Friday, November 25, 2005

Technicians show vote sequence remains in the voting machines Despite denials that this was possible by the CNE since the recall vote, technicians from the opposition showed international observers from the OAS and the European Union that it is indeed possible to know the sequence of votes from the voting machines used in Venezuela. This had been repeatedly denied by the both the CNE and Smartmatic the company that makes the machines. Given that separately there is a fingerprint grabbing machine,the two together would allow for the identification of the voter. The OAS and EU have sent a letter to the CNE asking to insure that this may not be done. Sure, but what happens to the "old" elections done under this same security leak? I hope they send their findings to the Carter Center, maybe they may learn something useful for the future. 8:38:18 PM    comment []

A new Coat of Arms according to Tal Cual Could not help but post this new version of Venezuela's coat of arms which accompanied today's article by humorist Laureano Marquez in his letter to Chavez' daughter. You see, last Sunday in his Sunday program Chavez said he was thinking of changing both the flag and the coat of arms. The flag by adding an eighth star to symbolize Guyana (which Venezuela claims half of) and the shield to change the horse, because his daughter Rosines told him that the horse looked dull, so he wants a more dynamic looking one, turning "left" (Chavez' words) In the article, Marquez first suggests a Golden Retreiver, but later suggests why not a turtle, since Chavez had said she had a turtle and in Marquez' own words : "It would be emblematic of how slow we are for everything" 6:15:19 PM    comment []