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Thursday, July 24, 2003
Powerball Shrubby's Way
Amount of reward for the head of Usama Bin Laden today = $25 million.
Amount of bounty for the capture of the anthrax "terrorists" that shut down the US Congress (envelopes sent only to Democratic legislators) = $2.5 million.
Answer to why the FBI continues to drag its feet on the anthrax "terrorist" investigation... priceless.
Why the daft Dumbos aren't taking this one to the bank, only G-D knows.
posted by Groom
6:38 PM
Say it ain't so, Milquetoast Joe
The Quinnepac University national presidential poll released today reports that Joe Lieberman is the favored Dumbocrat contender. The Milquetoast Man polled 21 percent with Dick Gephart coming in with 16 percent, John "Mr. Brittle" Kerry winning 13 percent of the hearts and minds and Howard Dean gaining ground with 10 percent.
According to the experts at Quinnepac, Shrub would whup Dean by 16 percentage points in a mano a mano. His margin against the other troika hovers at about 10 percentage points.
When will the Dumbos get out of their Hotbed of Inertia mode. Thank Al From and the mossbacks at the bought-and-paid for DLC for the back to the future vibes.
posted by Groom
6:12 PM
Those Wacky Germans
The wingnut attack gerbils are having a field day with the results of a survey showing that many young Germans believe the U.S. government was behind 9/11. It's a sad state of affairs, to be sure, but how much more ridiculous is it than the unshakeable belief among many Americans that some of the 9/11 highjackers were Iraqis or that the U.S. has already found proof of WMDs in Iraq?
What the survey really suggests is that kids are getting dumber everywhere, not just here, and that ShrubCo has so completely destroyed American credibility around the world that nobody believes anything we say anymore.
posted by Jerry Bowles
5:06 PM
9/11 Report Online
The full (public) text of the 9/11 report is online here. Ask your Congressperson about the parts that involve Saudia Arabia.
posted by Jerry Bowles
3:11 PM
Electronic Voting Fears Confirmed
The first independent analysis of electronic voting machine software has just been released by the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University and it is scary as hell. The bottom line finding is that anyone with a modicum of computer knowledge and $100 worth of equipment could create a chip-embedded smart card that would allow them to cast as many votes as they wanted. It would also allow poll workers to alter ballots after they are cast without being detected.
Voting machine makers have been extremely secretive about their “proprietary” software. The opportunity to analyze this application came about when critics of electronic voting discovered the source code on a Diebold Internet site in January. This is the software used in the Georgia state-wide elections in 2002. Diebold Election Systems is one of the largest of the electronic voting machine manufacturers, with about 33,000 voting machines operating in the United States.
The report is entitled 'Analysis of an Electronic Voting System' by Tadayoshi Kohno (JHU), Adam Stubblefield (JHU), Aviel Rubin (JHU), and Dan Wallach (Rice University). The Abstract confirms all the worst fears of critics of electronic voting machines:
Our analysis shows that this voting system is far below even the most minimal security standards applicable in other contexts. We highlight several issues including unauthorized privilege escalation, incorrect use of cryptography, vulnerabilities to network threats, and poor software development processes. For example, common voters, without any insider privileges, can cast unlimited votes without being detected by any mechanisms within the voting terminal. Furthermore, we show that even the most serious of our outsider attacks could have been discovered without the source code. In the face of such attacks, the usual worries about insider threats are not the only concerns; outsiders can do the damage. That said, we demonstrate that the insider threat is also quite considerable. We conclude that, as a society, we must carefully consider the risks inherent in electronic voting, as it places our very democracy at risk. The full report is here. See our previous report on the subject here.
posted by Jerry Bowles
10:52 AM
Still Covering for the Saudis
The Congressional report on 9/11 released today (not to be confused with the still-to-come independent investigating commission appointed by Congress and the White House headed by former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean) contains little new information but is certain to create more trouble for the White House. The report found no connection between Iraq and al Qaeda despite claims by Rummy and Colin Powell that the the U.S. had "bulletproof evidence" of a Qaeda-Iraq link. On the other hand, the links between 9/11 and Saudia Arabia are so pronounced and obvious that ShrubCo decided the American public should not be allowed to read that section and had it classified.
The Bushes are still covering the asses of their oil patch buddies--the Saudis.
posted by Jerry Bowles
10:02 AM
Trouble on the Tiber, Italians reopen “God's Banker” Case
It’s nice when you’re the richest man in your country and you just happen to be running your nation’s government. So it is in Italy with Shrub’s euro-pimp and recent ranch visitor Silvio Berlusconi. The self-made media mogul got to the top laundering money for Opus Dei, P2 and the mob while appearing whiter than white. Now, with Berlusconi’s naked conflicts of interest and anti-trust problems becoming an embarrassment in the international community, good old karma might bring Don Silvio's house of cards tumbling down.
Le Monde reported that thousands took to the streets Tuesday in Rome’s Plaza Navona in front of the Italian senate to protest Don Silvio’s latest scam--sweetheart anti-trust and conflict-of-interest legislation that let him continue to run his multi-billion dollar media empire while running the country. Never mind that when elected in 1998, he promised the people of Italy that he would deal with his anti-trust problems and conflicts of interest within the first 100 days of his presidency.
Things are bound to get even more dicey, however, now that Italian prosecutors have reopened the murder case of former Berlusconi associate Roberto Calvi. Known as “god's banker” for his ties to the Vatican and the Vatican bank run by Chicago-born, cigar chomping Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, Calvi was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 with bricks in his coat and $15,000 on his person. This event provided an important part of the backstory for Mario Puzo's "Godfather III."
Italian officials, unearthing new clues, now believe after twenty years of their own cover-up that Calvi was murdered. The investigation is likely to examine Berlusconi in connection with his relationship with Calvi, and “bankers” Licio Gelli and Michele Sindona (of Franklin National Bank fame). Sindona was a big macher in the Illinois Republican Party during the 1970s.
P2 founder Gelli has also been linked to drug money laundering, including activities connected with Iran-Contra. Where this one goes, nobody knows... Bill "Mumbles" Casey, the Poppy Bush "October Surprise" meeting in Paris... watch this space.
posted by Groom
6:16 AM

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