... Karl Rove, a handful of the party's most tech-savvy computer gurus and the former Republican Ohio Secretary of State, created, owned and operated the vote-counting system...
April 23, 2007 7:44 PM Subscribe
Network Hosting Attorney Scandal E-Mails Also Hosted Ohio's 2004 Election Results --...more than ample documentation to show that on Election Night 2004, Ohio's "official" Secretary of State website -- which gave the world the presidential election results -- was redirected from an Ohio government server to a group of servers that contain scores of Republican web sites, including the secret White House e-mail accounts that have emerged in the scandal surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's firing of eight federal prosecutors. ...
Sugar is sweet
and so will be the day
when the law finally comes
and takes these robber barons away
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:27 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
and so will be the day
when the law finally comes
and takes these robber barons away
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:27 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
The RNC And Your Friendly Voting Machine Corporation: Helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the RNC since 2004.
wir müssen warten, bis alle fakten gesammelt werden!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:29 PM on April 23, 2007
wir müssen warten, bis alle fakten gesammelt werden!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:29 PM on April 23, 2007
The actual counts (correct me if I'm wrong) are made by county Boards of Election, which certify those results and transmit them to the Secretary of State (Blackwell).
It may be that some connected Republicans got a cushy contract to host those numbers on the internet, but the numbers would have from the counties. The only usefulness in changing the posted numbers would have been to discourage voters from voting in other states where the polls were still open. And those numbers would have been corrected when the certified county numbers came in, in December.
Now, I agree, the distribution of polling machines was suspicious -- voters more likely to vote Kerry had to stand in much longer lines. (I stood with them in one of those lines.)
And as a software professional, beleive me when I say yes, the Diebold machines are terribly vulnerable to compromise, and we'll never know if some were compromised. Electronic voting is a qucik road to disenfranchisement.
But as someone who worked on the Ohio '04 campaign and worked with the voter data, trust me when I say we Democrats shot ourselves in the foot as much as anything else: our "voter file", for which we spent a lot of money, was out of date , and the software we had to use with it (also very expensive) was state of the art -- for 1970.
Because of crap data and crap software, we had to at the very last minute put together new software and new lists of voters, and we never did manage this for all of Ohio's counties. The Republians had a great technological advantage, but it wasn't in posting the numbers after the fact, it was in targeting and GOTV.
posted by orthogonality at 8:35 PM on April 23, 2007 [6 favorites]
It may be that some connected Republicans got a cushy contract to host those numbers on the internet, but the numbers would have from the counties. The only usefulness in changing the posted numbers would have been to discourage voters from voting in other states where the polls were still open. And those numbers would have been corrected when the certified county numbers came in, in December.
Now, I agree, the distribution of polling machines was suspicious -- voters more likely to vote Kerry had to stand in much longer lines. (I stood with them in one of those lines.)
And as a software professional, beleive me when I say yes, the Diebold machines are terribly vulnerable to compromise, and we'll never know if some were compromised. Electronic voting is a qucik road to disenfranchisement.
But as someone who worked on the Ohio '04 campaign and worked with the voter data, trust me when I say we Democrats shot ourselves in the foot as much as anything else: our "voter file", for which we spent a lot of money, was out of date , and the software we had to use with it (also very expensive) was state of the art -- for 1970.
Because of crap data and crap software, we had to at the very last minute put together new software and new lists of voters, and we never did manage this for all of Ohio's counties. The Republians had a great technological advantage, but it wasn't in posting the numbers after the fact, it was in targeting and GOTV.
posted by orthogonality at 8:35 PM on April 23, 2007 [6 favorites]
Hm. Now I know why Rove was so smug about the upcoming 2006 results. He must have grossly under estimated voter enmity.
posted by brokekid at 8:36 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by brokekid at 8:36 PM on April 23, 2007
Why can't people believe the fact that republicans are "hooked up" with damn near anything they want, and Librul's and others have to wade through regular channels?
Why is that?
posted by Balisong at 8:39 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Why is that?
posted by Balisong at 8:39 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Given the incompotence of the current gang in the Whitehouse, I refuse to believe they successfully stole the election in 2004. If they'd really tried to steal the election they would have screwed it up and put Kerry in by a landslide. Still impeach away.
posted by humanfont at 8:48 PM on April 23, 2007 [3 favorites]
posted by humanfont at 8:48 PM on April 23, 2007 [3 favorites]
Given the incompotence of the current gang in the Whitehouse
They've been very competent at enriching themselves, assigning more unchecked authority to the executive branch, limiting access to information and generally subverting the machinery of democracy wherever possible. I think they've so far done many of the things they set out to do.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:56 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
They've been very competent at enriching themselves, assigning more unchecked authority to the executive branch, limiting access to information and generally subverting the machinery of democracy wherever possible. I think they've so far done many of the things they set out to do.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:56 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
The only usefulness in changing the posted numbers would have been to discourage voters from voting in other states where the polls were still open. And those numbers would have been corrected when the certified county numbers came in, in December.
They don't get to the point until the second page:
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 8:58 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
They don't get to the point until the second page:
But the reason Congress must investigate these high-tech ties is there is abundant evidence that Republicans could have used this computing network to delay announcing the winner of Ohio's 2004 election while tinkering with the results.I'm not so sure about "abundant evidence", but this narrative does make some sense of the nonsense in Ohio in 2004.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 8:58 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Hm. Now I know why Rove was so smug about the upcoming 2006 results. He must have grossly under estimated voter enmity.
Before the 2006 elections, there was a lot of hand-wringing about the Diebold machines, but since the Dems had such great victories, no one really paid attention to the reports that there were irregularities in various places. The conspiracy theory goes (one I don't have a hard time believing) that Repubs fiddled with the votes, but there were so many votes for Dems, it didn't matter in the end.
posted by zardoz at 9:00 PM on April 23, 2007
Before the 2006 elections, there was a lot of hand-wringing about the Diebold machines, but since the Dems had such great victories, no one really paid attention to the reports that there were irregularities in various places. The conspiracy theory goes (one I don't have a hard time believing) that Repubs fiddled with the votes, but there were so many votes for Dems, it didn't matter in the end.
posted by zardoz at 9:00 PM on April 23, 2007
There's no smoking gun in the article. Still, no private computers should be handling these tasks due to the risks. The state can rent the computers, but they should be in the physical possession of the state and no contracts to firms to manage. It is an inherently governmental function.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:04 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by Ironmouth at 9:04 PM on April 23, 2007
C'mon Dems. Make Someone Pay. Send Someone To Jail. Do something that's binding for once. Do your jobs and protect the U.S. of A.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 9:13 PM on April 23, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 9:13 PM on April 23, 2007 [2 favorites]
This has been old news since the whole gwb43 domain issue came out. They were all hosted off the same nameservers.
posted by spiderwire at 9:17 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by spiderwire at 9:17 PM on April 23, 2007
Well this is an interesting development.
The DNS details, comparison screenshots, etc: here and here.
I wish Fitrakis had just hotlinked to these in his story.
posted by edverb at 9:22 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
The DNS details, comparison screenshots, etc: here and here.
I wish Fitrakis had just hotlinked to these in his story.
posted by edverb at 9:22 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Sugar is sweet
Power is saccharine
Something smells rotten
In the city of Akron.
posted by The White Hat at 9:25 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Power is saccharine
Something smells rotten
In the city of Akron.
posted by The White Hat at 9:25 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Oh come on now, you all are acting like this it absolute proof of a crime or crime syndicate.
How sad it is that so many Americans have absolutely zero faith in our (supposedly) elected officials.
Though I must say that I am rather impressed with the scope of their corruption and greed. But kind of in the same way that I'm impressed by how many hot dogs that little Asian dude can scarf in ten minutes. I'm revolted but still kind of like "Daaaaaaamn!"
And, last thought, I have had a near overwhelming desire to smack the smug right off Karl Rove's jiggly-jowly face for years now. And it spiked by a million fold when I saw him dancing a few weeks ago.
posted by fenriq at 9:32 PM on April 23, 2007
How sad it is that so many Americans have absolutely zero faith in our (supposedly) elected officials.
Though I must say that I am rather impressed with the scope of their corruption and greed. But kind of in the same way that I'm impressed by how many hot dogs that little Asian dude can scarf in ten minutes. I'm revolted but still kind of like "Daaaaaaamn!"
And, last thought, I have had a near overwhelming desire to smack the smug right off Karl Rove's jiggly-jowly face for years now. And it spiked by a million fold when I saw him dancing a few weeks ago.
posted by fenriq at 9:32 PM on April 23, 2007
Ample evidence? Well good. I hate it when these scandals lack ample evidence.
posted by spock at 9:35 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by spock at 9:35 PM on April 23, 2007
spock, you mean like when they remember to "accidentally" delete the emails from the local machine AND the server a thousand miles away?
posted by fenriq at 9:38 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by fenriq at 9:38 PM on April 23, 2007
"Impeachment process to start in 10^5250."
"Hang 'em high!"
Oh for Pete's sake. The damage has already been done. This is too little too late. Impeach him now? You gotta be fuckin' kiddin'. The Bush Administration stole the election twice. We all knew that. We just couldn't prove it. We let it slide. We let them get away with it. We let them hoodwink us.
This isn't Watergate. This is We-Were-Fucking-Stupid-gate.
This is the entire country seeing evidence that we've been had, and half of us realizing the other half had been had, but even those of us who didn't vote for him got dildos up the ass.
And we all know it's coming. Like Jimmy Swaggart's crocodile tears, half the country is still going to stand by these wolves in sheep's clothing when they come up with whatever sob story they come up with. Why? Cuz sheep iz as sheep duz. Shrub's a born agin Xian! He'd never lie to us! Hmmm... Anti-Christ much?
Impeach him now? After his popularity rating is in the sewers. After he's dragged us into an impossible war. After his buddies have all made buttloads of cash through this fiasco. After he's screwed up everything from Roe vs Wade to Social Security. Impeach him now? That's like giving that killing buttwipe in Virginia the electric chair AFTER he committed suicide. What do you want? Barbeque? It's over!
You humans are gonna do it anyway ain't ya? Fine. Whatever. Good luck with that. I'll be thumbing for a hitch to Betelguese. Beam me up Scotty. Humanity sucks.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:43 PM on April 23, 2007 [4 favorites]
"Hang 'em high!"
Oh for Pete's sake. The damage has already been done. This is too little too late. Impeach him now? You gotta be fuckin' kiddin'. The Bush Administration stole the election twice. We all knew that. We just couldn't prove it. We let it slide. We let them get away with it. We let them hoodwink us.
This isn't Watergate. This is We-Were-Fucking-Stupid-gate.
This is the entire country seeing evidence that we've been had, and half of us realizing the other half had been had, but even those of us who didn't vote for him got dildos up the ass.
And we all know it's coming. Like Jimmy Swaggart's crocodile tears, half the country is still going to stand by these wolves in sheep's clothing when they come up with whatever sob story they come up with. Why? Cuz sheep iz as sheep duz. Shrub's a born agin Xian! He'd never lie to us! Hmmm... Anti-Christ much?
Impeach him now? After his popularity rating is in the sewers. After he's dragged us into an impossible war. After his buddies have all made buttloads of cash through this fiasco. After he's screwed up everything from Roe vs Wade to Social Security. Impeach him now? That's like giving that killing buttwipe in Virginia the electric chair AFTER he committed suicide. What do you want? Barbeque? It's over!
You humans are gonna do it anyway ain't ya? Fine. Whatever. Good luck with that. I'll be thumbing for a hitch to Betelguese. Beam me up Scotty. Humanity sucks.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:43 PM on April 23, 2007 [4 favorites]
Hmm.... despite that this is/was old news, these guys do good detective work. Good call amber.
posted by spiderwire at 9:45 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by spiderwire at 9:45 PM on April 23, 2007
Why can't people believe the fact that republicans are "hooked up" with damn near anything they want, and Librul's and others have to wade through regular channels?
Because that would destroy a beloved, cherished illusion. The illusion of the heroic conservative underdog who fights against the vast un-American "librul elite" conspiracy. People want to believe, and when that happens the illusion gains incredible power. Powerful enough to, say, make a war veteran give his Purple Heart to a man who's never seen real battle, simply because the libruls are saying bad things about that man.
posted by PsychoKick at 9:52 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Because that would destroy a beloved, cherished illusion. The illusion of the heroic conservative underdog who fights against the vast un-American "librul elite" conspiracy. People want to believe, and when that happens the illusion gains incredible power. Powerful enough to, say, make a war veteran give his Purple Heart to a man who's never seen real battle, simply because the libruls are saying bad things about that man.
posted by PsychoKick at 9:52 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Well this is an interesting development.
Its potentially a revolting development.
posted by Fupped Duck at 9:53 PM on April 23, 2007
Its potentially a revolting development.
posted by Fupped Duck at 9:53 PM on April 23, 2007
After a certain point, it feels like every new story about this administration has exactly the same feel to it, and my outrage is wearing out. Maybe that's what they want.
I'm torn between calling this "sensationalism" and bitching about so many fist-shaking BushCoFilter stories, and proclaiming that people need to hear about this stuff until their ears bleed and they storm the White House.
posted by lostburner at 9:59 PM on April 23, 2007
I'm torn between calling this "sensationalism" and bitching about so many fist-shaking BushCoFilter stories, and proclaiming that people need to hear about this stuff until their ears bleed and they storm the White House.
posted by lostburner at 9:59 PM on April 23, 2007
heh, it's cute how people still think anything will be done about this.
posted by nightchrome at 10:19 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by nightchrome at 10:19 PM on April 23, 2007
ZachsMind writes "Impeach him now? After his popularity rating is in the sewers. After he's dragged us into an impossible war. After his buddies have all made buttloads of cash through this fiasco. After he's screwed up everything from Roe vs Wade to Social Security. Impeach him now? That's like giving that killing buttwipe in Virginia the electric chair AFTER he committed suicide. What do you want? Barbeque? It's over! "
Zach, I think you miss the point.
Impeaching Bush isn't about him. It's about us the American people.
It's about saying we were fooled, and we won't be (so easily, anyway) fooled again. It's about lowering the bar for impeachment, so that bar hangs lower over the heads of future presidents.
It's about creating a precedent, about making the next guy (or gal) in teh Oval Office think twice, worried that he too could be impeached.
It's not even so much about the lies. It's about the self-dealing, the cronyism, the corruption, the incompetence. Just as we'd fire a financial advisor who drove our fortunes into the ground while enriching his friends, or a doctor who amputated teh wrong limb, or a lawyer who can't win a case for us.
For the future of our common wealth and commonwealth we need to demonstrate that unnecessary war, breaking our armed forces, letting a city drown, abandoning the country's lead in science to cater to mouth-breathing superstition, that such mis-governance will not be tolerated by a free and proud people.
We need to impeach, not to punish Bush, but to assert for future generations that the American people truly are the stewards of their government.
posted by orthogonality at 11:22 PM on April 23, 2007 [17 favorites]
Zach, I think you miss the point.
Impeaching Bush isn't about him. It's about us the American people.
It's about saying we were fooled, and we won't be (so easily, anyway) fooled again. It's about lowering the bar for impeachment, so that bar hangs lower over the heads of future presidents.
It's about creating a precedent, about making the next guy (or gal) in teh Oval Office think twice, worried that he too could be impeached.
It's not even so much about the lies. It's about the self-dealing, the cronyism, the corruption, the incompetence. Just as we'd fire a financial advisor who drove our fortunes into the ground while enriching his friends, or a doctor who amputated teh wrong limb, or a lawyer who can't win a case for us.
For the future of our common wealth and commonwealth we need to demonstrate that unnecessary war, breaking our armed forces, letting a city drown, abandoning the country's lead in science to cater to mouth-breathing superstition, that such mis-governance will not be tolerated by a free and proud people.
We need to impeach, not to punish Bush, but to assert for future generations that the American people truly are the stewards of their government.
posted by orthogonality at 11:22 PM on April 23, 2007 [17 favorites]
.
posted by oncogenesis at 11:55 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by oncogenesis at 11:55 PM on April 23, 2007
(USA)
posted by oncogenesis at 11:55 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by oncogenesis at 11:55 PM on April 23, 2007
Besides, impeachment will make the sob loose his pension. I wonder if he looses all the fringe benefits, too. And then we need to see the USA vs. Bush, et. al, in a civil suit. Impoverish the bastards!
posted by Goofyy at 12:15 AM on April 24, 2007
posted by Goofyy at 12:15 AM on April 24, 2007
the incompetence
that train left in 11/2004. The republicans played their bullshit games with the constitution with the Lewinsky affair, and fat lot of good it did them.
Allwe the Dems need now is to act like grownups. If that's not good enough for this electorate in 2008 then too bad for us.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 12:17 AM on April 24, 2007
that train left in 11/2004. The republicans played their bullshit games with the constitution with the Lewinsky affair, and fat lot of good it did them.
All
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 12:17 AM on April 24, 2007
orthogonality is right - it's the fucking principle of the thing at this point. Yes, his cabal of power addicts have had their way with America - and the world... but it is still time to press for action against him if we can.
posted by chuckdarwin at 12:33 AM on April 24, 2007
posted by chuckdarwin at 12:33 AM on April 24, 2007
Listen, I've been way ahead of the curve on hating Bush. But the strongest evidence that this article has for the kind of vote tampering that it alleges (i.e. the hosting of the sec'y o' state's website) is a 90 minute outage during election night. How surprising that a server might go down when the entire country is eagerly pinging it!
On top of that, I'm not even clear on what is being alleged. Are they saying that the one and only source of vote counts came from this site? No, he's not even saying that. And what does Karl Rove's secret email network have to do with this? To be honest, I'd like to hear a little more about that, but it sounds tangental (not to mention unsupported here).
The article is a mish-mash. It mentions plenty of instances of non-virtual vote tampering that sound very suspicious. However, the article has already blown its credibility as far as I'm concerned. What is the link between these alleged acts and the focus of the article (i.e. the vote report hosting)?
I wouldn't even be surprised if there was some major voting malfeasance in Ohio in '04. The Buckeye state has recently hosted some very high profile corruption at the hands of its republicans. But this article is just this side of a pissed-off rant, lacking in focus, substance and evidence. It's a valuable topic, but I think articles like this are far more distracting than illuminating.
posted by Edgewise at 2:25 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]
On top of that, I'm not even clear on what is being alleged. Are they saying that the one and only source of vote counts came from this site? No, he's not even saying that. And what does Karl Rove's secret email network have to do with this? To be honest, I'd like to hear a little more about that, but it sounds tangental (not to mention unsupported here).
The article is a mish-mash. It mentions plenty of instances of non-virtual vote tampering that sound very suspicious. However, the article has already blown its credibility as far as I'm concerned. What is the link between these alleged acts and the focus of the article (i.e. the vote report hosting)?
I wouldn't even be surprised if there was some major voting malfeasance in Ohio in '04. The Buckeye state has recently hosted some very high profile corruption at the hands of its republicans. But this article is just this side of a pissed-off rant, lacking in focus, substance and evidence. It's a valuable topic, but I think articles like this are far more distracting than illuminating.
posted by Edgewise at 2:25 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]
Impeaching Bush isn't about him. It's about us the American people.
True, but it is about him, too. And he, personally, deserves whatever shame, ignominy and execration that can possibly be heaped upon him, in the most public of forums possible.
And unlike ZachsMind, I'd say it's never too late.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:19 AM on April 24, 2007
True, but it is about him, too. And he, personally, deserves whatever shame, ignominy and execration that can possibly be heaped upon him, in the most public of forums possible.
And unlike ZachsMind, I'd say it's never too late.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:19 AM on April 24, 2007
er, that's ignonimy. But if there's an ignominy, and it's bad, he deserves that, too.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:24 AM on April 24, 2007
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:24 AM on April 24, 2007
flapjax at midnite writes "er, that's ignonimy. But if there's an ignominy...."
You sure it ain't "igno-nimby", but not in your back yard, flappy?
posted by orthogonality at 4:46 AM on April 24, 2007
You sure it ain't "igno-nimby", but not in your back yard, flappy?
posted by orthogonality at 4:46 AM on April 24, 2007
OH MY GOD THIS IS THE SCANDAL THAT WILL BREAK BUSH.
Oh no wait, it's probably not. I think someone should make Bush Admin. Scandal Cards.
posted by chunking express at 5:05 AM on April 24, 2007
Oh no wait, it's probably not. I think someone should make Bush Admin. Scandal Cards.
posted by chunking express at 5:05 AM on April 24, 2007
I think someone should make Bush Admin. Scandal Cards.
That's a great idea. I'd buy a pack or three.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 5:20 AM on April 24, 2007
That's a great idea. I'd buy a pack or three.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 5:20 AM on April 24, 2007
You sure it ain't "igno-nimby", but not in your back yard, flappy?
Yeah, pretty sure, orthy. But hey, where'd you learn words like "ain't"? Just doesn't sound quite right, coming from you.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:28 AM on April 24, 2007
Yeah, pretty sure, orthy. But hey, where'd you learn words like "ain't"? Just doesn't sound quite right, coming from you.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:28 AM on April 24, 2007
Before the 2006 elections, there was a lot of hand-wringing about the Diebold machines, but since the Dems had such great victories, no one really paid attention to the reports that there were irregularities in various places. The conspiracy theory goes (one I don't have a hard time believing) that Repubs fiddled with the votes, but there were so many votes for Dems, it didn't matter in the end.Bah, you're not thinking nearly evil enough.
The GWB presidency has demonstrated that you can weild true power via the POTUS office alone. The 2006 elections were un-rigged to quell the notion that the machines are rigged. As soon as the 2008 presidential elections come around, the machines are re-rigged, the Republicans take the White House again and nothing changes.
Except that they can now fight a War On Truth against the voting rights people, because, hey, look at 2006! They're not rigged! You're just sore losers!
posted by unixrat at 6:48 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]
In related news --
The Office of Special Counsel Will Investigate U.S. Attorney Firings and Other Political Activities Led by Karl Rove
The Office of Special Counsel Will Investigate U.S. Attorney Firings and Other Political Activities Led by Karl Rove
"...the Office of Special Counsel is preparing to jump into one of the most sensitive and potentially explosive issues in Washington, launching a broad investigation into key elements of the White House political operations that for more than six years have been headed by chief strategist Karl Rove.posted by ericb at 7:13 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]
The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.
First, the inquiry comes from inside the administration, not from Democrats in Congress. Second, unlike the splintered inquiries being pressed on Capitol Hill, it is expected to be a unified investigation covering many facets of the political operation in which Rove played a leading part.
'We will take the evidence where it leads us,' Scott J. Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel and a presidential appointee, said in an interview Monday. 'We will not leave any stone unturned.'
Bloch declined to comment on who his investigators would interview, but he said the probe would be independent and uncoordinated with any other agency or government entity.
The decision by Bloch's office is the latest evidence that Rove's once-vaunted operations inside the government, which helped the GOP hold the White House and Congress for six years, now threaten to mire the administration in investigations."
Besides, impeachment will make the sob loose his pension. I wonder if he looses all the fringe benefits, too. And then we need to see the USA vs. Bush, et. al, in a civil suit. Impoverish the bastards!
Seriously? He'd lose his pension? Not that he give's a robot's rat's ass about that, really, as Daddy's pals will give him a job with low responsibility and high pay as soon as he finally gets all that brush cleared from his "ranch."
But a civil suit? One that might actually wipe the snotty bastard out? That I'd just love. Make it so he doesn't even have enough money to afford a plate of beans (to overthink) on his new Paraguayan compound.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:45 AM on April 24, 2007
Seriously? He'd lose his pension? Not that he give's a robot's rat's ass about that, really, as Daddy's pals will give him a job with low responsibility and high pay as soon as he finally gets all that brush cleared from his "ranch."
But a civil suit? One that might actually wipe the snotty bastard out? That I'd just love. Make it so he doesn't even have enough money to afford a plate of beans (to overthink) on his new Paraguayan compound.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:45 AM on April 24, 2007
'We will take the evidence where it leads us,' Scott J. Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel and a presidential appointee, said in an interview Monday. 'We will not leave any stone unturned.'
Well, now we know this particular investigation will go nowhere.
posted by IronLizard at 8:14 AM on April 24, 2007
Well, now we know this particular investigation will go nowhere.
posted by IronLizard at 8:14 AM on April 24, 2007
Or we'll soon hear that Mr. Bloch has resigned. After all, as we all know now, he -- like the fired Attorneys General -- serves at the pleasure of the President."
posted by ericb at 8:22 AM on April 24, 2007
posted by ericb at 8:22 AM on April 24, 2007
on Bloch and the OSC: The Office of Special Counsel exists to protect federal workers from job discrimination and whistle-blowing retaliation. Here's how Scott Bloch turned it into a haven for gay-bashing and partisan politics. ...
This announcement is to run out the clock and say "we won't comment on an ongoing investigation" while still denying Congress requested people and materials. You can't trust the people inside the Administration and picked by them to investigate their own co-workers.
posted by amberglow at 8:29 AM on April 24, 2007
This announcement is to run out the clock and say "we won't comment on an ongoing investigation" while still denying Congress requested people and materials. You can't trust the people inside the Administration and picked by them to investigate their own co-workers.
posted by amberglow at 8:29 AM on April 24, 2007
post from 2004 from me on Bloch--
And, importantly, from the comments there--BTW, prior to his recent appointment as special counsel, Bloch headed up the Task Force for Faith-Based Initiatives in the Department of Justice.
posted by amberglow at 8:32 AM on April 24, 2007
And, importantly, from the comments there--BTW, prior to his recent appointment as special counsel, Bloch headed up the Task Force for Faith-Based Initiatives in the Department of Justice.
posted by amberglow at 8:32 AM on April 24, 2007
site-hosting history for http://election.sos.state.oh.us
posted by amberglow at 8:38 AM on April 24, 2007
posted by amberglow at 8:38 AM on April 24, 2007
and from Wired, about the 06 race there: Ohio Audit Says Diebold Vote Database May Have Been Corrupted
posted by amberglow at 8:41 AM on April 24, 2007
posted by amberglow at 8:41 AM on April 24, 2007
This has been old news since the whole gwb43 domain issue came out. They were all hosted off the same nameservers.
This was news to me, and as a web dev, I'm shocked by the brazenness of this.
posted by davejay at 11:30 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]
This was news to me, and as a web dev, I'm shocked by the brazenness of this.
posted by davejay at 11:30 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]
This was news to me, and as a web dev, I'm shocked by the brazenness of this.
Me too...it can't be legal to have official election results on private non-governmental servers, can it?
posted by amberglow at 1:13 PM on April 24, 2007
Me too...it can't be legal to have official election results on private non-governmental servers, can it?
posted by amberglow at 1:13 PM on April 24, 2007
stenseng, that deserves a post of its own--i cannot believe how many active things there are.
posted by amberglow at 1:14 PM on April 24, 2007
posted by amberglow at 1:14 PM on April 24, 2007
Iglesias Reveals He Filed Complaint Against Rove, Leading To Special Counsel Probe.
Rove Investigator Acts a Lot Like Rove
Rove Investigator Acts a Lot Like Rove
"Scott J. Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, 'who says he is investigating Karl Rove for allegations he influenced government activity for partisan purposes is himself facing allegations of similar behavior.' In April 2005, government watchdogs and others complained that 'the White House appointee had allowed his office to 'sit on' a complaint that then-White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice used government funds to travel in support of President Bush’s re-election bid.'"*posted by ericb at 6:58 PM on April 24, 2007
"The fact that OSC has been charged with handling these matters suggests the possibility that the White House is orchestrating a cover-up of its illegal and improper activities." *
This was news to me, and as a web dev, I'm shocked by the brazenness of this.
As a web dev, you might be interested to read this page and this page and learn that there are 41 domains that share mailservers with gwb43.com, including:
ohiogop.org
rnc.org
govtechsolutions.com
bobcorkerforsenate.com
gingrichgroup.com
Surprised? I wasn't. Some of the organizations sharing nameservers, besides those listed in the first link above, include Scooter Libby's defense fund and Capitol Resource Group, one of the lobbying firms implicated in Santorum shoveling hundreds of thousands of dollars through his charity into the RNC. It's a wide wide world of fun!
Seriously though, you can go to the robtex lookup and pretty much pick a link at random that shares nameservers with gwb43.com, Whois it or ping it whatever you like, and you'll find something interesting. It's just ridiculous. Everything just leads deeper down the rabbit hole.
posted by spiderwire at 8:40 PM on April 24, 2007
As a web dev, you might be interested to read this page and this page and learn that there are 41 domains that share mailservers with gwb43.com, including:
ohiogop.org
rnc.org
govtechsolutions.com
bobcorkerforsenate.com
gingrichgroup.com
Surprised? I wasn't. Some of the organizations sharing nameservers, besides those listed in the first link above, include Scooter Libby's defense fund and Capitol Resource Group, one of the lobbying firms implicated in Santorum shoveling hundreds of thousands of dollars through his charity into the RNC. It's a wide wide world of fun!
Seriously though, you can go to the robtex lookup and pretty much pick a link at random that shares nameservers with gwb43.com, Whois it or ping it whatever you like, and you'll find something interesting. It's just ridiculous. Everything just leads deeper down the rabbit hole.
posted by spiderwire at 8:40 PM on April 24, 2007
The SA thread is more astonishing given that it doesn't include lots of scandals that have already passed -- Trent Lott on Strom Thurmond's presidential platform, Mark Foley, Jeff Gannon, Ney, Santorum's charity -- hell, fake grass roots protestors in Florida -- etc etc etc
The amount of stuff that's been forgotten already or gone under the radar is astonishing.
Then there's not-quite-scandals/not-quite-proven-scandals like Richard Clarke, Cheney's energy group, using Young Republicans to staff Iraq reconstruction, Blackwater in Iraq and New Orleans, using NASA to deny global warming, the appointments of Negroponte, Bolton, Poindexter, no-bid contracts...
Then of course there's straight fuckups like Heckuva Job Brownie the Arabian Horse Judge, nominating Harriet Miers and/or Gonzales to the SC, the backlash against the immigration proposal from Republicans, not knowing the difference b/w Sunnis and Shiites, "just get Syria to tell Hezbollah to cut this shit out," shooting a dude in the face on a hunting trip, "last throes" who knows how many times, mobile weapons labs, feeling up Merkel, "go fuck yourself" to Leahy, Al Qaida Plans to Attack Buildings With Fucking Planes, and of course who could forget the old time classic We Will Be Greeted As Liberators...
Hold on, I think I ran out of stuff that's just off the top of my fucking head
posted by spiderwire at 8:56 PM on April 24, 2007
The amount of stuff that's been forgotten already or gone under the radar is astonishing.
Then there's not-quite-scandals/not-quite-proven-scandals like Richard Clarke, Cheney's energy group, using Young Republicans to staff Iraq reconstruction, Blackwater in Iraq and New Orleans, using NASA to deny global warming, the appointments of Negroponte, Bolton, Poindexter, no-bid contracts...
Then of course there's straight fuckups like Heckuva Job Brownie the Arabian Horse Judge, nominating Harriet Miers and/or Gonzales to the SC, the backlash against the immigration proposal from Republicans, not knowing the difference b/w Sunnis and Shiites, "just get Syria to tell Hezbollah to cut this shit out," shooting a dude in the face on a hunting trip, "last throes" who knows how many times, mobile weapons labs, feeling up Merkel, "go fuck yourself" to Leahy, Al Qaida Plans to Attack Buildings With Fucking Planes, and of course who could forget the old time classic We Will Be Greeted As Liberators...
Hold on, I think I ran out of stuff that's just off the top of my fucking head
posted by spiderwire at 8:56 PM on April 24, 2007
stenseng: thanks for that link to the Ultimate Scandal Megathread - but it's over two years old. It should be twice that length if it were kept current.
One of the Democratic Senators recently noted (I'm paraphrasing from memory) "We've had the power to hold hearings for all of two months now -- and, so far, every single tree that we've barked up has had a cat in it."
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 8:59 PM on April 24, 2007
One of the Democratic Senators recently noted (I'm paraphrasing from memory) "We've had the power to hold hearings for all of two months now -- and, so far, every single tree that we've barked up has had a cat in it."
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 8:59 PM on April 24, 2007
I don't even need to go back to that thread to point out that while it might have been created two years ago, it discusses the attorney story and the email story, which means it's at least updated through last month. Posts get edited.
posted by spiderwire at 10:09 PM on April 24, 2007
posted by spiderwire at 10:09 PM on April 24, 2007
Karl Rove's Least Likely Interrogator: Scott Bloch and the Office of Special Counsel
posted by amberglow at 2:54 PM on April 25, 2007
posted by amberglow at 2:54 PM on April 25, 2007
Rahm Emanuel gave a harsh speech today on all of it: ...Not since the days of Watergate, when our judicial system and intelligence community were deployed by the White House in the service of partisan politics, have we seen such abuses. And in many ways, what we have seen from this administration is far more extensive than that scandal.
Partisan politics has infiltrated every level of our federal government – from scientific reports on global warming to emergency management services to the prosecutorial power of the federal government itself. Even the Iraq War – from our entry to the reconstruction – has been thoroughly politicized and manipulated.
Recently, even those who had become somewhat inured to the intense partisanship of this Administration were shocked by the political manipulation of our U.S. Attorneys. And we have just begun to feel the impact of this scandal. Just as Hurricane Katrina exposed the issue of incompetence, the U.S. Attorney scandal has placed a spotlight on the Administration’s pattern of always placing the Republican Party’s interests before the public interest. ...
posted by amberglow at 4:07 PM on April 25, 2007
Partisan politics has infiltrated every level of our federal government – from scientific reports on global warming to emergency management services to the prosecutorial power of the federal government itself. Even the Iraq War – from our entry to the reconstruction – has been thoroughly politicized and manipulated.
Recently, even those who had become somewhat inured to the intense partisanship of this Administration were shocked by the political manipulation of our U.S. Attorneys. And we have just begun to feel the impact of this scandal. Just as Hurricane Katrina exposed the issue of incompetence, the U.S. Attorney scandal has placed a spotlight on the Administration’s pattern of always placing the Republican Party’s interests before the public interest. ...
posted by amberglow at 4:07 PM on April 25, 2007
Edwards: ... with a new investigation aimed squarely at Karl Rove, the President should fire him if he continues to refuse to testify under oath. New reports that federal employees were urged to assist Republican candidates through their official duties are outrageous. This is the American people's government, not the Republican Party's. ...
posted by amberglow at 9:45 PM on April 25, 2007
posted by amberglow at 9:45 PM on April 25, 2007
Political Briefings At Agencies Disclosed: White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said yesterday.
The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said.
...
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said that he was not familiar with the details of the briefings for other agencies, but that the projected fate of specific candidates was "certainly" discussed. He also said that in addition to the 20 briefings given in 2006-2007, "there were others throughout the last six years," making clear that this was a common Bush administration practice during each election cycle.
...
posted by amberglow at 4:24 AM on April 26, 2007
The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said.
...
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said that he was not familiar with the details of the briefings for other agencies, but that the projected fate of specific candidates was "certainly" discussed. He also said that in addition to the 20 briefings given in 2006-2007, "there were others throughout the last six years," making clear that this was a common Bush administration practice during each election cycle.
...
posted by amberglow at 4:24 AM on April 26, 2007
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posted by kuujjuarapik at 8:14 PM on April 23, 2007