Its Official - Kennedy files Qui Tam

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

July 17, 2006

Blowing the Whistle on Diebold

By John Ireland

In the wake of HAVA, voters increasingly face electronic voting machines at the polls.
On July 13, the Pensacola, Fla.-based law firm of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a “qui tam”
lawsuit in U.S. District Court, alleging that Diebold and other electronic voting machine
(EVM) companies fraudulently represented to state election boards and the federal government
that their products were “unhackable.”



Kennedy claims to have witnesses “centrally located, deep within the corporations,”
who will confirm that company officials withheld their knowledge of problems with
accuracy, reliability and security of EVMs in order to procure government contracts.
Since going into service, many of these machines have been linked to allegations
of election fraud

More here....

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2750/

[MissWaverly]

1. It takes a Kennedy to save this country

sad but true, there has been a lot here and other places to smear the Kennedys, I am a fan
of JFK and his brother, now Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is one of the few to actually endorse election reform. What other politician or political family is willing to take this
on, who else??????

[Old and In the Way]

38. It would be the ultimate ironic justice for a Kennedy to bring down a Bush

Stay safe Robert....

[AndyA]

50. Wouldn't that be great? I hope Robert does it - in the memory of

John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, two men who were never given the opportunity to do everything they wanted to do.

[MissWaverly]

51. yes, it would

I think that there is a malaise in government right now, the Justice Department didn't investigate the wiretaps because George said no, we have a 1 man band now in Washington
and his name is Bush. I am hoping the Robert Kennedy can be the dragonslayer we so
desperately need and the dragon is faked elections.

[LaPera]

2. This is a good start...Of course NOTHING will be decided

in court until after this November's election...

Still the media has to be pounded on and forced to get this story out there as much as possible from now until election time. The media must be made to to inform non-believers and unaware voters of the Diebold hackable truth's, about their votes.

Or the lawsuit story will just fade away (as the republicans plan to make happen)and the majority of people will only hear about it again when a court ruling has been made well after this November's elections and well before the 2008 elections.

But at least someone has started the ball rolling...Thank you RFK Jr.

[babylonsister]

3. Wow! On behalf of us all, thank you, Mr. Kennedy!

Your actions speak volumes, and we are grateful you're using your clout this way. :patriot:

Edit to add: And thanks, WillYourVoteBCounted!

[ooglymoogly]

4. kick and nom

and just thanks

[IChing]

5. Thank you Robert for putting yourself into this issue

Even though he puts himself in the line of fire, rhetorically and personally.
You stand well with your father and the truths he fought for.

[Mr_Spock]

6. Eeeexcelent

Now we're talkin' :D

[Son Of Spy]

7. Kickin'!!

Thanks Robert!

[ProgressiveEconomist]

41. Kick

[Kurovski]

8. Recommended!

And applauded!

[acmavm]

9. This is what we've been waiting for. God, I hope that we can get

experts who can show what pieces of crap those machines are and how easy it is to hack them. And then I wonder if a class action lawsuit could be filed on a fraud basis. In the states of Florida, New Mexico, and Ohio. Hmmmm. It's a pleasant thought at least.

[MelissaB]

10. Wonderful news!

Thank you, Mr. Kennedy!

:applause: :applause: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock:
:applause: :applause: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock:

[renate]

11. what fantastic news!

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[redqueen]

12. thanks for sharing the good news

:)

[The Wizard]

13. Anyone caught rigging an election should be

tied to a pole and publicly horse whipped. The event should be on pay per view with the proceeds going to voter registration efforts in the affected regions where the election rigging occured.

[ArbustoBuster]

26. Forget horsewhipping. Execution.

And the body buried at a crossroads at midnight, thoroughly desecrated.

[vanboggie]

14. YES!!!!

It's about time. Hopefully at least KO and Lou Dobbs will keep talking it up. I hope the whistleblowers take are being protected by someone outside of the cabal.

[emulatorloo]

15. kick n/t

[lisa58]

16. Does my heart good...

...I love truth.

[mom cat]

17. Fantastic!

:headbang::bounce::toast::bounce::headbang:

[Melissa G]

18. Thanks !!! Deep, Deep Thanks!!!! K&R!!!! n/t

[Fovea]

19. kick the bastards in the purse.

Make it hurt, because nothing says keep it clean like a smoking hole where Diebold and the Diebold hackers used to be.

[bigwillq]

20. WOO HOO!

:bounce:

[SeattleGirl]

21. This is really cool. However, did you know that Gonzales put a

60 day gag order on RFK and company? He says it's to give him time to decide if the Justice Dept. is going to join in the suit, but I think it's more to try and keep it on the QT. That aside, though, I'm very glad that this is going forward. Mike Papantonio said that he didn't care if Justice joined the suit or not. His firm (which RFK is working with) is the firm that took on Big Tobacco and won, so they feel absolutely confident in taking on Diebold, ES&S, etc. with or without the Justice Department.

[CatWoman]

25. that son of a bitch!!!

you know he has NO intention of the DOJ joining this lawsuit :grr:

[Seabiscuit]

36. "Gag order"???

Since when can the Attorney General put a "gag order" on an attorney who has filed a civil fraud suit? Gonzales can't interfere with Kennedy's first amendment rights, and in fact, Kennedy's been talking freely about his lawsuit these days on Air America.

Only judges may issue "gag orders" in civil suits. Perhaps you misunderstood something you read, or the author of whatever you wrote simply didn't understand what he was writing.

Besides, Gonzales only does Shrub's dirty work for him. I can't imagine Shrub authorizing Gonzales to join in a suit against the companies that put them both in office.

[drm604]

46. My understanding is that this is how the qui tam law is written.

By law the suit is sealed for 60 days while the government decides if it wants to join it. If 60 days pass without the government joining then the individuals bringing the suit proceed on their own. Of course we all know that the government will drag their feet on this and wait out the full 60 days.

[nolabels]

47. I would also guess the feds will join in just so they can muck it up

The best way to defeat something is to put infiltrators inside the camp itself.

Did i mention that distrust and hatred for lawyers can be based on a solid track record lawyers have exhibited over the last hundreds years

[drm604]

52. You may be right.

They'll drag it out almost the full 60 days then join in at the last minute so they can drag their feet and screw it up.

[Atman]

22. Don't forget...with these ID cards, your vote is no longer anonymous

Remember, this is electronic, computer controlled. Even if they claim the machines don't log or match votes to voters, that is bullshit. There simply has to be an internal electronic trail of who inserted their card and activated the machine. The only question then becomes is this log easily accessible, and by whom. This device could trim thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars of future GOP voter purges.

[pepperbear]

23. give it the ol' college try! n/t

[Drum]

24. keep kickin'

:kick:

[Just Me]

27. YYYYYYYYYYYYES!!!! YES! YES! YES!!!!!

:bounce:

Okay, wait. Will this suit have any impact upon the 2006 election and, if so, how?

I have to think this through.

[goforit]

28. Terrific news, but how fast can this take action?

[madokie]

29. need to keep this on top, it's definitely a feel good story

[astroBspacedog]

30. I hate to sound pessimistic, --

But I'm curious to see how long it will be before Kennedy, and the witnesses get "Swift Boated".

[chill_wind]

31. GAME ON!!

The exposure of the facts, the sleaze, the connections in high places- the whole criminal enterprise. A step toward justice and remedy at last! I hope it's on Court TV day after day. I hope Dan Abrams and Nancy Grace and the rest of those sensationalist zombies are actually forced to cover it, or are forced to explain why they won't.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

[Patsy Stone]

32. Thank you, Robert!

:bounce:

[EFerrari]

33. Is this in GD yet?

Thank you, Bobby.

[livvy]

34. Malloy interview with Papantonio & report from Brad Blog

(From Sat. ERD)
FIRST RFK JR. VOTING MACHINE WHISTLEBLOWER LAWSUIT NOW FILED IN FEDERAL COURT! NEW DETAILS!

Attorney Papantonio on Mike Malloy Show: 'We're gonna shut down some of these companies'!

Excoriates 'Indolent Democrats' and 'Lazy Media' for Not Taking Action; Lauds BRAD BLOG for Putting Issue on 'Radar Screen'…

Posted By Brad On 13th July 2006 @ 11:15 In Election Irregularities, RFK Jr., BRAD BLOG, Election Reform | 74 Comments

<1>The first of several federal whistleblower qui tam (fraud) suits have now been filed against one of America's major electronic voting machine companies, The BRAD BLOG <2> can now report.

Florida attorney Mike Papantonio who, along with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. hosts Ring of Fire <3>, weekends on Air America Radio <4>, was a guest on Mike Malloy's radio program last night. He discussed the upcoming whistleblower suits that he and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are filing against several of the voting machine companies. Pap was loaded for bear.

During the interview, he gave several new details on the federal fraud suits now being filed, which include several whistleblower plaintiffs whose stories were originally reported here at The BRAD BLOG <2>, as mentioned last week in a quick item here <6>, with some fresh details of our own. Pap reported last night that the "dream team of lawyers" they've assembled to take on these evil, irresponsible, anti-American companies includes a bunch of those who took on the tobacco companies in a successful quarter billion dollar suit — so they're not likely easily intimidated, we'd think.


>more of report from Brad Blog including link to Malloy interview

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3065

[Laurab]

35. Thank you Robert Kennedy ! n/m

[bleever]

37. Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition.

Full steam ahead.

:thumbsup:

[rumpel]

39. Wait! did we know about this suit, a comment on the same page?

I live in San Diego and in November I took our Registrar of Voters to court, alleging that the machines were hackable and the chain of custody was not secure. I lost.

Which one is this - this means VR's case already has a precedent to fight against -

grrr

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

45. There is THIS lawsuit in California

There is the Voter Action lawsuit - which we need an
update on.

VOTER ACTION LITIGATION UPDATE

July 17, 2006. California Litigation Update
7/18 HEARING CANCELLED. Judge Saundra Armstrong of the U.S. District
Court in Oakland was to hear our motion to remand the case back to
state court. She will issue an order 7/17.

The timing is least clear in the California case.
In California, we seek a court order blocking purchase or use of Diebold TSx Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines. On July 18th at 3 p.m., Judge Saundra Armstrong of the U.S. District Court in Oakland will hear the voter plaintiffs’ motion to remand the case back to state court, where we filed it originally. Plaintiffs’ attorneys are optimistic that the motion will be granted. If the case is returned to state court, we will ask the state court to set a hearing within about 30 days (about the third week in August) to decide whether to ban purchase or use of the Diebold TSx in the November general election in California. If the motion to remand is denied, we will ask the federal court to advance the date to hear plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction in federal court from the currently scheduled date of September 19th, which we consider uncomfortably close to the November election. This would require reassignment of the case to a different federal judge, as Judge Armstrong will be on vacation for August and early September.

http://www.voteraction.org/States/California/CA.html

[rumpel]

54. thanks

any specific reason why the hearing was cancelled?

[flyingobject]

40. and another

:kick:

[merkins]

42. K&R

As someone said earlier in these forums,

The citizen has no obligation to prove that his ballot is secure; the citizen has a right to be confident that his vote will be counted, as he cast it. And it is the solemn obligation of the government to secure that right.

The right of the citizen to a secure ballot is the foundation of a democratic society and the guarantee that the government rules with the consent of the governed. If that right has been violated by supporters and/or agents of the government, that government has no legitimacy.

We do not know if Election 2004 was fraudulent. But equally important, the paperless machines have made it impossible to verify that it was not fraudulent. And it is the inalienable right of a free people that their franchise be fair, accurate, transparent, and verifiable.


..Sorry to say I forgot who wrote it originally..

[Faux pas]

43. HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!! n/t

[McCamy Taylor]

44. If the DOJ decides to join the suit, watch out!

[Justice Is Comin]

48. Tell the DOJ to go to hell.

Where were they when the GAO report came out that all but said there was rampant corruption all over the Democratic precints in the Ohio vote in '04.

Didn't see you having any great interest in pursuing that Gonzalez you five foot piece of shit.

Kennedy should tell him to go piss up a rope. Go file your own lawsuit.

[Clyde39]

49. My pleasure to make this thread 100 votes!

Thank you Mr. Kennedy....we need more like you.

[Blaze Diem]

53. Robert Kennedy Jr.....The Legacy Lives On..

Kudos to you Mr. Kennedy..Carry on favorite son!!

[L. Coyote]

55. ditto to kick n/t