the Lasagna Report--

Dear Brad and everybody,

(I'm just throwing this in here because it's the most recent post and I want to share.)

Went to see Glenn Greenwald and Noam Chomsky talk this afternoon in Cambridge. The gist of what I said/asked in the Q&A was this--"The U.S. Attorney scandal, the bogus Acorn scandal, the recent redistricting efforts, the assault on unions, the new photo ID requirements, the opposition to early voting and same day registration, etc. would all appear to be part of a war against the right to vote. Given that the people behind these efforts seem willing to say and do anything to promote their agenda, do you think it's reasonable to think that easily hacked, oft-failing voting machines which they own and operate with zero citizen oveersight would NOT be part of their strategies of disenfranchisement? And secondly, do you have any advice for how I might get this subject on the radar of my hero Glenn Greenwald?"

Chomsky said nothing. From Glenn's reply(at least I made him smile with my second question) I can only conclude that he just doesn't know much about election integrity issues and their profound implications. Sigh........

I bought Glenn's new book so I'd have a second chance to say a little something while he was signing it(and cuz I wanted to buy it). I told him that Brad Friedman over at Bradblog had been targeted in the same failed smear campaign efforts as he, that Bradblog was my primary source of information on election integrity matters, that Brad really was kind of a brother of his, and that I recommended Bradblog. Glenn said that the little he does know about election integrity matters he learned from Brad.

Thanks for the report David. (I covered Glenn's new book, a bit, in this recent report, just FYI, and hope to have him again on the Malloy Show in the not too distant future to discuss it.)

He and I chatted a bit just after the smear plot revelations, and in their aftermath at various times, for the record.

Also, FWIW, I'm never too hard on folks like him for not covering EI issues because the truth is, none of us can cover everything. We all have our own areas of expertise and its important he does what he does (and that I do what I do.) From time to time, however, both beats meet and he's linked over here from time to time, and I've done same for him.

Thank you, however, for raising the issue publicly, and continuing to help get it out there, speaking to its importance, on the public record!

Hey Brad, thanks for the response.

I know. I know. That's why in the hours and hours and hours I spent working on the best way to bring the issue up and try to discover where Glenn's consciousness was on it all, I ended going with non-confrontational, non-adversarial, non-demanding, non-needy words and phrases. There's so much to say on the subject and I can't help but feel that if he knew he'd be on it, and it might be soooo helpful to have another strong, popular voice helping to raise awareness on these issues we care so much about. But our issue is so weird and powerful and disturbing in its implications and if someone isn't really on to it, I sorta doubt you can rush them. Especially not in the context of a public gathering like that which is ostensibly for another purpose(although, of course, I'd argue that election integrity is inextricably intertwined with every other issue). I thought my best approach was to be simple, short, direct, and friendly and try to get his attention that way and hope for some sort of time-release seed germination or something. Anyway, I tried.

Also, signed up for an Elizabeth Warren volunteer meeting to try to bring her attention to these matters, but have not heard anything back.

I'm just up in Boston for two weeks. Mostly I've moved to Charlottesville as it's time for Mom to have a little more regular company and chauffeuring. How do you repay the gift of life?

Address of Scott Olsen's shooter has been released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XA-ASZndQ0

http://i.imgur.com/mrlqY.jpg

Judges don't charge, the police do that.

Glad the judge adjudicated the law to be improperly applied, then refused to commit the peaceful demonstrators to jail.