An old boss of mine once said to me : Just because you think someone is after you does not mean they aren't. Another way to look at: just because it seems impossible that the GOP would steal this election doesn't mean they won't.
Now I personally believe the current lead by the Dems makes it a near impossibility that any organized effort to use voting machines to steal this election can actual be pulled off. Maybe if the races were a little tighter - but at this point - NO ONE would try it. Still, I posted a comment yesterday in a diary when we were not quite this optimistic. In that comment I mentioned some research I had done on election stealing and possible scenarios.
Many here asked me to pen these thoughts in a diary. As I am used to reading, more below the fold.
By now we have all heard about the FBI investigation into the voting machines being
supplied by Sequoia Voting Systems and possible ties to Chavez. Sequoia is the second largest voting machine company, accounting for about 1/3 of the voting machine market. They also are called Smartmatic. If ever there was a twisted tale, this one is it. There are so many shell companies involved in an attempt to hide their ownership that even Answers by Google couldn't figure it out - although they gave it a good try.
Prior to their ever being a Smartmatic, there was a research company toiling away in Venezuela called "The Research and Development Unit of Panagroup.
In all likelihood the software developers and other tech people were above average because they caught the attention of Hugo Chavez. Shortly after this company became two inter-related companies with different names.
The voting machine company part was renamed Smartmatic Corp. The software company was renamed Bitza Corp. Both companies were funded by individuals in Venezuela who conviently had Florida addresses. The money actually came from the Chavez government - over 130 million. In fact, the day Smartmatic actually came into being, the signing ceremony was held in a government building. Most news organizations get stumped after that and attribute future financing to "European investment banking and private equity firms." Well there had to be significant money changing hands, because shortly after their name change Smartmatic, in a reverse buy-out, purchased all of the assets of Sequoia, hence the changed name of the company and the confusion it creates. Personally, I have no doubt that although persons of interest with ties to Caracas have claimed to no longer have an interest in Smartmatic/Sequoia - they do. As for potential sources of funding - this is where the story really begins, a story that is about how a little company in Venezuela had some pretty loft connections to the highest levels of the GOP, access to the biggest financial institutions in the world, and what was planned for it most certainly had the buy in of Chavez but also his allies in both the Bush family and one of their key businesses - The Carlyle Group.
http://www.vcrisis.com/...
http://answers.google.com/...
Flash back to July 1990. George Herbert Bush is speaking at a fund raiser for the GOP. He points out the various people he knows in the audience. It's a warm up act we have all come to know. He points to a friend in the audience - Rapp Rappleyea. His real name is Clearance D. Rappleyea and at the time he was head of the Republican Assembly. Today he runs a lobbying firm with Patricia Lynch. They have received hundreds of thousands to lobby for Sequoia. So you see, the relationship between Rapp, George 21, and the future company Sequoia began over 17 years ago
By May of 2002, Smartmatic had already raised enough capital to purchase Sequoia and had changed its name. That year Sequoia was purchased by a British company called De La Rue PLC. That company had an American parent whose name is Madison Dearborn. MD has grown over the years into a very health investment banking and private equity firm, largely due to its introduction to the Carlyle Group by George 21. At that time George was actively involved with Carlyle - he has since retired from active involvement but Carlyle remains most likely the largest part of the Bush family portfolio. Of course the question does come to mind, what did George know at this time and how did he know it. Why did he make the introduction to Sequoia and what was he thinking because one thing he did know was the Madison Dearborn is in the business of putting others people's money into promising companies.
Companies like Sequoia are not necessarily exclusively wedded to one firm, especially if they already have assets. Other European based equity firms also took notice, the largest one being Schroders. Like many private equity based companies at this time, looking for companies and even countries where double digit growth could be anticipated was the norm. Latin America was and is still seen as having that potential. Perhaps its was just serendipity that Sequoia turned up at the right place and at the right time and therefore no one bothered to do much due diligence or chose to look the other way when it became widely known that their voting machines rigged Hugo Chavez's' election. At any rate, this did not stop Sequoia from their march towards America and the 2006 mid term elections.
http://www.wheresthepaper.org/...
http://www.mcdep.com/....
http://www.carlyle.com/...
http://www.debevoise.com/...
There is another theory of course, one that is a bit more evil at its core. That theory holds that Bush, Carlyle and a host of other multinationals including Citibank, HBSC, Mellon and others who basically run the global economy new exactly what they were up to and either had no problem with it or were openly supportive. Take Mellon for example. One of the worlds largest financial institutions, Mellon was one of Carlyle's' earliest affiliations and today are the only owner allowed to stand outside of their corporate structure. Mellon is also widely known for their right wing views. Lately, Mellon and Carlyle have both been on spending sprees inside both the world of media and all of the enabling software. This is where the story is really going and is scary even if not applied to this election.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/...
http://www.ratical.org/...
http://www.gfmag.com/...
http://www.ifc.org/...
Under this paragraph is a link to a PDF from a technology company which I don't expect anyone to read. It is about Scaleable Knowledge Extraction. This step in the IT train is what will make a lot of good things happen, but also the completely seamless stealing of an election in a country the size of America. We are not there yet. I suspect that Sequoia may be the closest thing, but it would still be messy, cries of foul play would abound. In the future this would not necessarily be the case. Most interestingly, it is companies like The Carlyle Group that are miles down the road in understanding technology and are busy gobbling up the most sophisticated of these companies, along with as many traditional media companies as they can get their hands on. After all, owning the media is always good if there are some technical glitches along the way to owning the world.
http://www.springerlink.com/...
http://www.cic-tech.org/...
We are nearing the end of this tale and for me the most interesting part. As I read article after article it began to dawn on me that Chavez put in quite the performance at the UN calling his business associate The Devil. Otherwise none as blowing smoke up our cumulative asses. Of course he is aligned with this group. No one was arrested after that failed coup attempt, no one tried, no one tortured, and no one even bad mouthed which is a pretty funny way for a dictator to act. No I think Hugo was, and still is, in it for the money. Latin America is still on everyone's double digit growth list and his bad boy act is the only reason it would not be, so he has carved out a great position for himself. So what does it matter if an election gets stolen along the way. He stole his own and look at how that turned out.
Aren't we glad this isn't going to happen - at least now? But as another great expression goes, its better to be forewarned than forearmed and we really can't predict the future. We can only hope that November 7th makes it very difficult for such despicable people to act out their sadistic games any time soon.