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And, in this case, both twins are plenty evil.
Diebold has become a household word, equivalent to stolen elections. So they recently (last week) changed the Diebold Election System's name to "Premier Election Systems" (and separated it from the main company, which does bank ATMs and other things). But ES&S was getting a free ride on Diebold's disrepute, and was picking up boffo election system contracts, as it skulked under the radar of the general public.
Bowen has now changed all that, with this amazing action of requiring ACCOUNTABILITY from this corporation (--amazing considering the miserable state of accountability, current in the U.S., in all spheres of corporate rule).
Diebold and ES&S were in fact born of the same rightwing monsters who lurk behind everything these days. ES&S was a spinoff of Diebold (similar computer architecture), initially funded by far rightwing billionaire Howard Ahmanson, who also have one million dollars to the extremist 'christian' Chalcedon foundation (which touts the death penalty for homosexuals, among other things). Diebold, of course, had notorious CEO Wally O'Dell, a Bush/Cheney campaign chair, and major fundraiser, who promised in writing to "deliver Ohio's electoral votes* to Bush/Cheney in 2004." He got outa Dodge last year. The two companies were run by two brothers, Bob and Tod Urosevich.
I began to really notice ES&S over the FL-13 election theft last October. ES&S voting machines 'disappeared' 18,000 votes for Congress in Democratic areas, in an election that was 'won' by the Bushite (natch!) by only 350 or so votes. When the lawyers for the Democrat (Christine Jennings) requested to review ES&S "trade secret" code--to try to figure out what happened to those 18,000 votes--ES&S REFUSED, and argued that their 'right' to profit from our election system TRUMPS the right of the voters to know how their votes were counted. Bloody arrogance. And some Bushite judge in Florida AGREED! (And, what is worse, our so-called 'Democratic' Congress has done nothing about it! NOTHING!)
Anyway, ES&S moved into MY radar with that arrogant stance. Their goddamned PROFIT off the taxpayers (billions!) TRUMPS our RIGHT to transparent vote counting--EVEN in an egregious case such as this?
Sometimes you forget--when tyrants assert something so blatant--that it may be a sign of their impending fall, rather than an assertion of monolithic, unassailable power. It may be intended to be scary--like an animal's baring of its teeth--but more a sign of vulnerability than anything else. Not that they can't still eat us alive. They can! They are still in control of election outcomes in MOST of the country. But the movement against them is truly snowballing now.
And what a wonderful thing it is to behold! Imagine having an election official--Debra Bowen--ACTUALLY DOING HER JOB! Being vigilant over our election system. Demanding accountability. Not putting up with this Bushite bullshit any more. It makes you want to weep!
Truth is, I'm still wary. This "trade secret" vote counting scam is so-o-o-o-o bad, it's the worse thing that has ever been done to this democracy. And one of the worst things about it is that BOTH parties did it. That's how it got entrenched so fast, and why the public was not more vigilant. The $3.9 e-voting boondoggle, and the election theft industry's filthy, unregulated lobbying also spread vast corruption among election officials, state legislators and Congress critters, very fast. We didn't have a chance.
Is Bowen TRULY going to clean it up? Or is this another "show," in which the bad guys change their names (Diebold to Premier), retire their radioactive execs, shift boards of directors around, and we end up with....."trade secret" code by another name. Say, Sequoia. (Did you see what Dan Rather had to say about THEM? Wow! Go view it at HD.net. Florida 2000, part one of the coup. Damp, stretchable, inferior-paper punchcards, made to order to produce "hanging chads.")
But we have REASON to be paranoid. Really we do! Is it real? Is she really going to restore transparent vote counting--and democracy? That's what she was elected to do (--elected against overwhelming odds, rigged voting machines and real bad guys in the shadows). But then, the Democratic Congress was elected to end the war, and what did THEY do? They ESCALATED it, and gave Bush/Cheney $100 billion MORE of our tax dollars to keep killing Iraqis until they sign over their oil rights--or, alternatively, if they won't, to attack Iran and get THEIR oil.
Everything I know about Bowen says she's for real. Still I wonder. My vigilant citizen tentacles have been stuck in "high alert" position since, oh, 11/3/04. But that's as it should be. It costs me--and many others--a lot in adrenalin. But maybe that's what it takes to get us off our butts, as a people, to reclaim our stolen country. High tension-wire citizenry, for the rest of our lives. Trust no one in public office! No one! Ever again!
Fully transparent elections (NO secret code ANYWHERE in the system), and open government, should be NORMAL conditions in an democracy. That they require special heroics and inspire fears for Debra Bowen's life are symptoms of the fascist coup that we have suffered. And our fears that transparent elections and open government will NOT BE PERMITTED are well-grounded fears--as is the fear that what IS permitted will be phony and cosmetic.
Just remember this: In so far as Debra Bowen is fighting for transparent elections and open government, she is an expression of US--of our will as a people. WE put her in a position to exercise her leadership and intelligence. And we had better support her in every way that we are able to. If she's genuine--and the evidence is quite strong that she is--then she will hang in there, no matter what. But the bad guys never rest, as we know. There are many perils ahead, on many fronts. And they are STILL IN POWER.
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