philly

Diebold in North Carolina

Diebold, the leading supplier of e-voting machines in the U.S. may have just decided to shut itself out of North Carolina, reports Wired News.

Diebold Inc., which makes automated teller machines and security and voting equipment, is worried it could be charged with a felony if officials determine the company failed to make all of its code — some of which is owned by third-party software firms, including Microsoft — available for examination by election officials in case of a voting mishap.

It is required by law to turn over the code. Currently, twenty of N.C.'s 100 counties already use Diebold machines, but the Board of Elections will announce that the suppliers will have to meet the new standards.

The response from evil Diebold?

"We will obviously have no alternative but withdraw from the process," said Doug Hanna, a Raleigh-based lawyer representing Diebold.

David Bear, a Diebold spokesman, said the company was reviewing several options after Monday's ruling. "We're going to do what is necessary to provide what is best for our existing clients" in North Carolina, he said.

Check out that language. no alternative and our existing clients. The alternatives? Have a paper trail. They make ATM machines, they do posess the technology to do so and on a very large scale, scalability should not be a problem for them. They could also hand over the code and make arrangements with their third party coders. And they don't think about the public here, only about their clients. No need to do the public any good, they just want to screw the public over.

North Carolina went to W in 2004 by 400,000 votes. Interestingly, CNN reports that 21% of N.C. voters registered as Independents and 56% of them voted for W.

More Black Box Voting info.

Supreme Court Nominee Alito

According to this AP story by Kimberly Hefling [contact her: [email protected]] stating that Sen. Santorum (R- PA) just finished meeting with Supreme Court nominee Alito.

The conservative Pennsylvania senator said he did not ask about specific issues - including abortion - because "I don't think that's what's important."

"What is important is the judge's philosophy," said Santorum, the No. 3 Senate Republican. "It is absolutely consistent where I think a majority of Americans are, which is judges are to apply the law, not make the law."

The article mentioned Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) and had to mention Bob Casey Jr. Hefling neglected to mention candidates Chuck Pennacchio, Alan Sandals and John Featherman. All three of those candidates are pro-choice. Hefling wrote that Casey is

the leading Democratic challenger in Santorum's 2006 bid for re-election. Santorum is lagging behind Casey in the polls, and the race is already a closely watched Senate races for next year.

Which is all true, but in an artilce about Alito, she tangentially touched on Jr.'s race while neglecting to include the rest of the group. Casey's favorability numbers are lagging according to the most recent Keystone PA poll. His favorability number fell 10% since June.

But back to Alito...

Santorum's press secretary this week criticized Casey for not taking a stand on whether he would back Alito to the court. Casey told reporters on Monday that despite the family connection he's waiting for more information to come out about Alito.

Who else is questioning Jr.? Chuck Pennacchio. Pennacchio wants answers to two questions. 1) the Alito nomination and 2) the Bush/Santorum Iraq War policy. Pennacchio would vote against the Alito nomination and not only would he have voted against the war, he wants the troops home and has an Iraq exit strategy [.pdf]. It's been over two months since Pennacchio met Jr. in person in Lehigh Valley and asked him to a debate[s]. Still no answer.

Jr. is scared to say anything with conviction. Hemming and hawing his way with fingers crossed seems to be his campaign's tactic which in my book is not a way to run a campaign against a very charismatic incumbent with a sizable following. Chuck Pennacchio stands behind his words with pride.

Philly Crime Petition

Earlier today, Lady sent me a link to PhillyCrime.org's petition for the release of all crime reports collected by the Philly popo (what does popo mean anyways?) to the public. I signed the petition. Think about it. Sign it here.

And then check out the front page of the site, which they conveniently leave no link to from the petition, and check out how they used the open Google Maps api to map out Philadelphia area crimes. Drop shadows and all.

Seth Williams: Inspector General

Ya heard it here... second. Just got word from Dan over at Young Philly Politics that Seth Williams will be named Philly Inspector General tomorrow at 11.15a, presumably appointed by Mayor John Street.

Fucking awesome! Lynne Abraham's reign of terror has been crumbling, evident with Williams' strong showing even though outspent 27 to 1 and starting out with almost no name recognition in the primary last May.

Yet another reason to come out and drink with the YPP crew at The Black Sheep [17th/Locust Sts] at 7p it's their birthday!

The Inky story by the same reporter who wrote about Williams and the support from the blogs.

Photo from when Seth visited Drinking Liberally back in April.

Write In

If you don't like the candidates for the Office of the District Attorney, you can always write in Seth Williams.

DeLay Judge Pulled

What a heaping pile of fucking bullshit. The judge in DeLay's criminal trial was pulled.

Yes, the judge in question did make donations to both the Democratic Party and to MoveOn. What wasn't brought up was the donations of the judge who made the ruling, the AP wrote a little bit about that:

Schraub, a Republican, became an administrative judge in 1990 and was appointed or reappointed by four governors: three Republicans and one Democrat. Schraub, from 1989 through 2002, contributed at least $1,500 to federal Republican campaigns, according to disclosure reports compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. He donated an additional $4,900 to Texas GOP candidates between 1998 and 2001, according to state disclosure reports analyzed by a public interest group, Texans for Public Justice.

Seeing that grinning security pin wearing smarmy fuckwad DeLay in the article makes me mad.

Libby Indictment

My favorite part of the indictment which I have not yet read the full twenty-two pages:

I. LEWIS LIBBY,
also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY"

You know, like ALPHONSE CAPONE was also known as "SCARFACE" - classic.

Crooks on Crutches!

When did these two all of a sudden fetch a pair of crutches? When the shit hit the fan. Maybe it hit them so hard, they broke their patellas or perhaps snapped a ligament somewhere.

First off, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff
Reuters

And, Philly's own City Councilman Rick Mariano
BRADLEY C. BOWER / Associated Press

Me on Rock on Miers

So Harriet Miers has withdrawn. And the phrase that comes to mind is "Where's my O.J. prize?" What the fuck you say? It's a line from one of Chris Rock's Bring the Pain referring to his reaction to the O.J. verdict now a decade ago. He was saying how white people were too mad and black people were too happy. White people felt completely screwed over by this he observed. Black people were too elated he saw. He joked that he went to his mailbox in the morning and looked inside for his O.J. prize because everyone was so personally happy about the decision.

But this is a little different.

But still, Where's my Harriet prize?

When Harry Met Harriet

The statement from the office of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid

* * * * * STATEMENT OF SENATOR HARRY REID ON THE NOMINATION OF HARRIET MIERS TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT

Monday, October 3, 2005

I like Harriet Miers. As White House Counsel, she has worked with me in a courteous and professional manner. I am also impressed with the fact that she was a trailblazer for women as managing partner of a major Dallas law firm and as the first woman president of the Texas Bar Association.

In my view, the Supreme Court would benefit from the addition of a justice who has real experience as a practicing lawyer. The current justices have all been chosen from the lower federal courts. A nominee with relevant non-judicial experience would bring a different and useful perspective to the Court.

I look forward to the Judiciary Committee process which will help the American people learn more about Harriet Miers, and help the Senate determine whether she deserves a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court. * * * * *

Way to Give 'em Hell, Harry.

Will any of the other Dems step up to the plate without the support of the leader to filibuster?