Happy Independence Day weekend! Stay safe! And we'll see ya on the other side...or as events warrant...

[Tricorner hat-tip to @BuzzFeed for the graphic...]

Of course, when ALL CAPS you know it's serious! This love letter comes from someone named Alan Rockman at Facebook. For some reason, I was not allowed to reply to him there and I could not find his profile listed publicly. So I'll have to reply to him here instead. Either he's set himself to remain completely private, or he's been booted from Facebook. Given this unsolicited, if very thoughtful note he sent me recently, I wouldn't be surprised by either...

I was interviewed over the weekend by OpEd News' Joan Brunwasser on the death of the recent 'Recounts for the Rich' legislation that had been sailing through the CA legislature until The BRAD BLOG's exclusive exposé detailing exactly what it would mean for citizen election oversight highlighted the dangers of the provision and helped to kill it.

See my thoughts on that, the Dems who were helping to pass the terrible Republican bill, some other recent voting news (both good and bad) for California, and a few other related thoughts (like who I really blame for all the Supreme Court disasters of late) in my interview with Joan...

In related news, I hope you'll take a moment this week to read Charles Lewis' article at Politico, "Why I Left 60 Minutes", for yet another helpful reminder of the radical importance of truly independent media, and why I so much need your help to survive here to continue all that we do.

My great thanks to those who have already donated of late! But if you haven't, please consider doing so. A one time donation is great. A monthly sustaining contribution is even better, as it may help, if we can get enough of them, to bring at least some stability to what we're able to do here as we head into another general election season, and as our eleventh year fighting as many good fights as we can, continues...

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We will be heading into election season proper in the months ahead. And we'd really like to be able to afford to cover it, and all that goes with it. As I've noted on a number of occasions over the past year or so, that is getting very difficult to afford here.

If you --- or a rich friend or two of yours --- can spare a few dollars to help assure that we continue independently blogging and broadcasting and covering stuff that actually matters free of corporate or partisan or foundational control or interference, it would be greatly appreciated. I continue to believe that's very important and I hope that a few of you will recognize the value in what we do here, and the value and perspective that we bring to issues that are often found absolutely nowhere else.

I know there are many sites and organizations out there asking you for similar help these days. Many of them are multimillion dollar organizations. We are not. When we ask for your support, it's because we really need your support to survive from month to month.

I'll be on the road throughout the weekend (family obligations), so it may be quiet here for a few days, but you can use the form below to help while we're gone. Please consider taking the 90 seconds or so that is required to do so. Monthly sustaining contributions mean the most, as they may serve to offer us some much needed stability in the year ahead, if you can afford to help in that way. If not, we're also very grateful for a few dollars or more to help with our costs, or even gas money, as we take some rare down time over the weekend as the first of a few short, but obligatory breaks over this summer season.

Thank you for your consideration, and especially to those who are able to step up and help out in any way...

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Dick and Dubya are back in the news! Now I wonder how that might have happened. On the upside, it allowed me to play some clips on this week's show that I first put together for a show back in 2006 (or earlier?)

Anyway, we talk about all of that and more on this week's BradCast on KPFK/Pacifica Radio, including:

• What was Dick Cheney's epic trolling of Obama really about? (Hint: Not necessarily Obama or even Democrats).
• Who's to blame for the current mess in Iraq?
• We take a whole bunch of great calls on all of the above, including one caller with a very interesting defense of Bush and Cheney.
• Some good voting news for Ohio, for a change.
• The fossil-fueled "War on Science" now includes war on science museums.
• Plus, as ever, Desi Doyen with the latest Green News Report (including some epic trolling by Obama of science deniers!)

Enjoy!

Download MP3 or listen online below [appx 58 mins]...

It's been a stupid busy news week this week, but I tried to fit as much of it as possible into this week's BradCast on KPFK/Pacifica Radio.

So grab a pencil to take notes and buckle up before listening. We've got a lot of exclusive reporting for you in this week's episode!

Among the stories covered this week: The ignored and unverified votes in the Eric Cantor Bombshell/Guessing Game; the shamefully retracted 2009 DHS Report on Rightwing Extremism in the U.S. in light of continuing and recent carnage from RW terrorism in the U.S.; the 'Tea Party' Trio's Mississippi Mystery Courthouse Caper in last week's Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in MS; the CA legislature's move to restrict election recounts to all but the wealthiest of individuals.

And, as if all of that's not enough, a few callers and the delightful and ingenious Desi Doyen with the latest Green News Report. Enjoy!

Download MP3 or listen online below [appx 58 mins]...

P.S. We've been asking of late, but few have answered the call. Please consider supporting The BRAD BLOG with a one-time donation or a monthly sustaining donation. Everything that we do here --- including our survival and our independence and much of the exclusive reporting offered for free above --- depends on your support to help us continue. It's getting very difficult to do so. So please consider helping us out if you can afford it. Every bit really helps!

After a couple of weeks off for the latest KPFK/Pacifica Radio fund drive, The BradCast was back at full throttle this week!

First up: Fred Karger joined us from the airport in Maine, fresh off his latest victory against the anti-freedom group calling itself the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). Karger, a Republican and long time political consultant for campaigns such as those for Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, was also the first openly gay candidate for President of the United States when he ran for the GOP nomination in 2012. On Tuesday, the state of Maine levied a record fine of more than $50,000 against NOM after finding, based on a complaint filed by Karger, that the group committed egregious campaign violations in their $2 million effort to ban marriage equality in the state 2009.

We discussed that, his similar victory out in California against NOM and the Mormon Church, the remarkable recent string of court victories in the marriage equality movement, and why the hell Karger is still a Republican.

Next up: My round-up of the woeful state of the CA Sec. of State's race, which holds its primary next Tuesday. From the Democratic candidate (Padilla) who willfully misled the public about his radical e-vote reform bill; to the other Democratic candidate (Cressman) who is great on campaign finance reform, but not as great on voting systems; to the Republican candidate (Peterson) who just can't seem to denounce disenfranchising polling place Photo ID laws, even though he claims to be against them; to the Green Party candidate (Curtis) who would love to see Internet Voting, but is now threatening to sue me and The BRAD BLOG for pointing that out to the public (and defaming us to boot!)

Good luck, California!

Finally: As usual, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report as the state of California learns the very very sad news that the fracking reserves in the Monterey Shale oil fields have only been over-estimated by some 2300%!

Enjoy!

Download MP3 or listen online below...

California's 2014 Green Party nominee for Sec. of State David Curtis has pretty blatantly lied about both me and this blog in a recent defamatory statement sent to a Monterey radio station, charging us with, among other things, having "post[ed] fabrications masquerading as journalism."

The demonstrably inaccurate allegations made by Curtis were included in a statement he posted on his campaign website "to KRXA/MontereyRadio.com," presumably in response to a discussion on the station about Curtis, following one or more of several articles we recently published here about the candidate.

Curtis, who in 2010 ran as the Green Party candidate for Governor in Nevada, is one of several Sec. of State candidates on California's June 3rd primary ballot, where the two highest vote-getters, from any political party, will then go on to compete in the general election this November.

The BRAD BLOG has run several different stories on Curtis of late, and he appeared live as my guest on KPFK/Pacifica Radio's The BradCast in April...

Over the weekend, Showtime's James Cameron-produced environmental documentary series, Years of Living Dangerously, released an online-only video segment focused on NJ Gov. Chris Christie's still-unexplained flip on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

RGGI is the very successful cap and trade system created by northeastern states to help curb global warming gasses. The video segment cites a piece of our exclusive 2011 blockbuster report featuring audio recordings of that year's secret Koch Brothers' Summer Seminar near Vail, CO, where Christie appeared as the billionaires' super-secret, superstar keynote speaker...

The video, as Grist describes it, "featuring food writer Mark Bittman grilling [Koch-funded] Americans for Prosperity henchman Steve Lonegan about climate change, muses on the possibility that Koch money funded Christie’s rapid retreat on New Jersey’s part in the regional cap-and-trade system RGGI." That is, of course, one of the issues we first posited when initially breaking the story, based on comments made during Christie's introduction at the seminar by David Koch.

Here is the complete audio (and transcript) of Christie's address and his intro by Koch, who calls the Governor his "true political hero" while describing another secret meeting the pair had in New York City before Christie suddenly pulled NJ out of RGGI in May of 2011, just weeks before the Vail confab.

"Another example of Governor Christie's commitment to the free enterprise system is that only a few weeks ago he announced that New Jersey would be withdrawing from the [Regional] Greenhouse Gas Initiative," Koch said proudly during his remarks to cheers and applause. The fossil fuel magnate then went on to lie to the crowd that RGGI "would have raised energy costs, reduced economic growth and led to very little, if any, benefit for the environment." On mention of the word "environment" a "boo" is heard on the audio from amongst the gathered millionaires and billionaires in attendance.

As I wrote at Mother Jones at the time (in the article seen briefly in the video as a clip of the Koch audio "obtained by a journalist" is played):

If you don't subscribe to Showtime, you can at least watch the first episode of the series, featuring Harrison Ford, Don Cheadle, Chris Hayes, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many other well-known journalists and scientists, online below...

It was a very independent and very activist-y BradCast on KPFK/Pacifica Radio this week, on a whole bunch of levels.

First up: Christina Tobin, Founder & Chair of The Free & Equal Elections Foundation --- and co-moderator, with Larry King, of the 2012 Presidential Debate where all of the major candidates were invited (as opposed to to just two of them). We discussed her group and their upcoming United We Stand Fest at UCLA on May 10th, which is set to feature a ton of very cool politicians (of all parties), journalist, musicians...and me.

Next: Why Tuesday's landmark decision in a federal court in Wisconsin, striking down that state's GOP polling place Photo ID restriction law is so important to the entire nation, and why Scott Walker and a whole bunch of Republicans across the country aren't gonna like it at all.

Then: Dr. Margaret Flowers of PopularResistance.org --- a pediatrician who left her private practice in 2007 to become a full time activist and advocate for single payer health care --- tells my why, despite what I see as Obamacare's very clear success, I'm completely wrong about it, why it's a "scam" and why she's a "conscientious objector" to the Affordable Care Act.

Followed by: A few brief remarks about the crushing loss this week --- for the entire nation --- of our friend Tim Carpenter, the indefatigable and relentless co-founder of Progressive Democrats of America.

Finally: As always, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report and a preview of more fossil fuel disasters to be covered tomorrow...

Download MP3 or listen online below...

Please consider donating to The BRAD BLOG to help us keep doing all that we do! You people are the ONLY people we answer to!...

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Today we crossed a milestone. As luck --- I mean, really smart planning a little over five years ago --- would have it, our 500th episode of the Green News Report just happened to be today...on Earth Day. Yes, we totally planned it that way.

Those who know The BRAD BLOG know that we have, for more than 10 years now, tried to cover what is important here. Stuff that really matters. Not stuff that may be popular. Not stuff that is meant to please any particular constituency or funder. Not stuff that will necessarily bring clicks and traffic and comments. Not 'listicles' and kitty photos and 'sideboob'. Rather, we try to focus on what you need to know and/or that which is not being adequately covered elsewhere.

To that end, we need your support to continue doing what so few sites are willing or able to do (much less for more than 10 years, as is the case with the blog --- and now more than 5 years bringing you and the public airwaves that will have us, 500 episodes of "independent green news, politics, analysis and snarky comment".)

In case you're wondering, nobody pays us to do the GNR. We do it because we believe it's needed and it's the right thing to do. I should say, nobody pays us to do the GNR other than you!

Please help us keep going. Your support here is, truly, the only chance that we've got. Please consider a donation below. A one-time donation of whatever you can afford is fantastic. A pledge of monthly sustaining support of whatever you can afford is even fantastic-er. Either or both are very much appreciated and very much needed.

Thanks for your consideration in helping us to both celebrate and survive...

- Brad & Desi

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Oh, now go listen to GNR's 500th episode!...

Follow @GreenNewsReport...

 


(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: It's our 500th episode of the Green News Report ...coincidentally on Earth Day! So, since every day is Earth Day for us, we thought we'd take a look back at the GNR's beginning and where it and climate coverage have gone since then. For better or worse. All that and more in today's very special Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Apple will now recycle your old products; Cowboys and Indians descend on Washington to Protest Keystone XL Pipeline; First Nations see no compromise on BC tar sands pipeline; Scientists discover way to generate solar power in the dark; Polluted Superfund site now home to solar panel farm; Environmental activist missing in Ecuador; Lead poisoning nightmare in Nigeria may be easing ... PLUS: BP Oil Spill Anniversary: 4 years later, the legacy of disaster in the Gulf ... and much, MUCH more! ...

I'm told I handled this morning's 6:30am earthquake very well. I remember it, if just barely. Half dream, half decisive action!...Or so I'm told. Then, back to dreaming until waking up later and confirming that it wasn't actually a dream.

Some of the local TV news anchors here, who were on air and on camera during the moment that the 4.4 magnitude temblor struck, handled it better than others.

Here's our local CBS affiliate in action as "disaster" struck...

Contrast the CBS-LA team's fairly calm response with that of the two anchors who were live on Tribune-owned CW affiliate KTLA at the time, particular the award-winningly hilarious reaction of Chris Schauble on the right, caught on tape for all of posterity...

I may or may not be able to blog for a few days, as I'll be on the road for a bit. (No, the police are not after me. Yet. Just need to take care of some outta state bidness.)

Please talk amongst yourselves until I return...No fighting, or I will turn this car right around.

A couple of things to not fight about: If you missed my story yesterday here at The BRAD BLOG on the Sunday "news" shows' shameful "debate" about climate change, Salon is re-running it today.

If you'd like to hear my 30 second version/re-enactment of pretty much everything you need to know from David Gregory's shameful Meet the Press climate change "debate" on Sunday's show, listen to yesterday's 5th Anniversary Green News Report.

Also, this investigative report by Inside Climate News, Center for Public Integrity and the Weather Channel is a blockbuster on the unreported air quality health hazards of the massive fracking boom now taking over much of Texas; the state's hard work to not notice or report it to the public; and the seemingly rotten-to-the-core corruption of the Lonestar State's public officials and agencies who are supposed to be regulating it all and keeping its citizens safe from these types of catastrophes.

This chart from the year-long investigative study offers an idea of just how upside down --- in favor of the oil and gas companies and against the citizenry --- that the Texas system has become...

Back, hopefully, soon! (As ever, tips for road money are tremendously appreciated and very much needed!)

I've been looking back at some of our most noteworthy stories over the years, in the course of reflecting on The BRAD BLOG's 10th Anniversary.

As I was digging into the archives, I was reminded again that while many folks know us for our coverage of election integrity issues, voting machine problems, whistleblowers, etc., it was our scoop about a story concerning the George W. Bush White House in the lead-up to the 2004 President Election that was our first to "go national" and have a direct effect on the national political discourse.

It was before we had even begun digging as deep as we eventually would on the e-voting beat, and the fallout from the story itself resulted in national pick-up by the MSM, pressure on officials and questions at White House press conferences, an academic study (years later) and, the most fun part, the Bush White House eventually being forced to spend what must have been an enormous amount of man hours restoring date to the White House website in the week before the actual election that year...