Rhaomi
07-11-2006, 21:05
I just read about this the other day, and I was wondering if anyone else has heard about it.
There is a parody website called georgewbush.org (http://www.georgewbush.org) that has been in existence since 2000. It is often confused with Dubya's official campaign site, georgewbush.com (http://www.georgewbush.com).
The most striking confusion came when several dozen emails from various Bush campaigners were accidentally sent to the parody site rather than the official one. Some of these emails were... most revealing.
On August 26th, 2004, the Dead Letter section of the parody site recieved two emails entitled "Caging" and "Caging-1". The emails themselves simply stated what the day's "total" was (i.e., "The total as of today is #"). Attached to the emails were Excel spreadsheets containing the names and addresses of thousands of registered voters in the Jacksonville, Florida, area.
This struck the site's proprietors as highly suspicious. After all, "caging lists" (lists of voters based on race, income, party affiliation, etc.) are important tools used in voter suppression. With such lists, party operatives are able to strategically challenge the votes of people likely to belong to the opposition.
So, an investigation was conducted. After crunching the demographics, the answer was clear -- the vast majority of names on the list were from black-majority neighborhoods. The Republican Party had drafted a list of black voters in Jacksonville, which it would then use to challenge and strike down thousands of Democratic votes. It was a clear case of voter intimidation, not to mention blatantly racist.
So, why was this never a big story? Why was nothing done? All the evidence is still available:
Dead letter archive (http://2004.georgewbush.org/deadletteroffice/index.asp)
Censored image (http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7097/caginglg0.png) of one of the caging lists
If you have Excel, go ahead and peruse these lists for yourself.
What I fear is that crap like this is still going on, under the radar. If nothing is done when clear evidence of fraud is uncovered, how can we expect anything to be done when the issue slips under the radar altogether?
Now, excuse me while I go vote...
There is a parody website called georgewbush.org (http://www.georgewbush.org) that has been in existence since 2000. It is often confused with Dubya's official campaign site, georgewbush.com (http://www.georgewbush.com).
The most striking confusion came when several dozen emails from various Bush campaigners were accidentally sent to the parody site rather than the official one. Some of these emails were... most revealing.
On August 26th, 2004, the Dead Letter section of the parody site recieved two emails entitled "Caging" and "Caging-1". The emails themselves simply stated what the day's "total" was (i.e., "The total as of today is #"). Attached to the emails were Excel spreadsheets containing the names and addresses of thousands of registered voters in the Jacksonville, Florida, area.
This struck the site's proprietors as highly suspicious. After all, "caging lists" (lists of voters based on race, income, party affiliation, etc.) are important tools used in voter suppression. With such lists, party operatives are able to strategically challenge the votes of people likely to belong to the opposition.
So, an investigation was conducted. After crunching the demographics, the answer was clear -- the vast majority of names on the list were from black-majority neighborhoods. The Republican Party had drafted a list of black voters in Jacksonville, which it would then use to challenge and strike down thousands of Democratic votes. It was a clear case of voter intimidation, not to mention blatantly racist.
So, why was this never a big story? Why was nothing done? All the evidence is still available:
Dead letter archive (http://2004.georgewbush.org/deadletteroffice/index.asp)
Censored image (http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7097/caginglg0.png) of one of the caging lists
If you have Excel, go ahead and peruse these lists for yourself.
What I fear is that crap like this is still going on, under the radar. If nothing is done when clear evidence of fraud is uncovered, how can we expect anything to be done when the issue slips under the radar altogether?
Now, excuse me while I go vote...