"Triad Governmental Systems, Inc. services voting tabulators via modem" is absolutely breathtaking to us in the Information Technology field. Triad non-chalantly used this modem method to reset machines in preparation for the Ohio recount. No doubt that this is a practical short-cut: Makes sense; it saves gas, time. In fact, this is the same mechanism that I — a computer consultant — use to support 200 computers spread out across North Carolina.

It is now public record that Triad "legally hacked" into Van Wert County, Ohio on December 9th, and other counties on different dates in preparation for the recount. We, at the conspiracy farm, hardly feel righteous indignation. http://www.votecobb.org/recount/ohi...

The big picture: Everything is fine until you consider that passive modem-access means that these machines have been available for remote re-configuration for months if not years. We know this because nothing special was done (like Triad calling Van Wert’s elections board) to prepare for this recent remote connectivity. The connectivity has been in place for legitimate purposes and we do have a suggestion that it is against the rules for this remote login facility to be used for illegitimate purposes.

No guarantees, but we do have anti-conspiracy rants that make us all feel better.

According to the prestigious Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, here is all it takes to commit a crime on the Internet or modem access point (http://www.cert.org/archive/pdf/hom...):

Means - the tools are there, nicely catalogued and ready to go. Motives - with so much on the Internet, motives are there, whether the priority is money, curiosity, politics, or power. Opportunity - there are many, many access points to the Internet, most inexpensive and some free.

In fact, go to http://www.chuckherrin.com/hackthev... to find out how a Republican does it (for educational not criminal purposes). Also, let’s not forget about our open Wheel of VOTER Challenge II: 2K in which no one has been able to contradict a popular FTP hack. http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php...

"We’ve all seen television police dramas where the detectives nab the criminal by determining who has the means, the motive, and the opportunity to commit a crime. They ask questions such as “Did the suspect have the means to commit the crime? What did they have to gain? Did they have the opportunity to carry out the crime?” We can view trends in cyber attacks by looking at these same three categories: means, motive, and opportunity."

To further quote Lawrence R . Rogers: "In the current environment of the Internet, attackers are motivated to steal computer cycles and attack computers in other ways (including compromising information and creating a denial of service by clogging the network). They may do it out of curiosity or “bragging rights.” They may do it for power or money, or for political/ideological reasons. Long gone are the days of users and administrators knowing and trusting each other. Users on the Internet are anonymous, and their number grows daily. The atmosphere is not collegial, and trust is neither automatic nor always warranted."

O.K., we now have the means (internet), motive (politics), and opportunity (modem-accessible) to hack into a county’s central tabulator. Combine that with a close election in which only a few key battleground counties needed to be manipulated and voila: Mr. Bush and the War and Church machine.

We keep hearing there is no evidence of widespread fraud. But have we heard there was no fraud at all?

We hear there were election problems to the tune of 57,000 GAO reports but we are assured they were not enough to turn the election.

We hear there is no proof that these machines were tampered with. These are the same reverse assurances gamblers get when they use Video Poker machines.

Maybe we should ask Buddy Therrell, Nathan Ramsey, Timothy Scott Guthrie and Kevin Wade Lemmonds who have been charged with possession of illegal gaming machines. "Besides the machines, police confiscated 18 illegal circuit boards from one of the locations." http://www.pokermag.com/ManageArtic...

But don’t listen to me, I am just a video poker conspiracy nut.

We now see that everyone on the internet has the means, motive, and opportunity. Believe me, my Mom — the John Birch Republican (http://www.jbs.org) — would have hacked the election if she could have. But luckily the internet is a bastion of pure intents and motives comprised of folks much better than my Mother. Hackers were just trying to save America from itself, right? We certainly don’t want to wander down that dark scary alley of world peace, high employment, fair wages, lower abortion rates, cleaner air, cleaner water, respect.

We are much better off now. If this were a murder case, we would be pushing for First Degree Murder. Manslaughter is reserved for reasonable doubt. These machines should get the death penalty. The hackers and vote-riggers are traitors. Now excuse me while these loose votes and I go frolicking in a meadow.

I keep hearing Santa in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer saying to the Senators, "c’mon Dancer, c’mon Daschle." Contest the results NEXT TUESDAY. America needs a hero, red nose and all.

And if you find yourself slipping back into comfortable numbness, check out the Fraud Slide Show: http://www.electionfraud2004.org/pr...

Robin Baneth rbaneth@mindspring.com 919-828-3534

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