In a study released today, computer-science researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Rice University are warning of security risks with the new electronic voting machines made by Diebold.

In a study released Friday, computer security experts warn that an electronic voting system used in some states, including Georgia, as an alternative to the troublesome punch-card ballots is highly vulnerable to fraud.

The study found "significant security flaws" with the system designed by Diebold Election Systems. The system was vulnerable to unscrupulous voters as well as "insiders such as poll workers, software developers and even janitors," who could cast multiple votes without a trace, according to the study.

The system allows ballots to be cast on a 15-inch touchscreen. The study was the first review of the software by independent researchers. Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins University, a lead researcher on the study, said there is no quick fix for the software.

Here is our background post to this.

Sami Al-Arian, the Tampa professor charged with terrorism crimes, is going the route of Zacarias Moussaoui and demanding to proceed pro se--i.e., acting as his own counsel. He has fired his court appointed attorney.

The Judge urged him to reconsider. We would too. Al-Arian is trying to get the money together to hire Washington, D.C. defense lawyer (and former NACDL President Bill Moffitt. Moffitt is partners with Hank Asbill, and both are terrific lawyers. We hope Al-Arian can raise the money for them. The alternative, self-representation, is not very promising.

Bump and Update: Welcome 5280 Readers! Enjoy the site, and yes, we accept donations . If you're an advertiser, we consider small, tasteful ads that do not detract from our message.

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A big thanks to journalist Dave Cullen of Conclusive Evidence whose article on Colorado bloggers comes out tomorrow in Denver's upscale magazine, 5280. TalkLeft is one of the featured blogs, along with Stephen Green of VodkaPundit, Walter of WalterinDenver and Andy O'Reilly of World Wide Rant. We haven't read the whole thing yet, just the quotes Dave put on his site. Here's one of our's:

"When I'm on [FoxNews'] Hannity & Colmes, a milllion people may see me," she says. "But how many of those people are really interested in what I have to say? But when I blog, people are reading me because they're interested in the liberal viewpoint."

[Then later in the piece:]

"It's the response that keeps you going," she says. "People are really reading. And through the comments, you can see they're thinking and discussing. You know you've hit a chord, and it pumps you up."

More violence is predicted in Iraq following the killing of Saddam's sons. In related news, the U.S. says it has captured the sons' bodyguards who are now talking about the sons' lives on the run since Saddam's defeat. The real question, of course, is whether the bodyguards will lead the U.S. to Saddam. Will Saddam stick around to find out?

Andrew Marshall, a Reuters journalist writes this first hand account of being one of fifteen reporters allowed into an air-conditioned tent to view the restored bodies of Uday and Qusay. According to Marshall, here's what is causing the conspiracy theorists to say the bodies are not really those of Saddam's sons:

U.S. military official said "facial reconstruction" was used to repair wounds, particularly to the face of the elder son Uday, which had disfigured the bodies shown originally to the public in photographs taken by soldiers after the battle.
An uncharacteristic beard on the body of Qusay, seen in those U.S. pictures, had been shaved off, leaving a mustache.

nside the tent, U.S. officials said it was standard practice to use morticians putty to prepare bodies for viewing and was not intended to fool the Iraqi people.

But while it may be common in the United States, the move is unheard of in the Arab world. That could affect Washington's efforts to quash Iraqi conspiracy theories that the bodies are not in fact those of the once powerful and hated sons of Saddam, who is believed to be still in hiding in Iraq.

We're not doubting that those are Saddam's sons. People look different in death and particularly after being embalmed. We've seen too many Six Feet Underepisodes to be repelled or think it's unusual. Not to mention, DNA tests were reportedly done on the pair.

Received by e-mail from The Nation:

Yesterday, Senator Charles Schumer called for an FBI investigation into who illegally leaked information to columnist Bob Novak that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife was a CIA agent. Newsday and the Palm Beach Post ran their own stories on the matter, the Washington Post buried it in a piece on the former CIA director, and a few small newspapers carried the AP story.

If Novak's reporting is correct, this is a blatant attempt to smear a Gerald Ford appointed, career diplomat and his wife. It's also a federal crime. Joseph Wilson spoke truth to power in his New York Times op-ed which rekindled interest in the Niger/uranium lies, and now he is being punished by the White House in an act to intimidate other people from speaking up.

Please do not let this abuse of power go under-reported. For background.....

• David Corn's original report which pointed out the illegal activity

• Corn's follow-up

• Schumer's press release calling for an investigation

• Wilson's New York Times op-ed

In Peace-loving Nuns Have Become Cause Célèbre, Rocky Mountain News columnist Mike Littwin explores the absurdity of the plight of three nuns in Colorado who are being sentenced today in federal court for damaging federal property. They are expected to receive between five and eight years.

Our story today is of the three nuclear nuns, who, in the name of peace and in the name of Jesus, committed this crime at a Minuteman III site in northeastern Colorado: They cut a chain-link fence; they banged a missile silo with a hammer; they poured some of their own blood on the silo; they waited in their hazmat suits to be taken away.

And if your government has its way, the nuns, who have dedicated their lives to saving the lives of others, will spend the next five to eight years in federal prison. Sentencing is set for Friday. Protests are set at 49 nuclear silos statewide for Saturday.

Here is one of today's news article on the case.

Update: The nuns have been sentenced: Hudson - 30 Months, Gilbert - 33 Months,Platte - 41 Months. They will also pay $3,080 in restitution.

Cuba's former ambassador to Belgium, who later spent many years in a Cuban jail as a political prisoner, now 76, writes this very moving New York Times op-ed, A Prisoner Becomes a Warden. It's about prison life in Cuba and about Castro. Here's a quote:

Four months ago, 75 brave Cuban dissidents were rounded up and two weeks later sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years. Unlike us so-called Moncadistas, today's dissidents did not use violence. Their "weapons" were typewriters, cameras, radios and tape recorders. They are writers, doctors, lawyers, economists, teachers, peasants and human rights activists who believed, naïvely, that their ruler and former revolutionary leader would at least tolerate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (of which Cuba is a signatory) instead of jailing people for possessing and distributing it.

Lately I have been reflecting, after 50 years, on trial and punishment, on the tragic contrast between Fidel Castro, inmate, and Fidel Castro, prison warden.

A new state law in Illinois prevents doctors from being present at executions:

A measure signed into law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday will take doctors out of the execution process in Illinois. The law currently requires that a physician be on hand to pronounce an inmate dead after the death penalty has been carried out.

The physicians felt this was a conflict of their Hippocratic Oath," said state Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), the sponsor. "It was totally unnecessary to have a physician in that position. This says a coroner could easily determine the cause of death."

We understand from Rev. Mr. George Brooks, Director of Advocacy for Kolbe House in Chicago, that praise goes to the tenacious Dr. Ann Dunlap, who fought and lobbied for this legislation for over 10 years and got the Illinois Medical Association on board.

Here is a presentation in pdf. format that explains the Patriot Act's changes to the money laundering and forfeiture laws. It was published on the In Defense of Freedom list-serv and forwarded to us. Lawyers and journalists should find it especially helpful.

Here is the 77 page opinion dismissing the terrorism counts against New York lawyer Lynne Stewart. Civil Liberties expert Elaine Cassal provides her take on the decision. She begins,

John Ashcroft must be tearing out his primly coiffed hair about now. On July 21, Federal District Judge John G. Koeltl (Southern District of New York) dismissed the terrorist charges against New York attorney Lynne Stewart. In a 77-page opinion, Judge Koeltl agreed with famed civil rights attorney Michael Tigar's argument that the anti-terrorist act under which she was charged was overly vague as applied to attorney speech and conduct related to client representation.

Here are the details of the Lynne Stewart case. Our coverage of the case is here. Here's one of the reasons we think the case is chilling.

In Counterpunch, David Lindorff writes Ashcroft Rebuked: Lynne Stewart's Big Win

The National Law Journal provides this in-depth analysis of the Judge's decision.

Why are Bush and Ashcroft insisting that Haitians who have been granted asylum continue to be detained? This makes us so angry.

Four months ago, immigration lawyers rejoiced after a federal judge granted political asylum to two men who scrambled to shore with more than 200 Haitians when their boat ran aground near this city last year. One man had left Haiti after the killings of his brother and sister. Another had fled after a pro-government mob attacked his house.

....Today, the two Haitian men are still behind bars, even though the judge determined that their fears of persecution were legitimate. Federal prosecutors have appealed that ruling and government officials have ordered the continued detention of the two men until the appeal is decided, a process that could take several months.

There's lots of good articles on the Senate panel's 900 page report on intelligence lapses by the CIA and FBI.

If you have the time, here is the link to the full report. If you want the shorthand version, here are some key excerpts. All of the New York Times coverage is accessible in one place, here.

David Corn in the Nation provides this analysis, conlcuding that the report is an Indictment of both the intelligence agencies and the Administrations charged with their oversight. Financial Times asks about the Saudi Connection.