You Go, GA Heritage Council !

I hope Kossacks will find encouragement herein, and be pleasantly surprised.  

This is my first diary.  I didn't plan it to be my first, but I had time, and two items rather "came together" that I want to share.  The first is an overview of Georgia Heritage Council (GHC), and the second is an email that's going around GA now, "How to Hack a GA Voting Machine!", which also references a Kos diary.  

In reading the e-mail, I thought of GHC, since "Let Us Vote" is their mantra.  I was introduced to their site about three years ago, and check them every few months to see what's shakin'.  I'm never disappointed.  Since we're in the thick of election season, it turned out to be especially entertaining, and useful.

(Please allow me to expound...)

While these two items may be immediately useful to GA people, they can be useful to Dem campaigns in every state, and here's why.  GHC wields parody and satire like a sword, and I want everyone who is working in any way on a Dem campaign to see what they are doing.  

Their main page links to articles, but they have a side-bar, "The X Files" (where the X is St. Andrew's cross) for the parody "bits".  Each bit consists of a snarky, cut-and-paste illustration with a background tune, and provides related links.  I think it is political satire at its finest: earthy, simple and funny.  With "backup" data.  And these bits are easy to "pass around", in emails.

Many of their issues, ideas, images, etc. are applicable to Repubs everywhere, and can be "modified" to suit your needs.  

The e-mail is relevant to any state that uses Diebold-GEMS software.

So here's where it gets rich:  In a nutshell, GHC is giving Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, and his cronies, absolute hell.  They mock his transgressions ruthlessly.  They "flag" him on whistlestops in towns all over this state. He can't leave Atlanta without seeing "Sonny Lied" signs.  They've never let up.

They have been doing this ever since Perdue broke his campaign promise of putting the flag issue to a state-wide vote.  (They "Booted Barnes" over this.)  Instead, in a "clandestine move", Perdue &  Co. installed what many consider to be a monstrosity as a new state flag.  GHC's unswerving motifs are "Sonny Lied" and "Let Us Vote".  For example, from "The X Files" ("B.S." being "Boss Sonny", like "Boss Hogg") - Turn on sound:

B.S. Image Consultant
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...
Sonny Lied - The Official Georgia Sign
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...
(Did you read the fine print?)

These boys are brazen.  They're rebels.  They're smart.  They're funny.  They're serious.  And they have a following.  They don't cotton to lyin' and cheatin' and corruption, and they've had a bellyfull of Republican treachery, lately.  For example:

GA Supports GOP
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...
Proud to be a Republican?
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...
GOP 2006 Sinking?
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...

Keep in mind that these guys, and the white people now coming to power in GA (and across the South), are middle-aged baby boomers, Vietnam-era folks, sixties "children", the blues-lovin' Allman Brothers crowd, etc. They are neither the old Dixie-crats, nor the KKK.  

But they do have valid "heritage" issues, and people should listen.  That is how we People come together - talking, listening, understanding.  That St. Andrews Cross, to much of the South, represents defiance against tyranny and military occupation.  It recalls their Scots-Irish ancestry, and awful struggles against English tyranny.  It is an OLD symbol.  Downtrodden people around the world have adopted it.  It goes far beyond being some simplistic, insulting "brand of bigotry".  Think.  There IS heritage there, deep heritage, and only the woefully ignorant could not appreciate that!

Ever wonder why Southerners sound like Scotsmen? "I'm a goin' to th' pub..." ???

But I digress... NO one is "safe" from GHC's jeers.  In their X-Files, they have slammed Wal-Mart, and Perdue's "dealings" with them. They have slammed Perdue's (typical Republican) stance on illegal immigration:

B.S. Perdue works with Mexican President Vicente Fox
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...

They have slammed Dems for, among other things, crap like:
The Great Campaign Issue Tug-of-War
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...

They slam the corporate "Atlanta elite" regularly, and always depict the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce as rats.  (Because "Hotlanta" sucks outlying tax dollars and spends them on "Atlanta pork".)

They have absolutely hammered sleazy Ralph Reed.  You know, the crooked "Christian" hypocrite?  (His GHC "theme song" is Pink Floyd's "Money").   Check it out:
Ralph Reed's Cash Laundry
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...
They pull no punches. Ralph Reed at the Pearly Gates
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...
and New Ethics System
http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...

Reed lost his primary bid, thank you very much.  Cathy Cox?  Our Democratic Sec. of State who certified the Diebold machines?  Ditto. (That was more of a "whisper campaign", but this demographic didn't appreciate her "doin's", either.)  

(So couldn't these two loyal minions have "hacked" their way to victory, if the machines truly ARE crooked, you ask?  Of course not.  They are used-up goods. The Repub party bosses wanted to disassociate from both.  They will hack when they're good and ready to hack, understand?  So the "machine fight" is still necessary.)

GHC has an entire series of "The Dukes of Heritage vs. the Dorks of Hotlanta", where they represent the Dukes and Perdue is "Boss Sonny", among other characters.  The GHC "speaks for" rural GA.  This should be heartening.  Here's THAT series: http://georgiaheritagecouncil.org/...

So go check out their parody.  But be forewarned, those little "X-Files" are like potato chips - ha.  And you can no doubt dig around the site and find something to get "ruffled" over, but remember:  United We Stand, Divided We Fall.  Focus on common ground.

At this point, I consider any enemies of my enemies to be "friends".  And I see the neo-con, Republican corporo-fascists as the most serious "enemy" to threaten this country in my lifetime.  Any group that has the sense and leadership skill to point out corruption, perpetrated by ANY party, and herd voters away from it, has my support.

Finally, here's the e-mail going around (the font was all the same, except for LARGER parts, so please forgive this lack of formatting perfection...I

SUBJ:  How to Hack a GA Voting Machine!

ACTION at bottom.  Physical security is extremely critical, and THAT's often shoddy.  (For example, see "Voting Machines Sitting in FL Living Rooms", Aug. 18, '06,   http://www.dailykos.com/... )  And who "in the loop" can you trust?
=============
Three short videos.  First demonstrates the method described in the article below.  Other two show software hacks.:
"How to Hack a Diebold Voting Machine" (2 min)  GA's kind.  Oh. My. God.  Get a phillipshead screwdriver, and download "your" data.   There are visible printer/printer power ports, also.  Who says it can't print "receipts"?  Loaded slooow for me, though.
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
"The Chimp Video"  Baxter the Chimp Hacks Diebold GEMS Audit Log  (1 min, 7 seconds)  http://video.google.com/...   Classic - don't miss - ha!  I can not believe someone did this!  THAT's the American spirit!  Loaded fast.
"A 15 Minute Demonstration Hack of a Diebold Voting Machine."  (15 min) It's worth 15 minutes to understand what has been done to voters all across this nation.  You will be SHOCKED.  You will be ready to choke some people.  Cobb Co., GA mock-up.  The author of the piece below regarding hinky hardware, Jim March, previously demonstrated Diebold's GEMS (Global Election Management System) software.  He demonstrates the use of built-in loopholes for changing vote tallies without raising red flags!  Clever bastards...   Loaded pretty fast.  I just did other stuff 'til it loaded, then watched it straight through.  http://video.google.com/...
"How to Hack the Vote: The Short Version"   http://www.chuckherrin.com/...  Supplementary reading.  Another damning demonstration of GEMS.  "That's right - even if you used the older systems like optically scanned ballots, your vote can still be Hacked when the numbers all come together.  Wanna see how easy it is?"  And THIS is disgusting - GEMS and CA knowledge:  http://www.bbvforums.org/...  
=============
http://www.bbvforums.org/...

7-31-06: Georgia, Maryland Touch-screens --
New security defect evidence*

Guest blogged by Jim March

The Diebold TS voting machine (what Global/Diebold called internally the "R6") now stands as the most stunning failure to date of the federal and state certification processes.

[Reproduces entire entry, with key words highlighted in red.]
==================

CITIZEN'S TOOL KIT TO TAKE BACK ELECTIONS

Click this link: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/... to download the Citizen's Tool Kit. If you haven't taken personal actions to take back your elections, now is the time to start.

You own your government, not the other way around. This is your task: Pick 1 thing and just DO IT. Then lead, mentor or organize 9 people to do the same thing.  

===================
http://www.voterga.org/

"On July 13, 2006 a group of Georgia citizens, organized by VoterGa.org, filed suit on behalf of all nine million current and future Georgia voters contending that our current electronic voting method is illegal and unconstitutional according to state law. The charges may seem overstated to an uninformed observer but this overview of the 7 legal counts reveals the unreported detail: [...]"  As you can see, all seven counts of the suit are very strong.

Georgia needs your immediate help so that we can take appropriate legal action to restore voting that can be verified, audited and recounted. Freedom is not free. Please click the Donation button to contribute or mail your contribution to:

Voter GA    P.O. Box 808   Decatur, Ga. 30031

We are a volunteer organization so all money that you give will directly offset the legal expenses of preparing, filing and arguing this suit to preserve the principles of democracy in Georgia.  See the Contribute page for information about special gifts for donors. Thank you.
---------

From their "History" Page:  
Did your vote count in the primaries?  How do you know?

In 2002, Georgia implemented electronic voting that cannot be verified, audited, or recounted.. In 2004, just 2 years after a $54 million electronic voting "revolution", Free Congress Foundation ranked Georgia dead last nationally in voting systems and procedures. The reasons are simple:
*    No Georgia voter can verify that their ballots were cast correctly;
*    No poll worker can verify that any voting machine counted votes correctly and;
*    Recounts are now impossible since we can only reprint previous unverifiable results
[... Reproduces entire page text.]

The End.