I know very much has been made of Stephen Spoonamore's comments on our electronic voting machines.  I have been taken to task multiple times because I question his credibility on some issues.  Certainly Mr. Spoonamore has the credentials to be telling the truth, but that doesn't mean he actually does tell the truth about everything.  Taking Spoonamore at face value could be a dangerous proposition, because he botched IT info in the past.

Before the attacks on my statements begin, let me just say that electronic voting machines are a terrible idea.  I have never liked the lack of a paper trail.  They should be banned, or used in conjunction with paper tallying.  I will also provide statements from many other known experts on their lack of security.  I do believe voting fraud occurred in the last two elections, but I would like to explain in depth.

Continued

I've read enough kvetching to last a lifetime.  It's time to get our stuff together to change the "McCain narrative."  You know... unique hero, maverick, strong leader, "country first."  All crap, but that's how they're spinning it.

McCain's a fraud.  We know this, but the story's not yet getting traction. I'm starting this diary in hopes that we can join in and catalogue his failings.  Let's gather the evidence in one place so it's easier to access and use, for us and for the media-types who read DK.

Then we can use the material to generate talking points, articles, emails, memes, videos, etc

  In the heat of anger for the corruption of the presidency by George Bush we need to remember that impeachment is the constitutional equivalent of an indictment. An indictment only says that there is enough suspicious actions by the person that a trial is warranted.  Indictment then trial...that is the process.  If the trial doesn't result in a conviction, the person is INNOCENT and the indictment false.
  Clinton was impeached. He was put on trial and the Senatem, with a Republican majority, failed to convict him!  So where did it get the GOP?  They got egg all over their face because THEIR OWN SENATORS refused to CONVICT Clinton.  
   Where are the leaders of the impeachment effort?  Every last one of them is out of government!  
   And who is more popular today, Clinton or the Republicans who impeached him?  Read the polls.
   There is a lesson here, my friends.  It is simple.  If you impeach someone and do not convict them, THEY, not you, come out the victors!

Back in March, I diaried about some weird charges on my AT&T bill. In the process I discovered the crusty world of "cramming" - the practice of using a 3rd-party biller to passthrough fraudulent charges onto your phone bill.  Just like last time, I see a final page at the end of my bill that contains an itemized list of charges processed by "OAN Services, Inc", with this month's fraudulent charge being for the "service" of "Premium Voice Mail, Inc 1X Setup Fee" for $15.74. I have never ever heard of either company and certainly did not order any voice mail services, as I have a perfectly good answering machine that costs nothing per month.

Democratic Party leaders, fearful of the size and scope of voting machine fraud, have chosen to turn their heads at their, and our risk. With public awareness and outcry that this is not yesterday's issue, Ohio attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Robert Fitrakis can shine the light on Rove's machinations to steal the upcoming election, if it is a close one. It is not enough for the Obama people to raise funds, turn out the vote, etc. if the devil's advocates are in the software and the devil is Karl Rove.

I’ll leave this as my response to John Edwards. It’s a monologue from a work by Edgar Lee Masters called the Spoon River Anthology. It’s an collection of unusual, short, free-form poems that describe a fictional small town of Spoon River, named after the real Spoon River that ran near Masters' home town. The collection includes 212 separate characters, all providing 244 accounts of their lives and losses. Each poem is an epitaph of a dead citizen, delivered by the dead themselves. This particular monologue is one that I have performed over and over in classes and in auditions. There are numerous monologues within the anthology, some very moving and some not so much. This one for some reason spoke to me and moved me in a way that none of the others did and it couldn’t be more fitting or ironic for me at this particular moment.

For many months now friends and family have been urging me to document all I know about the Traffic.com scandal and my three-year effort to "out" it in a book, because this scandal is so involved and has been going on for so long. I've finally taken their advice, and am knee deep in writing a book called, fittingly...

Outing Traffic.com:

How the Internet Proved Invaluable in Exposing Big-Time Fraud and Corruption in Our Federal Government

Today the press and media are all buzzing from the indictment of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens on seven counts of failing to report gifts of several hundred thousand dollars on his federal financial disclosure forms.  Of course, we could see this coming ever since the FBI raided his chalet in Girdwood, Alaska almost a year ago.

I'm sorry to say, however, that Republicans aren't the only ones who receive improper/illegal financial perks from corporate interests seeking their favor.  Democrats are equally adept at these games.

Hope Reborn is already on the rec list with a diary on this subject, but I had to post here as well.

I already wrote about Grampy McSame's jaw-droppingly cynical fraud at TPM [as well as the collective yawn from the media that's in his back pocket].

NOTE: Please click on the TPM link, scroll to the end of the diary & click on recommend.  This is a story that needs to get out; even if it means shaming the MSM into covering it.  Thanks.

More after the break.

I think all sides can agree on one thing about the current war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether you agree with the justification for these actions, at times the execution has been nothing short of appalling. I'm not sure how I missed this particular story for so long, but here it is.

While Jay McKinnon was on an American road trip, opendna was "outed" (sic) and accused of counterfeiting a birth certificate for a United States Senator Barack Obama. This diary is dedicated to Jeniffer, an enthusiastic and hopeful voice and the first person to ask me to explain the very weird things being said about Jay McKinnon.

"I believe that there is overwhelming evidence, which establishes beyond a reasonable doubt, that Senator Obama is a natural born US Citizen, and that he has acted in good faith to establish this fact. I have no evidence to contradict that belief, have not seen any, and do not believe any exists. I have been libeled by humorless fools trying to look clever on the internet." - Jay McKinnon

The following is the transcript of an interview conducted on July 4th 2008.

I have seen excellent diaries on the need for universal health care.  Although I am not a specialist in the field of medical insurance, my background in the group insurance industry has led me to do a lot of thinking about how we pay for medical care, and what we get for it.  I have come to believe that a single-payer system is our best option.

This option is not without risks, however.  In this diary, (My first), I want to highlight some things that I think are good in the American health-care system, which we need to be careful not to loose.

These are:  

1. High-end health care

2. Medical education

3. Fraud prevention incentives

4. Choice of Doctors

5. The ability to experiment with plan designs

Details on each of these after the break.

Today's Washington Post has a front-page, above-the-fold article on the backlog of 900+ qui tam (False Claims Act) cases alleging fraud against the government.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/...  I know about this first hand because for the past two years, before joining the Government Accountability Project, all I did was bring Iraq reconstruction fraud cases.

Not content to let the House have all the action, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Friday launched a probe of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) alleged political grantmaking, Youth Today reported Friday.

The D.C.-based newspaper’s ongoing coverage of the story, in which OJJDP Administrator J. Robert Flores has had to answer for several suspicious moves in awarding precious juvenile justice funds — including that he helped politically connected money seekers over more qualified applicants and even allowed proposal submissions to arrive after the deadline — prompted the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to call Flores before its panel 10 days ago.

More after the jump.

You knew it was bound to happen someday, as the failure of 30 years of power grabbing and crony coddling finally got them the regime they dreamed of - one of their own organs would finally cry "enough" on something that cuts at the core of their ideology.  

And no, we're not talking about the now customary slaps at the hypocrisy and failures of the social conservative fringe - this time we've gotten to the failure of the "we want small government", alleged pro-business contingent.

Caveat emptor: buyer beware the lowly pay phone. Any of you use one of these lately? I have, and it’s certainly not my parents’ pay phone! And I don’t mean in a good way. Never the consumer's friend, the telecoms have really ratched up the rip-off sweeps, big time.

This is simply to draw attention away from the crooked deal that Paulson struck to get Bear Stearns into the hands of JP Morgan Chase.

It's no surprise to any astute observer that the Republican National Committee would coordinate with someone like Larry Sinclair- a man arrested for fraud, who failed a lie-detector in regards to his claims, a man who's claims contradict all likelihood of being truthful(Obama could afford a limo to bang in during the 90's when he still had student loans?).  After all, the worst smearing McCain ever receiving came out of his own party.  Senator Kerry, a decorated veteran, was made to appear like a war criminal.  Senator Cleland, a triple-amputee vet, was thrown up on a screen with Osama bin Laden.

The Republican Party, "the party of family values," only values one thing; winning.