for subsidized housing, you provided information about your military service, etc.

We have the politics and policies chosen, every step of the way, by the middle class. Not much we can say say about that. How odd that you would be harrassed when you simply fo to vote. How do people even know who you're voting for? In my experience, people just get into line, waiting their turn, and any chatting is about anything but politics. My own family didn't reach the US until the early 20th Century; does that make us less American than your family?

The very reason the Rethugs lost here in California is because they can't get away with rigging the voting system. I don't believe that Mitch McConnell and those other two clowns in Wisconsin and Florida really won. They only win by cheating, keeping people from voting and filling up American hayseeds with plenty of lying propaganda. Somehow, someway, we need to declare war against these criminals.

Hey ChicagoMatt, I posted a reply to your comment of several days ago on that blog topic page. Gotta go now, might not be around for several more days.

Thom - just saw the pic of you trying your brother's .40 cal.

Not sure what state that's in, but here in NY you'd be arrested and your brother would lose his pistol permit......thanks to your brethren....Comrade Cuomo

Just wondering how you feel about his SAFE Act.......

I feel for you and your son. My husband had PTSD. Don't give up on your Vet Center and all possibility for help. You can hit a brick wall and 18 months later there will be some new program, some new tack the VA is taking to help such people. Time will heal, too, of course. And let me say my own VA medical vacility -- Reno, NV -- is bloody wonderful. It helps to know and try to understand the symptoms. We've all lost something simply by giving up a chunk of our youth. Your son gave up much more. God bless!

DAnneMarc

We have paper ballots. I always use them as do most, but then, the paper gets scanned by a computer and then tossed in the trash.

There were chemical weapons in Iraq in 1990 and 1991 when I was there. I ran a US Marine Corps tech shop in Al Jubail the during the Gulf War. I was fully certified in NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) detection. In my tech shop we had chemical monitors and they showed positive for Cyclosarin gas on several occasions and we even had to don full HazMat gear (Mopp3). Many of my men were sickened by these chemicals including myself.

However; when Bush and Cheney started Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in 2003, the stock piles, factories, precursers, and means of production had been destroyed. You can read about it on the CIA web site: https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004/chap5_annxB.html

It's not really nuanced and isn't double speak. There are two different set of facts in two different time lines. Bush and Cheney did lie about it.

We were denied medical treatment and were blasted in the press. I came home and had internal bleeding and lost 4 teeth. I had diarahea 15 times a day for about 6 years afterwards. Some of my friends became permantly disabled and wheel chair bound after arriving home. I was with a group of Marines that were told we could testify in court about the chemical agents we observed. The address they gave us was a Cemetery in Staten Island.

Calling us names like "dundeheads" is not going to convince anyone that your point is correct. It is just spreading hate and it's un-American.

Sgt. Gregory Ciulla USMC

Franchon88: Thanks for your well-wishes.

Tom:

The other "sorry" to our vets is more a PLEA - a plea to the powers that be to stop drugging our G.I.s with dangerous psychotropics that are causing them to commit suicide. I will make further posts on this. You, as a former practitioner should be aware of this: in the 1980's psychiatry shifted its agenda away from personal counseling to the manufacture and dispensing of psychtropics, this is collusion with Big Pharma.

Suicides and homicides directly relating to the ingestion of psychiatric medication HAS SKYROCKETED OUT OF CONTROL! Pre 1980's we did not have these incidents - celebrities like Robin Williams on psych meds committing suicide. Others on medication like the kids at Columbine, the Fort Hood shooter, the psychotic in NYC on meds who beheaded his mother and then jumped in front of a train, etc, etc, etc. Yet the FDA and Congress DOES NOTHING!! I have written letters to my Congressman and Senators, as well as the President to enact a moratorium on these dangerous drugs. The following is the letter I sent to President Obama:

Dear Mr. President:

As a Vietnam War era veteran, I am very concerned about the current suicide rate amongst our G.I.s which, well documented in current news, eclipses battlefield casualties. More American servicemen have died committing suicide in Afghanistan and Iraq than have been killed in combat. In World War 2, the biggest military conflict in history, you would be hard pressed to find any American serviceman that committed suicide. So why should the percentage in TODAY'S wars be so outrageously high? Obviously those in command are very concerned but the ANSWER, which will open the door to lowering servicemen suicides, is overlooked. The answer becomes clear when you ask a simple question: what is the MAJOR difference between treatment then and now?

The answer is psychiatric diagnoses and treatment.

In WW2 there were NO psychiatric drugs. Soldiers suffering from the psychic ravages of war, such as shell shock, were COUNSELED on a one-on-basis, and when they regained their self-confidence they were returned to the front.

Today military psychiatrists and doctors treat the G.I's psychic ravages with PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS. It IS the drugs that are causing the suicides, as they are doing so at an alarming rate amongst the civilian population.

So much work has been done by psychiatric reform advocacy groups like MindFreedom, CCHR, and others to show how psychiatric drugs are dangerous and ineffective. THAT is the cause and reason for the G.I's committing suicide

In the 1980's psychiatric treatment shifted from counseling to the manufacture, diagnosis and treatment with psychiatric medication. Psychotropics are now the number one selling pharmaceutical drugs worldwide. But the rise of suicides and homicides due to these drugs has SKY-ROCKETED. We didn't have these incidents of shocking murders and suicides - man goes into a Burger King, shoots 6 people and kills himself - pre 1980's. Now they occur every other week. The Ft Hood shootings is one example-the perpetrator was on psychiatric medication.

I am urging a MORATORIUM on the dispensing of these dangerous drugs to our troops and a return to the successful personal counseling that was effective in the earlier wars. Frankly they should be BANNED. The medical hierarchy will not like this and will fight against it but look, WHAT THEY'RE DOING IS NOT WORKING.

I guarantee you, there will be a substantial reduction in military suicides when medical personnel stop treating our military with psychiatric drugs and counsel them instead.

PLEASE ACT ON THIS.

Sincerely,

Randy Gomberg

894 NW Mignonette Ave

Gresham, OR, 97030

503-669-2127