How United Technologies and McCain Could Steal Our (Already Stolen) Vote or Junta 2

[McCamy Taylor]

I can not believe the nerve of the NeoCons. But then again, nothing that they do should surprise me. They have spied on U.S. citizens. They have lied us into war. They have tortured and bragged about it. They stole the 2000 election in the most blatant way possible and then repeated the crime in 2004---so why shouldn’t McCain supporters try to buy the company that counts the votes in advance of the 2008 election?

“The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do.” Joseph Stalin

The Back Story (Skip this part if you read my journals regularly)

Recently I wrote about how the Pentagon was campaigning for John McCain. In addition to allowing military men and women in uniform to stump for him, huge numbers of retired officers are on record as supporting him. An active military man, Major General Rick Lynch has regularly been telling distorted stories about the situation in Iraq to make McCain look prescient and to fool Americans into thinking that the war is “winnable”. The military has begun to lie about the use of torture, the conditions at Gitmo, the attitudes of people in Iraq. The are trying to “clean up” the Iraq War so that it will no longer be a political liability for their favorite son candidate.

They have enlisted the aid of one of their biggest contractors, GE and its media mouthpiece, NBC, which has openly promoted the John McCain candidacy. Hearing one MSNBC reporter after another dutifully refer to the Senator as a “maverick” all within the space of a few hours would be laughable if it was no so serious. I suspect that Abrams has been bumped from his job as manager, because he would not go along with this media atrocity. The show was to keep him quiet. Keith Olbermann is the only person there who is not drinking the John McCain kool aid. They keep him on to retain the illusion of being “fair and balanced.”

All of this is documented in my journal here

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/139

Well, looks like the Pentagon is not satisfied with having a major news network in its pocket. It probably realized, thanks to the recent New York Times story about McCain’s indiscretion with the lobbyist and all the attention that it raised about his past dealings with certain telecommunications companies, that McCain was tainted goods as far as most of the telecommunications industry is concerned. At least two major TV news networks, CNN and ABC have no love for McCain, thanks to the way that he has threatened their parents companies’ cable holdings for the sake of a few other cable companies. McCain is likely to face television news scrutiny the likes of which Republican presidential candidates are not usually forced to endure.

I talk about this subject in more detail in this journal:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/151

Be sure to check out my discussion post 11 for more details on exactly what McCain has done to make Disney and AOL-Time Warner afraid of a McCain presidency.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2900382

Today’s Story

Which brings me to the reason for my post today Somebody at the Pentagon or more likely at the White House decided that if the voters can not be persuaded to vote for John McCain (and no one can be elected president in this country without the corporate media’s support) then the next best thing is to pretend that the voters have voted for John McCain.

How can this be done? The Pentagon can tell a military contractor to make a manufacturer of electronic voting machines that is in deep financial, political and criminal trouble an offer it can not refuse .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03deal.html?_r=1&hp&oref=login

The United Technologies Corporation made public on Sunday an unsolicited $3 billion bid for Diebold, one of the largest makers of automated teller machines and voting machines.
United Technologies, which first approached Diebold two years ago, initially made the offer in private on Friday. The bid amounts to $40 a share in cash, or a 66 percent premium over Diebold’s closing price on Friday of $24.12, United Technologies said.
Snip

On Feb. 19, Mr. David sent Diebold’s board a letter proposing talks about a deal. Two days later, Diebold’s chairman, John N. Lauer, responded that the company’s board had rejected any possible combination. He also said that a deal would not serve Diebold’s interests and requested that United Technologies refrain from contacting its directors.
Mr. Geisler declined to say whether United Technologies would press the bid if Diebold formally declined it, saying only that “we know what our options are.”

Like maybe having the DOJ apply some muscle to Diebold, which is being investigated by the SEC and the DOJ?

Here is Corp. watch on United Technologies:

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=14

The name sounds like they make light bulbs, but UT, a.k.a. Sikorsky, sells Black Hawk and Comanche helicopters and various missile systems designed to inspire terror in civilians from Palestine to Colombia to Somalia and beyond.

CEO: George David
Military contracts 2005: $5.0 billion
Defense-related contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $558,850*

Oh my. Another big military contractor stepping into the political arena. Now, why on earth would United Technologies be so eager to pay Diebold so much for stock that is only going to go down in value since e-voting is being phased out in this country? Could it be that UT has plans for all those Diebold machines? According to Wikipedia, Diebold (which would rather that you call it Premiere Election Solutions for obvious reasons) and EE&S collected 80% of the U.S. vote in 2004. If Diebold alone only controls 30% of America’s votes now, that would still help John McCain a lot in those crucial battleground states.

With Ralph Nader running a third party spoiler campaign for no good reason, e-voting fraud can be very beneficial for John McCain. In addition to subtracting the margin of error between him and the Democratic nominee from the Democratic total and giving it to him, the Republicans can also lop off an extra 4-5% of the Democratic vote and give it to Nader and say that some Dems were too left wing to be happy with either Obama or Hillary. That can give McCain a real boost on election day.

However, to make it happen, John McCain and the NeoCons need all those e-voting machines in the hands of a company that believes in John McCain. A company that gets 5 billion a year in contracts from the Pentagon has a pretty good reason to believe in whatever the generals tell it to believe. And it will make up the loss that it will suffer in overbidding for those Diebold shares in extra military contracts.

So, if Diebold says that it does not want to sell to United Technologies, then I say they have a right to refuse to sell. And if the DOJ and the SEC start a big pr campaign about how W.’s formerly favorite voting firm is too corrupt to be left in charge of America’s vote for one more second, then I counter that America’s vote can not fall into the hands of a military contractor, not with the Pentagon showing such open favoritis towards McCain this election season.

We already know that the military vote will be hacked, once again. The Pentagon must not be allowed to declare martial law on the voting rights of the private citizens of the United States.

[elleng]

1. PLEASE

pass this on and ON, and ON!

[caseycoon]

2. K&R Very scarey

I have been afraid of them stealing yet another election. They are too crooked not to try all their tricks again. I'm hoping this time we can stop them.
:grr:

[peacetalksforall]

3. The suppositions are all quite plausible, but I can't quite get how

they can get away with another theft? Under either owner.

The thought that ATM's are in the hands of a military contractor seems worse than being in Diebold's hands and I can't explain why or project out for enough to say why it would be worse.

The key to the major thefts in 2000 and 2004 was the combo of Murdoch FOX, GE NBCs, Time-Warner CNN, Disney + others ABC, Viacom CBS. They jointly owned the polling service prior to 2000 and no one had a problem with the accuracy that they relied on to call the vote. Then they let that polling service go saying that it was unreliable. Then they seemed to or actually did obfuscate the polling to cover the constantly changing numbers needed to pull off the theft.

I can't figure out how that would all come together - all stations working with UT. Unless they all work through the Rovians - fast and furious commmunication coordination. Of course, they could decide where to steal in advance and write the scripts for the Red Five.

If they buy all of Diebold does in include the spin-off voting machine new made up company? If your theory is on target, would it be too obvious just to buy the voting machine part of it?

[happygoluckytoyou]

4. JUST THE FACTS MAM------>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Technologies_Corporation

United Technologies Corporation (UTC) (NYSE: UTX) is an American multinational conglomerate based in Hartford, Connecticut and is the 20th largest U.S. manufacturer.<1> It researches, develops, and manufactures products in numerous areas, including aircraft engines, helicopters, heating and cooling, fuel cells, elevators and escalators, fire and security, building systems, and industrial products, among others. UTC is also a large military contractor, producing missile systems and military helicopters, most notably the Black Hawk Helicopter.<2> In 2005, it received over 5 billion dollars in military contracts. George David is the current CEO.

Political contributions
During the 2004 election cycle, UTC was the sixth largest defense industry donor to political campaigns, contributing a total of $789,561. 64% of UTC's 2004 contributions went to Republicans. UTC was also the sixth largest donor in to federal candidates and political parties in the 2006 election cycle. 35% of those contributions went to Democrats; 53% of the funds were contributed to Republicans.<3> Several prominent politicians have served on the board of directors for UTC, including: former Sen. Howard H. Baker, Jr. (R-TN), Antonia H. Chayes, former Undersecretary of the Air Force, Charles Duncan, Jr., former Secretary of Energy, Jamie S. Gorelick, former Deputy United States Attorney General, William J. Perry, former Secretary of Defense, and Christine Todd Whitman, former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.<4>

Environmental record
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified UTC as the 43rd-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 430,000 pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air.<5> Major pollutants indicated by the study include manganese, chromium, nickel, and related compounds. <6> The Environmental Protection Agency has named UTC as a potentially responsible party for at least 23 Superfund toxic waste sites.<7>

UTC has made a major commitment to environmental health and safety for over 15 years. They are currently embarked on a four-year program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent, water consumption by 10 percent and non-recyclable waste by 30 percent globally. UTC was a founding member of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC) and has been an EPA Climate Leader since 2003. In 2006, they joined the Chicago Climate Exchange as a Phase 1 and Phase 2 member.<8>

[The Wizard]

5. We were warned about

the military industrial complex by Eisenhower. A major defense contractor counting the votes will signal Democracy's ultimate collapse. This is Bush's real legacy. And from a guy who dodged the Vietnam War with help from his daddy's political connections, only to be a deserter from the TANG champagne unit. Cruel irony.
This is our reward for watching TV instead of watching our politicians.

[blm]

7. Defense industry bought into control of media in the 80s and 90s to assure the public

would be easily duped and honest lawmakers would be distorted or muted.

[blm]

6. I can easily see this happening.

.

[mojowork_n]

8. Maybe Diebold and ES&S are holding out for a package deal. The 2 companies

are very closely "related" -- they're owned by two brothers:

This is old (2004), but it does say something about the provenance of e-voting, and the history of managed voting in the U.S.:

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

Excerpt:

April 28, 2004—Voters can run, but they can't hide from these guys. Meet the Urosevich brothers, Bob and Todd. Their respective companies, Diebold and ES&S, will count (using both computerized ballot scanners and touchscreen machines) about 80 percent of all votes cast in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Both ES&S and Diebold have been caught installing uncertified software in their machines. Although there is no known certification process that will protect against vote rigging or technical failure, it is a requirement of most, if not all, states.

Bob Fitrakis, one of the writers/investigative journalists from freepress.org (or is it freepress.net, I can never remember), posted a commentary on the history of CIA involvement with 'managed' third world elections. Whatever the specific consortium of defense/intelligence/state department assets may have been used, in which country, there's a long history:

In the 1970s, Idaho Senator Frank Church's investigatory committee established that the CIA also engaged in so-called "benign" operations including rigging elections. The agency used the term "demonstration elections"--elections that are superficially democratic but the results manipulated by the CIA.

The Company did everything from stuffing ballot boxes, creating political parties, merging smaller political parties into large coalitions as in Uno in Nicaragua, paying death squads to intimidate voters and the occasional use of computer fraud. In the mid-80s, the Reagan and Bush administration used a computer to help their "man in Panama" and CIA asset Manuel Noriega gain electoral support; they backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos when he brought in the pre-programmed election tapes in the middle of an election to turn his sure defeat into a fixed victory. The people of the Philippines didn't accept the computer results as credible, but Reagan and Bush argued it was necessary to preserve our "traditional" relationship with the brutal dictator. Remember, his political opponent, Senator Aquino was shot to death after disembarking from an airplane to run against Marcos.

Full text here:

http://www.counterpunch.org/fitrakis09082003.html

[mojowork_n]

9. Business section of the NYT has a few more details

The UT offer looked like a 66% increase over Friday's closing price, but amazingly, the Times' reports:

"Diebold’s stock surged 62 percent in pre-market trading to $39.25 — just below United Technologies’ $40-per-share offer.

Full:

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/diebolds-fuzzy-numbers/index.html?ex=1362286800&en=acec9af6a5e83d62&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Makes you wonder who all got tipped off, how quickly, to get the price up that high, that fast.

[McCamy Taylor]

10. Maybe the telecoms will start a bidding war.

[mojowork_n]

11. Someone else was intrigued by the UT/Diebold take-over,

but chose to emphasize the role of a different member of the UT board

Link:

http://www.solari.com/blog/?p=646

Catherine Austin Fitts, through Scoop, New Zealand.