Texas to Florida: White House-linked clandestine operation paid for "vote switching" software

Texas to Florida: White House-linked clandestine operation paid for "vote switching" software By Wayne Madsen Online Journal Contributing Writer December 6, 2004—The manipulation of computer voting machines in the recent presidential election and the funding of programmers who were involved in the operation are tied to an intricate web of shady off-shore financial trusts and companies, shady espionage operatives, Republican Party politicians close to the Bush family, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contract vehicles. An exhaustive investigation has turned up a link between current Florida Republican Representative Tom Feeney, a customized Windows-based program to suppress Democratic votes on touch screen voting machines, a Florida computer services company with whom Feeney worked as a general counsel and registered lobbyist while he was Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, and top level officials of the Bush administration. continued..... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quite the story. Lets hope it marks the beginning of the end of the Bush crime family

Kerik nomination is a ticking time bomb

Kerik nomination is a ticking time bomb Ellis Henican December 3, 2004 Campaign bodyguard to Rudy Giuliani. Errand boy for the Saudi royal family. Energetic exploiter of Sept. 11th tragedy. Tough-talking publicity-hound vowing to bring law and order to Iraq - then hightailing it out of there after a disastrous 14 weeks, leaving the place far less safe than he found it. Oh, the bullet points on Bernie Kerik's real-life resume just go on and on. But is this really the guy we want standing between us and the terrorists? George W. Bush apparently thinks so. White House sources were saying last night that Kerik, the scandal-scarred former commissioner of the New York Correction and Police departments, will be named today to take Tom Ridge's job as head of homeland security. For now, let's give the Bush folks the benefit of the doubt: Maybe they've been wowed by Kerik's shameless swing-state Kerry-bashing in Bush's behalf. ('I fear another attack, and I fear that attack with ... Senator Kerry being in office responding to it.') Maybe they've been bullied by Giuliani's bulldog lobbying for a loyal business buddy and after-hours pal. ('OK, Karl,' you can almost hear Rudy say, 'I won't be attorney general, but you gotta take Bernie at homeland security!') Or maybe it's just that the FBI background check isn't back from the field.Whatever the reason, the White House personnel office really ought to ask some probing questions around New York. You can bet they'll get an earful of heads-up about this hard-charging, thick-necked, shaved-head lightweight. Let this be a warning from someone who's followed the man's ladder-climbing career: He's a personal and professional time bomb the Bushies will learn to regret. Don't say I didn't warn you, guys! That's certainly the message that smart law-enforcement professionals......" Continued

U.S. Admits Torture Used to Obtain Evidence Against Terrorists

U.S. Admits Torture Used to Obtain Evidence Against Terrorists By Staff and Wire Reports Dec 3, 2004, 07:07 Evidence gained by torture can be used by the U.S. military in deciding whether to imprison a foreigner indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as an enemy combatant, the government concedes. Statements produced under torture have been inadmissible in U.S. courts for about 70 years. But the U.S. military panels reviewing the detention of 550 foreigners as enemy combatants at the U.S. naval base in Cuba are allowed to use such evidence, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle acknowledged at a U.S. District Court hearing Thursday." continued.....

Capitol Hill Blue: Halliburton Lost U.S. Property Worth Millions in Iraq, Kuwait

Capitol Hill Blue: Halliburton Lost U.S. Property Worth Millions in Iraq, Kuwait: "Halliburton Lost U.S. Property Worth Millions in Iraq, Kuwait By JOHN SOLOMON Nov 28, 2004, 07:50 Email this article Printer friendly page A third or more of the government property Halliburton Co. was paid to manage for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq could not be located by auditors, investigative reports to Congress show. Halliburton's KBR subsidiary 'did not effectively manage government property' and auditors could not locate hundreds of CPA items worth millions of dollars in Iraq and Kuwait this summer and fall, Inspector General Stuart W. Bowen reported to Congress in two reports. Bowen's findings mark the latest bad news for Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, which is the focus of both a criminal investigation into alleged fuel price gouging and an FBI inquiry into possible favoritism from the Bush administration." Continued.....

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | One gulp, and Bush was gone

One gulp, and Bush was gone Behind the scenes at the Clinton library, we saw America's future Sidney Blumenthal Thursday November 25, 2004 The Guardian At the dedication of the Clinton library last week in Little Rock, Karl Rove and President Bush received separate tours of the dramatic building, a glistening silver, suspended boxcar filled with light and with a panoramic view of the Arkansas river. Flung across the river stands an old railroad bridge - and to Clinton watchers, bridges represent 'the bridge to the 21st century', the former president's re-election slogan in 1996. The opening ceremony was biblical in its spectacle, length and rain. For more than four hours we huddled in thin ponchos under the downpour, awaiting four presidents. For the Democrats among us - former advisers and cabinet secretaries, celebrity supporters and high school friends of Bill - this was an unofficial convention, a kind of counter-inaugural, with rueful discussions of the recent defeat. John Kerry arrived to defiant cheering from the crowd. Then, when the presidents were announced, Bush tried to push his way past Clinton at the library door to be first in line, against the already accepted protocol for the event, as though the walk to the platform was a contest for alpha male." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Then the asshole went on to declare,"If this was Poland, they wouldn't even have let you build this thing", giving a sideways wink at Condi-sleaza, who giggled coyly, thinking in manner reminiscent of Olive Oil "Man, Oh man...I just lovvve that man o'mine!". Mycos