Another article by RFK Jr.

So, Princeton has created a hack & shown how easy it is.... there has been analysis from Johns Hopkins and Rice universities which came to this conclusion: "This voting system is far below even the most minimal security standards applicable in other contexts," the scientists concluded. It was, in fact, "unsuitable for use in a general election.".... a report by Science Applications International Corporation that said (even tho SAIC was part of an industry group that promotes electronic voting machines) that Diebold's machines were "at high risk of compromise"... RABA Technologies (commissioned by Maryland Legislature) "discovered a major flaw: Diebold had built what are known as "back doors" into the software that could enable a hacker to hide an unauthorized and malicious code in the system"..... "William Arbaugh, of the University of Maryland, gave the Diebold system an "F" with "the possibility of raising it to a 'C' with extra credit - that is, if they follow the recommendations we gave them.""..... a division of Homeland Security, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team released a tiny security bulletin that stated "A vulnerability exists due to an undocumented backdoor account," the alert warned, adding, this could allow "a malicious user [to] modify votes.".... a report by the Brennan Center for Justice (peer reviewed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology) concluded "Electronic voting machines widely adopted since 2000, "pose a real danger to the integrity of national, state and local elections."... heck, a report by the Government Accountability Office talked about how crappy the voting machines are! (reports GAO-04-766T, GAO-04-975T, GAO-05-956)

Okay, so given all that, I'm still getting emails like this:

"If all you have been reading and listening to has been media-generated...my advice, in this election year, is to be ruthlessly skeptical. I too have been reading and listening - more than a little comes from folks actually "there" in the markets, in the areas of foreign conflict and international events, in the political analysis/impacts business, I read newspapers and websites not just published in and by USA publishers but also in and by Germans and Brits and Danes, and a LOT of just raw numbers like earnings reports and where the money is and where the money is going (US and European and Taiwanese banks and markets) and which COngressional bills get passed and which ones don't...things like that, IN ADDITION TO , The Democrat, the WSJ, magazines, MSNBC, Fox, CNBC, network news, and a variety of websites and blogs.

Yes I do still support this administration. I spent last Saturday in fact personally helping "get out the vote" as part of a call-bank effort. This administration is not perfect by a long shot, but I find it's still worthy of respect and support, especially as opposed to the other choices currently vying for replacing them. The Leftists and Bush-hating Rantiacs offer plenty of scorn, but they're a bit short on solutions, plans, and foolishly naive about world history and world events - and astonishingly fast and loose with their assertions of "facts". Senator Lieberman is the only Democrat I can think of at the moment that I can genuinely admire. The only one - and that in itself is deeply scary. Of course, the Republican camp doesn;t have a long list of admirable people either - but there are a few - including the President and Vice-President.

The whole situation has me deeply concerned. "We" are (remember it's an election cycle), I think, so gripped up in screaming and pissing over who's going to be "in charge" that we are not paying adequate attention to "in charge of what?" and I am completely convinced that the Democrat Party will say and do anything to regain power - lie, cheat, steal, kill, enslave, sell their damn souls - the bare-knuckle contest is both disgusting and terrifying. This has a direct impact on me personally as a taxpayer, an investor trying to save something for retirement, and a citizen who does not feel as "safe" as I did even a couple of years ago. Idealism aside, and admitting politics is and always has been a Blood Sport, even so - I understand and appreciate some of what else is going on in the country and the world, and the radical deconstructionism and pretentious foolishness of the Left scares the heebie-jeebies out of me.

I have recently read a couple of recently published books on Islamic history, and 20th century world history, because I felt I needed a "refresher" from when I worked in the offshore subject and the geography 25 years ago. The historians I chose don't seem to be writing with a grind or an agenda - if you'd like to borrow/read let me know - it might make for some good analytical chats with you about what the history of events means for us now. There are certainly some clearly repeating patterns in human events and human conduct...that human horror is so repititous still bewilders me, but the pattern and the reasons are there for anyone to see that takes the time to look. I just don't want to be on the next train to Dachau..."

And it's the DEMOCRATS who will do anything to maintain power? I hadn't noticed that they had a whole lot of power lately. I mean, yes, to a large extent all the politicians in Washington would rather have the status-quo than have us grass roots people throw them all out and institute some real changes, but give me a break!

This guy has bought into the clash of civilizations bullshit - and given his history, I can understand his biases. He fails, however, to even contemplate human psychology as it ties into international politics - I don't understand how to explain to an otherwise intelligent human being that yes, the United States' policies overseas have in many cases been AWFUL for other people, (and sometimes not all that great for us, even) and there is a lot of JUSTIFIED anger at us. If we really wanted to do something about terrorism, we'd be working on eliminating the anger that drives so many of them.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there wouldn't always be nutjobs out there that want to blow shit up - heck, look at Oklahoma City - they were home-grown, not islamic fundamentalists. There are still christian fundamentalists who want to blow things up. Some of them do. (Abortion clinics, anyone?) But what this gung-ho jock (and many like him in the government) don't seem to understand is that by going over there and shooting people, you are just digging a bigger hole. In a war there is always collateral damage, right? Well, in a war like this, you have a large percentage of friends and family of that 'collateral damage' deciding that maybe their fundamentalist friends have it right - that the U.S. really is invading to stay, that it's a religious war, and they have nothing left to lose - so what the hell, let's strap bombs to ourselves and walk up to an american GI. Or, even easier, not report the many people who are bombing - it requires nothing but apathy, which is easy to come by when your country has been destroyed, your job evaporated, your loved ones killed...

ARGH!