Evil in our midst

From time to time, the evil in our midst becomes just a little too much for me to not write about it.

I don't know which is worse for our country, the so-called free trade agreements that allow other countries to poison our food supply, or Hollyweird trying to poison our childrens' minds, or the attempts by certain corporations to undermine democracy by poisoning our voting system.

Poisoning our voting system:

I voted tuesday, and once again, e-Slate voting machines (known as direct recording electronic - DRE - voting systems) were the thing advertised in the polling place. Fortunately, several of us who know about computers and voting machines were there (at least while I was there to vote) to insure they could not falsely tell people the machines were secure.

I should note that e-Slate is just one of several systems in use, and I only name it because it is the poison of choice here in Central Texas. None of these systems can be trusted unless they print out a paper ballot and allow you to drop the paper ballot into a ballot box. This has been proven over and over, and the corporations who build and market this snake oil keep hiring "experts" to tell us what they are paid to tell us.

One site I recommend for good info is Verified Voting Foundation.

Article discussing Corporations trying to hide the facts.

And a Resolution on Electronic Voting that is also a good digested read on the issues.

As a parting word on the subject: Several of us stated that we worked with computers and therefore understood that the systems could not be trusted, and so we wanted paper ballots. I wonder, in order to preserve the economic interests of these manufactures, will they make such statements illegal in the future? (currently it is only illegal to discuss items on the ballot at the polling place, not the ballot itself) And might they try to force us to change to the DRE systems by creating shortages of the paper ballots? (This is how Microsoft forces us to new computing platforms.)

Poisoning of our childrens' minds:

Golden Compass is a movie designed to counter "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" Release Date is planned for Dec 7, which is ironic for something designed to help undermine the US by undermining our Christian heritage. On the other hand, it is perfect for the kind of sneak attack on our values that this film represents. Plot Outline is stated:

In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization.

But the mysterious organization is a thin veiling of the Christian Church and
to save her best friend, she has to kill God.

A little more on the controversies surrounding this project.
His Dark Materials

Deliberate poisoning of our food by eastern nations:

I heard on the news today, in addition to lead paint on our toys, several oriental countries have been shipping us tainted fish.
This is a good read from Fox News.

This has been known since June

Why are Americans falling for the "free trade" crap? Just a quick rundown
from a WorldNewsDaily article:

Those reports, so far, have documented poisoned pet food, seafood unfit for human consumption because it was produced in sewage-contaminated water, toys and fireworks that were dangerous, electrical products that failed to meet safety standards, even honey that had been tainted with a potentially life-threatening antibiotic.

Free Trade? Does anyone remember the occasional defect in our food supplies that resulted in the possibility of contamination with hormones, genetically enhanced food, or other problems? Possibility. Our food was banned immediately and completely.

I guess the "free" in free trade only runs one way. We must live up to perfect standards, and the rest of the world (china in particular) is allowed to get away with literally murder.

There is a concerted effort afoot to undermine our nation, and we had better wake up and do something about it.