Simple Words, Simple man.

In looking at differing parts of each other it’s easy to separate us and them and with anger, vengeance, or fear forget the love that man Jesus comes sharing again. Share your love with ALL. He said, “Live your life in love, like I have.” Giving every thing he had and never needing lies to guide us.

Simple words, a simple man, but simply put, so often taken, used by those with darker plans. His legacy is oft forsaken. Healing words, spirit lifting, telling us to be forgiving. Two or more is where a Church is, meant for sharing, celebrating. When you feel the need to pray, go in a closet, night or day.

Often movements, down through time, all start with good and high intentions, till some fellow acting wise, utilizes his discretion. Picking, choosing bits and pieces. Misconstruing simple thesis’. Elevating his own needs, his flock he fleeces. Multitudes don’t often bother reading texts their faith is based on. Easier to learn by rote, then parroting their Leader’s quote to argue pointedly, basing their points on supposition.

It’s not the book, it’s the word he said. The word that was spoken, not words that are read. And the word above ALL others is LOVE.

*I used to sit and write a poem at one setting. This one took a while. Since my last post.

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Worse than not news

Who, what, when, where, how, and, if independently verifiable, why are the hallmarks of journalism. At least, so I was taught when I first encountered the concept in school. If the story did not contain the first five, then the story was incomplete. The sixth element was allowable only if it could be ascertained by one or more sources independent of involvement in the incident.

News: A three alarm fire that has been claimed to be arson by a Fire Department Investigator, was brought to the attention of authorities around ten o’clock last night. The fire, which appears to have been started on the loading docks, located at the back of the old paint factory on Second and Maple Streets, created the need to evacuate the surrounding neighborhood. Any tips leading to conviction of the perpetrators would be eligible for rewards.

Not News: It was horrible. People were told to leave their homes. The city needs your help.

Worse than not News: The big fire yesterday, which anonymous sources say was set by Joe Blow who hates the owner, was bad for everybody. The big fire today is bigger than the big fire last night, so it will get worse for everybody. Any information that puts Joe Blow in jail will get the informant money.

On matters of most import, the major American media becomes more and more exemplified by the third example. Instead of news we get opinion and/or propaganda. The same lies that the news used to cheer lead the drumbeats that got us into war with Iraq are now beating the drums for war with Iran. This in behalf of a nation that has no constitution. American news quickly assigned blame for the latest assassination in Lebanon to Syria. Why wait for facts or even ask who else might be responsible.

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Support our Troops

Reckon we have been at war, what, seven, eight years? No, wait, that’s how long it’s been since I heard he was running for the job. Then, though, I reckon it probably feels a whole lot longer than that to the men and women over there doing the actual fighting. Finally starting to slow down a little from the relief of the mid-term elections and I got to thinking of those troops we’re supporting over there and wondering how they, individually, got there. I figure on the following percentages:

.05% Are (Air your dirty laundry first, as it needs more disinfection time in the sunlight) those ill individuals who jump at the chance to do bad things to other human beings. It used to be a whole lot less, but as the need for fresh bodies have gone up; recruitment standards and screenings have gone down.

50% Are economic draftees. Those who felt the only way they’d ever become financially able was by trading a few years of service to their country in return for training or a chance at higher education.

20% Are those whom society (parents, teachers, guidance counselors, friends, and loved ones) steered into the military because they felt they needed a structured environment in order to keep them off the streets and out of the gutter.

15% Are those who believed the recruiters and really thought they were going to see the world while defending our nation.

09% Are legacy enlistees. Most military families, whose members have been serving for generations, insist that their children serve at least one term of duty in order to make an informed decision as to weather or not to continue the family tradition.

5.95% Are dedicated, professional career soldiers whom account for, probably, 95% of confirmed enemy combatants killed or captured.

That last percentage most likely equates to the actual size of the military needed by our country if the goal of our military was, in actuality, the defense of our nation. It is the military contractors and the multinational (that used to be US) corporations that need the juggernaut for the process of ever increasing profit and expansion. In other words, the size of the forces is predicated on the fantasy of an infinitely growing economy based on infinite resources, whose cost of doing business is subsidized by the public. That we allow this to continue shows infinite stupidity.

The linked site explains how the M.I.C. keeps tensions stirred up so the media can be used to keep the propoganda going about how we need a large military.

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Too little, Too late?

The Resident started out more coherent than I’ve heard him in a long time. When he stated that he didn’t know where we got the idea that he was all about “stay the course,” I got the feeling that his changing face is superficial. While he did show improvement in his political acumen, I wonder how it will translate into working with an actual opposition party in power.Of course, I’m assuming the Democrats will so act.

The most interesting part I discern is his replacing Rumsfeld with Gates, a CIA spook. I’d say former, but my understanding is you don’t retire, you just go on extended leave. Rumors were rife during his confirmation hearings to head the CIA that he lied to congress about his knowledge vis-à-vis Iran/Contra. The Resident might get his marching orders from a higher power, but it seems his soldiers are more and more composed of Bush 1 minions.

The Republican meme: The further we go, the be hinder we get. So, with that in mind, I can now hope that we won’t degrade back to the stone age in the next two years, though the Resident’s posting of nuclear bomb designs on the web might make the make up of our congress irrevelant.

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November, already.

Voted already, to ensure I leave a paper trail. I intend to spend Tuesday at my local polling place, just to interact with the populace and hopefully educate on the stupidity of our current system of trusting those black boxes with our votes.

It is almost too easy as nearly everyone has a computer and no one has had a trouble free experience. Ask them if they'd trust their life on the reliability of a computer and at least it gets them to thinking. I tell them they have a right to request a paper ballot and I was pleasantly surprised how many took that option during the primaries.

Dickhead Pearle has learned that the war he championed so loudly for, four years ago, turns out to have been a mistake. If it took this long for him to learn that, he's a slow learner and probably unable to project that lesson forward. I can hope that he will stop banging the drum for a new war with Iran. If he thinks that the war with Iraq was a "mistake," I lack the language to define the boondoggle that will insue should the cretins in control ignite the conflagration of a war with Iran. The truly maddening part of this is that I have to include way too many Democrats in the insane list of warmongers. Too much money in military contracts, I reckon.

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Elections, Southern Style

Leave it to the GOP to call reaching out to the KKK as reaching out to its base. As Chris Floyd writes in the above linked article,

“Freed but disenfranchised, emancipated but still in chains, balked by law and brutal custom from full participation in society, the Southern blacks also made handy targets to divert the anger and dissatisfaction of the "poor white trash" from the elites that exploited them as well, albeit less severely. If even the poorest white man could consider himself superior to someone, if you could keep him tied up in psychological and emotional knots about inferior darkies messing with his women, going to his schools, sitting at his lunch counters, drinking from his water fountains, swimming in his public pools, living in his neighborhoods, why then he'd never make common cause with his black brothers and sisters in poverty to fight for a better life.”

The whole idea of the KKK was simply to keep the poor, undereducated white folk too busy acting “better than” to ever become aware of their own disenfranchisement. Look at that black man looking at a white woman not at what the real Boss is doing to his pocket book. It seems that simple minds, courtesy of our public school system, has been well worth the money for the ruling class. The same can be said for the Religious (sounding) Reich, point to someone worshipping God differently, instant distraction from the shrinking paycheck. Best of all, you can do it in a 30 second sound bite. In America, the only history that doesn’t start with Monday morning’s New York Times, is the bigotry that lives in too many hearts.

A quick aside. Thanks to Jon Steward and Steven Colber(t) I can get through all this political bile. Tim Robbin’s appearance on Steve’s show tonight had me not just laughing out loud but actually clapping for his performance, while sitting alone at home! We’re going to need our humor in the Halliburton Camps if they manage to steal this next election also.


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My First Clue

My first clue, that something odd was going on? The lack of interceptor aircraft accompanying the second plane. Everything after that was just a technically impressive piece of propaganda to panic the Sheeple into going to war. Even before the Resident was anointed, in every political discussion I had, I only had two points if Republicans were to gain the Presidency: Average people would get economically screwed; We’d be at war within the first year. Only later was I able to more concisely define what happened that Autumn day. It was the original “Shock and Awe” campaign.

Unlike so many of my fellow citizens, I remember reading about how prohibitively expensive asbestos removal from the Towers was going to be. My memory includes reading about electrolysis problems where aluminum met steel and how expensive it was going to be to rectify that problem. There was also some discussion as to how deconstruction would be more than double the construction costs. Talk about two birds with one stone. To learn that building 7 housed the records of on going SEC investigations explains that bit of stagecraft.

The final seal on the deal was that the anthrax attacks were targeted at Democrats opposed to the (un)Patriot Act.


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My Latest Nightmare

My latest nightmare, at first glance,
Might seem a reversal to my previous stance,
But the cretins in control
Have a very different goal
It’s a much more complicated dance.

Don’t be fooled because the dunce
Fooled us thrice and not just once
In the stealing of elections
Using wholesale indiscretions
Among their illegal stunts.

Oh, but this next time, I fear,
More insidious and drear,
They’ll allow the votes unfettered
To proceed, then claim it’s bettered
By the use of electronic gear.

So, they loose some seats in congress,
They don’t care, it’s much too ponderous
To contain the crooks that run things
And the laws in place that fear brings.
No, their plan is much more onerous.

“See how fair and so convenient,
E-machines are so expedient
That from now ALL votes will be
Made electronically.”
Making re-counts a missing ingredient.

The constitution says our government
Should above all be transparent.
But the liars that do lead now
Work in secret to conceal how
Little is apparent.

Paper trails are too restrictive.
Elimination is explicative.
They will stop at nothing less
Than control by corporate mess.
To prove our crying “Wolf” may be their missive.

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Big Brother goes to School

Once again Cris Floyd is connecting some dots. Thanks to the new law (thank you, yellow bellied minions on the congressional dole) signed into existence last Tuesday, on the Residence's whim any individual He deems a threat to "National Security" can be picked up, whisked off to some undisclosable location, and interrogated (terrorized) without benefit of legal representation. Since He knows that at least 60% of us disagree with at least one of his policies, He needs a new tool to find out who among his subjects dare to print dissent. As this would require way too much reading for an illiterate, the guvment has hired four schools of higher education to devise a software program to do the reading for him.

Big Bro intends not only that the trains be gonna running on time, who gets tickets to the camps will be determined by software. Won't even be needing any Eichmanns this time. Just hire a bunch of college kids to write a program ("I didn't think they would misuse it," I can hear their future proclamations as they get caught up in a program run amok), as the Resident proclaims he is doing his job of "Keeping Americans safe." Funny me, I thought his job was to Protect and Defend the Constitution. Looks like half the population is going to end up guarding the incarcerated other half.

In local news, a nearby town recently armed their five man police force with fully automatic rifles. The bull here in Texas is getting more dangerous on a daily basis.

In national news the Dow broke 1200, whoopie, of course adjusted for inflation, it just caught up to the value it had in 1967.

Oh, in case this has been too subtle for the software, this is dissent with both fact and opinion.

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Terror, Terror, Terror

With out doubt the propaganda's been successful, in congress at least. The Resident is now Cowboy King George. Pre Magna Carta, above the law and below contempt. The laughable 32%, quaking in fear and whom congress, for some ungodly reason, desires to impress have driven our country into some freaky semblance of a dictatorship ruled by a dry drunk.

His shining star, the Iraq war. The "War on Terror" a simple side note simply enacted to consolidate power. Every action by the rabble in power have had only one aim in mind. The creation of an Imperial Presence. Oh, they call it an Unitary Executive, but them's just fancy words. what they want is unchecked power, beholden to none. Drooling with the idea of a big daddy strong man giving them permission to fullfill their wildest fantasies and sickest dreams.

Now, since our(?) congress has given them free rein, our only hope is the collapse of our army in Iraq. The growing resistance to that illegal (a fact quite often overlooked) war by the men and women fighting there might bring the whole fiasco to a grinding halt and throwing public light on the hell hole of a mess that passes for public office in these modern times, jar the sombulant population into action. After all, this experiment we call the U.S.A. is supposed to be directed by "WE THE PEOPLE."

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Indian Wars

In honor of the five year anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan and the Five hundred and fourteenth Anniversary of the invasion of the Western Hemisphere:

A weekend framed in celebration
Of a process flamed by insinuation
Easily explained as continuation
Of the Glorious Indian War.

Columbus came to expand the slave trade
Casting blame, breaking promises made.
Creating shame is blatantly played
In the Glorious Indian War.

Don’t teach your children how to think
They’ll only grow despondent
Indoctrinate and teach them hate
Then join them being sombulent.

All hail the famed red, white, blue nation
Conquering lamed by inducing starvation
More of the same through indoctrination
For the Glorious Indian War.

Let us pray and continue our situation
Of conquering prey and domination
Ignore the way we have entered stagnation
With the Glorious Indian War.

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Remember: It's not just pedophiles and their enablers.

Regarding the GOP (Guardians Of Pedophiles) scandal now filling the minds of the media and public, if it serves to remove the Resident's enablers is a good thing. That damage, though real, only affected a certain number of teens. Let us not lose sight of the real damage that Congress did to this country last week. That damage was done to each and every one of us:

Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman states in the L.A. Times, "The compromise legislation....authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights."

Similarly, law Professor Marty Lederman explains: "this [subsection (ii) of the definition of 'unlawful enemy combatant'] means that if the Pentagon says you're an unlawful enemy combatant -- using whatever criteria they wish -- then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is concerned, you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to 'hostilities' at all."

As we (Paul Joseph Watson) reported on Friday, the bill also contains a definition of "wrongfully aiding the enemy" which labels all American citizens who breach their "allegiance" to President Bush and the actions of his government as terrorists subject to possible arrest, torture and conviction in front of a military tribunal.

Other facts we need to not forget: War in Afghanistan/Iraq/Iran; Paper ballots; Education; And all the other Rights not labeled in the Constitution, but referred to in the Tenth Amendment.

Each, every, and any moral action that returns control to WE THE PEOPLE and removes the reigns of power from the cretins in Washington is a blessing from God (no matter how or even if you worship him/her/it).

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Pages of pages to Pages

What in the ____ is the fuss all about?
The pages went up the Hill
To learn how our Government operates
And bends to the People’s will.

They learned well how the people in power
React to the threat to their station.
Or rather the lack of proper response
And their self serving, quiet, inaction.

Well, the lesson, it seems, continues apace
I hope everyone understands.
True power resides, not in powerful lies,
But by citizen’s voicing demands.

From the very beginning of the National Creed
The voices cried out for protection of speech
Demanding Amendments before ratifying
Constitutional limits on government’s reach.

So the masses are stirring
Protesters speak out
True power in action
Is what the fuss is about.

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Points to Ponder

The Congress voted for secret Torture
You have no right to remain silent
No attorney will be present.
Arrested on suspicion of the President
That you are a Terrorist.
Meanwhile on prime time
Commercials are pushing
Viagra and sugar and sleep aids
Get busy. Quit thinking. Go back to sleep.

Get with the program they said,
“Let us lead.” And over a cliff they proceed.
Do you really want to follow
That dark path they have embarqued?
Wanting to know everything about everyone
While working in secret themselves.
There is a word for that, “Totalitarian.”

Most of your taxes now feed the war machine
Instead of feeding or schooling our children.
The Government backed a coup in Venezuela
To benefit multinational business.
Now they claim a coup that overthrew
A corrupted congress in Thailand was wrong.
So, shut up, eat your sugar, and turn on the TV.
Until you fall asleep again.

There is a call for new harsher laws on immigration
Having not enforced the ones already written.
The drive to ban all abortions
Now includes banning all contraception.
In a country founded on freedom, the government wants to control every aspect of our lives.
And when truth is inconvenient to “Our Leaders“, they conveniently tells lies.

A religion founded on charity and forgiveness
Has become a weapon to justify killing and plunder.
The Speaker of the House covers for a pedophile Preaches Christian values while in Hubris the A.G. tells the Courts to be humble.
The President says his job is not to protect and defend as he swore in his induction.
His job, he says, is to protect us, keep us safe, even if it means destroying the Constitution.

No one claims to know the Republican’s largest contributor as the “Contract for America” became “The Contract on America.”
The ideological drive to remove “Liberals” from Congress becomes driven by greed.
The driving force of office holders is to stay in office long enough to earn a pension.
The total lack of values and concern for citizens drives belief into suspension.

Watch Bill Moyers on PBS Wednesday for the Tip of an Iceburg.

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October Surprises

Statements like this from "The Committee on the Present Danger" scare me:

The Hon. Henry Cooper

Director, Strategic Defense Initiative, 1990–93
Chief U.S. Negotiator, Geneva Defense and Space Talks with the Soviet Union, 1987–89
Deputy Negotiator, Geneva Defense and Space Talks with the Soviet Union, 1985–87

"Terrorism poses as potent a threat to our freedom as did communism – preserving our liberty while winning the war on terrorism may be more difficult than was ending the 'evil empire.' "

The Battle Carrier Group Eisenhower deploys this week for the Persian Gulf instead of docking as scheduled for maintenance. It is due off the coast of Iran on or about October 21. This info comes via Ray McGovern (27 year veteran of the CIA, retired 1990).

On October 7 a large Emergency Responders Training Exercise is scheduled to occur in several major cities. The last time there was a training exercise this large was September 11, 2001. If an other "Terrorist" attack occurs Bush will have free reign (by the sleep walking American public) to launch an attack on Iran.

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Woodward's Woeful Words

An eloquently crafted tale,
The masses with which to regale,
Lay the blame away from Bush
And save his sorry, little tush.
Now, to the rescue does Woodward sail.

It’s Cheney’s, Rumsfeld’s, Brenner’s fault,
The officers won’t say what’s what.
Intelligence too flawed and worse
Connecting dots is such a curse.
Short of Bush, the buck must stop!

No harm must touch this Christian King
His praise on high his minions sing.
The blame away from him must shine,
Bush cries, “The fault is never mine!
Dad, a Savior to me bring!”

Daddy Bush can’t help it, see,
He does what Barbra does decree
To once again from failure save,
(He’ll do this till he’s in his grave),
Responds at once to Georgie’s plea.

And, daddy calls his long time friend,
“Dear Woody, use your words to bend
The truth enough to save my child.
I fear he’s gone a little wild.”
So, Woodward puts to work his pen.

This oft told tale of privileged claim
Plays out again and plays the same.
Time after time, the mess is cleaned
By daddy going to extremes
To misdirect the mark of shame.

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Too sad to be Original Today

Five major problems with the legislation passed by congress.

• Grants unprecedented and unchecked authority to the Executive Branch to label as "unlawful enemy combatants" and detain an overly broad range of people, including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents inside the United States
  
• Denies any independent judicial review of these detentions
  
• Seeks to eliminate accountability for past violations of the law
  
• Permits evidence obtained through coercion
  
• Gives the Secretary of Defense authority to deviate from time-tested military justice standards for fair trials.

Five qoutes for the times:

"The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.": Georges Bernanos


“So let us regard this as settled: what is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing: John Adams

So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men: Voltaire. François Marie Arouet (1694-1778)

How you can win the population for war: At first, the statesman will invent cheap lying, that impute the guilt of the attacked nation, and each person will be happy over this deceit, that calm the conscience. It will study it detailed and refuse to test arguments of the other opinion. So he will convince step for step even therefrom that the war is just and thank God, that he, after this process of grotesque even deceit, can sleep better: Mark Twain

I couldn't have said it any better. Thanks to Jill Savage at Human Rights First and Tom Feely at ICH.

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A Pre 9-11 Mindset

In the early 13th Century, Genghis Kan outlawed torture. In 2006, Congress reinstated torture as an interrogation policy. Early in the Thirteenth Century, the King was stripped of his ability to detain a person with out charges being brought. In 2006, Congress voted to restore that power to the State. A truly pre 9/11 mindset.

65 to 34 and 253 to 168 the US went from being a Banana Republic , Tin-Pot Dictatorship to a pre-middle ages Authoritarian Despotism. Good bye Magna Carta. It only applies to foreigners, we’re told. If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn you aught to buy from me. The Resident can declare you an enemy combatant, send you to Guantanamo, deny you a lawyer, not tell you what the charges are, keep secret the evidence against you, and torture you for the names of other “Guilty” people. That is what Habeas Corpus no longer applying means.

Yesterday, 300 people were denied their First Amendment Right to peacefully assemble and protest. Under the new rules, they could be charged with threatening the material interests’ of businesses and thereby becoming an Enemy Non-Combatant. Have you ever donated to an umbrella type Charitable organization? If they then take a portion of that money and distribute it to an other charity that the government later proclaims aids “Terrorists,” surprise, you are now, an Enemy Non-Combatant. Off to Guantanamo! I am not exaggerating. At least 34 Senators and 168 Representatives agree with me as does a coalition of hundreds of Constitutional Scholars and Lawyers and over 30 newly retired military officers and over 100 retired analysts from the CIA, NSA, and FBI.

John Christensen , of the third century church said,

“He or she, who is not angry when there is cause for anger, sins. Anger looks to the good of Justice. If you can look at in-justice without anger, then you are unjust.”

Unreasoned patience is what occurred in the 1930s. As people were being carted off, held with out charges, and tried and convicted in secret courts, good God fearing and otherwise intelligent German people remained silent. Are we too busy watching TV, cheering our favorite sports team, to do the right thing? As Dante’ warned us,

“The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of crisis.”

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Speaking About Elections

The signs and portents do abound
The price of gas is going down
The factor of fear is on the rise
The Terror flag waves in front of our eyes
Elections must be coming around.

What fools the sheep of Americans be
Erzast "Leaders" they are following blindly
Trusting the lies of the media spin
That disregard truths that don't fit in
To the Propaganda that passes for the News we see.

Our Nation devolving to a torturous State
Critics accused of a political slate
Changing the Laws to protect the guilty
Innocent people detained in pepetuity
Politics driven by fear and hate.

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Electronic Voting Machines

In just a little bit more than a month, I will be asked to cast my vote, for the second time, on a machine that has no paper record. A machine made by a company that also makes ATMs, which, weather you ask for a receipt or not, create a paper copy of every transaction. In addition, the programs that both the ES&S machines, which record the votes, and Diebold machines, which tabulate the totals, are programmed using a program similar to Windows as the basic operating system. If you have used Windows as long as I have, since Windows 3.1 in 1991, you can be certain of two constants: At some point, the system will crash (it seems nearly always at a critical juncture); Windows' operating systems have always been extremely vulnerable to malicious manipulation.

The reason that systems like Windows tend to fail is that they are written by a limited number of people and not peer reviewed during the creation process. The public then tests it by practical application and the problems then become apparent. Programs like Linux are created by 10s of thousands critiquing, evaluating, and improving the stability and security until consensus is reached that a viable system has been created. After release, continued evaluation is not just allowed, it is encouraged. Owners of proprietary systems actively seek to keep the inner workings secret.

I can state this as a fact because I've purchased each Windows upgrade for two reasons. Exploring its weaknesses and playing computer games (to test the strength). Voting is not a game nor should it be done on a system long noted for its frailty. I use an operating system call Linux for all computer activities that require security such as on-line transactions and surfing the web. I also print a paper record of every transaction I make with my computer. This has proved very helpful in resolving disputes with both my telephone company and a credit card provider. My vote is as important and should have a paper record of every vote made in order to resolve disputes should the need arise.

The machines have the capacity to attach a printer and the operating system is capable of creating a paper record. The only excuse my elected officials have given me for not having a paper record is the expense. Surely the integrity and validity of our vote is worth the few extra dollars required to ensure this.

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