It's not ACORN, that's for sure.

The Ohio Secretary of State website was hacked today. Also in the news, bulgeries, vandalism and death threats on ACORN offices...

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quote:

October 20, 2008

For Immediate Release

Secretary of State Website Temporarily
Taken Down for Security Purposes
Ohio State Highway Patrol will assist with investigation

Columbus, Ohio - Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced on Monday afternoon that the state website has been set in a static mode with limited functionality as a precaution. The Ohio State Highway Patrol will assist with an investigation of one or more security breaches detected by the Secretary of State.

"Due to security concerns experienced by the Secretary of State's website, full functionality of the website has been suspended to protect the integrity of state records and data. Full functionality will be restored when we are assured that all data has been protected to acceptable levels of security," said Secretary of State Brunner.

"Our focus is and has always been to protect the vote of every eligible Ohio voter from any kind of fraud, be it voter registration fraud, illegal voting or vote suppression. This action has been taken to detect and prosecute any illegal breach of our voting infrastructure to maintain voter confidence," said Secretary Brunner.

Unfortunately, this is not the first instance of direct assault on the operations of the Secretary of State's office. In recent weeks, phone lines and e-mail channels have been barraged, even in the business filings section of the office, with menacing messages and even threats of harm or death. Last week, a suspicious package covered with threatening messages and containing an unidentified powder was mailed to the Secretary of State's office via the previous location of the Client Services Center. These incidents are also under investigation.

The Secretary of State's office will continue to work in the best interest of Ohio voters and the boards of elections as we continue our preparation for a successful election.

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Here's another noodler to mull over.

What was all the wiretapping for? How come we are not nipping this crap in the bud? FISA?

Wasn't the threat of domestic terrorism (and I would call this exactly that) the very reason we were told we had to surrender our liberties, "for the good of the nation", or "for our protection".

Protection from what exactly? Republican nut-jobs? Protection from our own democratic process?

Protection from our own violence as we find out just how badly we've been hosed by Republicans?

Makes one wonder just a little doesn't it?

BTW: After this is all over. Let's just remember how sour grapes are done shall we? Democrats take it to the courts and publish facts. Republicans not only let the world burn, but throw down the torches.

I was fairly sure it was a Windows IIS server but I checked. Sure enough:

lynx -head http://cfonline.sos.state.oh.us/sos/index.htm

Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET

Wouldn't have been hacked if they'd used Apache. (sigh)

Andrew

It is safe to assume that any local election that can be altered, hacked, litigated or intimidated into a different result is vulnerable. I believe that Ohio is just the tip of the iceberg.

Meanwhile, thanks to the antique efforts of the McCain/Palin campaign, the lies, shadiness and hatred just keeps on building and building.

Here are some of the latest incidents:

An Obama canvasser was punched in the face in Wisconsin.

In Ohio, a man hung an effigy of Obama in his yard.

North Carolina has been a battleground state in every sense of the word. A bear cub was shot dead, wrapped in Obama signs and dumped on a college campus. A parking lot full of slashed tires greeted the supporters returning from an Obama rally. Early polling brought hysterical protesters screaming at the people who were exercising their right to vote.

In West Virginia, touch screens have been flipping votes from Democratic to G.O.P.

The first day out of the gate, voting machines were breaking down in Florida.

In Virginia, moderate supporters of John McCain had to confront fringe loonies with the truth. The Muslim grassroots organizer for McCain who stepped into the fray was not allowed to talk to CNN.

ACORN offices were vandalized in Seattle and Boston, while employees received death threats in Cleveland and Providence.

In Arkansas, an anchorwoman with a cameo role in "W" was attacked and beaten in her home.

Like I said in the other thread, when anything happens, the McCain/Palin campaign owns it.

Which is why Obama needs every bit of that $150 million to ensure a landslide . . . an overwhelming majority of votes against 23% thinking may cause some to get disenchanted and dial back the hate.

All you've got to do to believe that the negativity can work is read the anti-Obama letters to the editor in today's Oregonian. Complete parroting of the "socialist, scary, raise taxes" Republican slime mantra.

One writer even suggested McCain is the right guy because this country needs less regulation to allow the free market to repair itself. Yeah, that's what we need.

Am thinking tomorrow's edition will come out with the pro-Obama letters just to show it too is fair and balanced.

LOL @ Andrew. No kidding! You would think they would learn after getting hammered enough times, but they don't. It's the usual deal. Cheap, easy, secure. Pick two.

The mainstream Republican press is out to get Obama and the Oregonian is no exception. You'll see tons of the corporate news outlets putting Obama down for the next 2 weeks. It's sad but it's what they do.

Mainstream Republican Press?

What is that? Where is that? Who is that? ( Other than Newscorp/Fox )

The Oregonian is a Republican leaning Newspaper now ?

Since when?

The hits just keep on coming:

Not to be outdone by the lunatic harpy from Minnesota, Representative Robin Hayes of North Carolina warmed up the crowd for McCain saying, "liberals hate real Americans."

In Virginia, a prominent black pastor had his Obama sign stolen and replaced by a Confederate flag.

The California G.O.P. has shamelessly pandered to haters by suggesting Obama should be waterboarded and distributing racist food stamps.

A political cartoon depicting Benedict Arnold in blackface appeared in a Tennessee newspaper after General Colin Powell spoke to Meet the Press.

William Friedkin, well known for scaring audiences with The Exorcist, was threatened with a McCarthy style attack.

Folks in Minnesota, Virginia, North Carolina and many other states are being bombarded with hateful robocalls.

On a positive note, PBS is following a suggestion that I made -- along with many others -- during the primaries: Document your vote!

I would disagree with the assertion that the Oregonian is "Republican" per se. Desperate financially, out of touch locally, and woefully short of different points of view, but not necessarily partisan. Unless, of course, one believes that "Republican" is synonymous with mediocre. Fred Stickel's birdcage liner is definitely below par.

Every letter to the editor that they print -- regardless of slant -- is more column inches that they get for free. Since paying a building full of top reporters seems to be out of their budget anymore, we get the fringe opinions instead. The "Big O" pandered to hate for a few extra dollars, and that is why I will never subscribe to that paper again.

There is liberal, conservative and the MBA.

This is the problem with a lot of media. Consolidation has put the MBA in charge of the media and with that comes a corporate bias that seems to be almost ignored.

I can't shake it though. As I've come to consider what I hear in conversations with other people and the difference between that and the media, left-right ideological differences do not tell the whole tale.

One element of the disconnect appears to be a very serious disregard for the difference between the public interest and commercial interests. It's as if we've mixed the two together, leaving ourselves unable to sort out a great many problems as a result.

(and that's one thrust of the idiots who run america thread, BTW)

That really is the thrust of what I was saying about the Oregonian too. It used to be a damn good newspaper.

I also remember the Oregon Journal before the takeover. Now, that was a paper too. If it happened in town, it was in those pages.

That was back when there was competition between the two camps and the focus was local, local, and more local.

Like radio, newspapers have suffered greatly with the advent of mega-media. Did this country learn a damn thing from the story of Hearst? Um, no.

Forgive the digression.

"There is liberal, conservative and the MBA."

Yet another incredible Missing inspired tee-shirt design. Seriously!

Agreed, and I won't subscribe again for the same reason.

I have that DVD filled with hate right here actually! It's tacked to the wall as a sobering reminder of the state of things.

I'm humbled. Really am.

Maybe a trip to cafe-press is in order. Go mining through PDXRadio, get some goofy art and go for it!

Bookemdono was correct; today's letters are reacting to yesterday's letters.

BTW, I think if you travel around a bit, you'll see that the Oregonian is a pretty good daily, and pretty balanced as well. Just my opinion of course.

I watched the Obsession promotional DVD a few days ago. In the first few minutes, which are a medley of video footage of various terrorist attacks around the globe since 9-11-2001, I got the (correct) impression that this video was going to avoid any sophisticated ideological or theological analysis of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The video is filled with clips of radical clerics, pro-Jihad music videos, anti-Semitic TV dramas, and children being taught that Jihad is good and all things Western are bad. As much as these images were intended to shock, they didn't surprise me that much. At the end, the video tells its viewers that they should stand up, which the producers very likely hope is interpreted as "Vote McCain."

"At the end, the video tells its viewers that they should stand up, which the producers very likely hope is interpreted as "Vote McCain."

I think your assessment is correct Alfredo. It is also what makes this DVD controversial beyond the xenophobic message. According to the law:

"Questions frequently arise regarding the interplay of political campaign activities and exemption from federal income tax. This article addresses many of these questions... [including] the prohibition on political campaign activities of IRC 501(c)(3) organizations..."

IRS

As a 501(c)(3), the Clarion Fund cannot involve itself in election politics, or make any endorsement for a candidate.

The Internal Revenue Service is currently going after churches for pulpit endorsements, so naturally, entities like the Clarion Fund are also fair game.

I really wish we would just go for serious enforcement of these laws for a few years.

Clearly this line will get crossed. No big deal. I'm ok with some latitude because it's sometimes difficult to sort things out when there is a lot of passion.

Lately though, the line is just being ignored and I'm not cool with that.

The O might be a decent daily, but things have changed. I don't need the O today.

That means the O needs to add value, or it's not worth my time.

That value needs to be a net gain, as in a valuable public service, or it's not worth my time.

And that is exactly what I told them after canceling over the hate DVD. There are some good people working there. They need to step up and take some ownership of that paper, or they won't be working at the paper.

Let's just call it market pressure to perform.

I get the O every day and would never consider getting rid of it. Best money I spend each month. For $15 a month, someone drops the paper off in front of my house every day. What a deal!

The Oregonian still has some fine staffers. I have enjoyed several of their writers and columnists for years. Their reporters hands are often tied by fiscal limits and the need for sponsors to control content. It was patently obvious back when the "Friday Surprise" sale at Meier & Frank ran in the same paper with the "Friday Surprise" column by one of the Frank family. Credibility is a joke when you are providing desks for the nepotist kin of advertisers. This paper has proven time and again that it cannot exist without having sales people involved in editorial decisions.

The "Big O" is not evil, it is just diseased. The biggest problem with The Oregonian is that they have lost sight of the need for focused and consistent neighborhood reporting. Since that is the single greatest strength a local paper can have, it is pretty sad. In my part of town, there are solid weekly community newspapers that cover the area with greater depth and accuracy. They do not make that satisfying morning slap on the porch, but they also do not meet budgets with agitprop. I have not lost hope for our big daily newspaper, but I have lost patience.

To return to our ever more pressing topic:

Can the National Guard Safeguard Voting Machines?

Suppose I were one of those people with a voice in my head telling me either that Democrats or Republicans were evil and must be stopped. Or suppose, for some other reason, I believed it my patriotic duty to illegally alter election results on November 4. Here's one way, with just a couple hours of simple internet research and a call or two to my fellow "patriots," that I might go about it:

1. Find a voting precinct that uses the ES & S M100 ballot tabulator

The gunmetal gray Elections Systems Software machine, which resembles a mid-'80s office copier, can be found in 6,842 voting precincts in 137 counties. On November 4, as many as nine million voters will feed their marked-up paper ballots into the M100's optical scanner, making it America's third most popular voting machine.

Note: I might consider Sacramento County, which has 1,000 of the machines at 571 its voting precincts. Also Sacramento County offers a race where a few votes could make the difference: the 4th Congressional District contest between Tom McClintock (R) and Charlie Brown (D).

2. Replace the PCMCIA card

The PMCIA card is the component that essentially tells the M100 how to keep score. Technically, swapping one out is simple -- supposedly, if I'm able to swap out a digital camera's memory card, I could do this.

First, I would need a new PMCIA card. They're widely available online for about $90.

Next I'd need assistance from a software engineer, and it would help if he knows a little about QNX Real Time Operating Software for embedded devices. "This isn't a big deal," said the software engineer I called. "The software is the easy part."

With my replacement PCMCIA card good to go, I'd have to know how to remove the M100's existing card. Fortunately, there's a manual online with helpful diagrams.

The hardest part would be actually making the swap, because I'd have to physically access the M100, which is watched at voting precincts by volunteers. I might make my move during the middle of Election Day, when polling places are quietest. Or perhaps later on, when I could blend into the crowd. In either case, it would probably make the job easier if I become a volunteer myself. Sacramento County takes volunteers on a first-come, first-serve basis as long they are U.S. citizens of at least sixteen years of age on Election Day (students need at least a 2.5 grade average). I would even get paid $120.

I would probably choose to make the swap before the M100 arrives at the precinct, however. In Sacramento County, on the Saturday prior to Election Day, precinct captains pick up the M100s from county storage and drive them to a "secure" location, most often their homes. From Saturday afternoon until Tuesday morning, the machines are a common sight in carports. My software engineer likened the safeguarding of the M100 to "a wall a hundred feet high around it, except for one small stretch just four feet high that anyone can step over." The Saturday-to-Tuesday period, known as the "sleepover," is the four-foot-high part.

With my hands on the machine, I'd still encounter some security measures. According to tests commissioned by California's Secretary of State Debra Bowen, however, the physical key locks can be picked in "five seconds to one minute" and the wire and paper tamper-evidence seal can be easily bypassed. Also, Bowen's test concluded, the "attack would be unlikely to be detected."

I would need to a new seal, though, to cover my tracks. The seals have no magnetic code, just a number, so with a little help from the Photoshop jockey who works nights at the local Kinko's, making one would be a piece of cake.

Keith Thomson

"Piece of cake."

Perhaps that is why they put a post-modern Marie Antoinette on the ticket. Unfortunately, tampering is just the tip of the iceberg.

Block the Vote by Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an absolute must read!

Unfortunately, I have a very sad follow-up to share about my earlier post.

Anne Pressly, anchorwoman for KATV and "W" actress, has died from her injuries.

While there is not yet sufficient evidence to suggest her attackers were politically motivated, if it is ever found, this senseless murder will loom large in the legacy of the McCain/Palin campaign.