Four great letters to the Union-Tribune editor, as published today in reply to their horrendous, irresponsible, factually incorrect and unsigned editorial posted a few days ago (which Emily Levy angrily and adeptly blogged about here a few days ago.)

One of the letters published comes from San Diego County Democractic Party Chair, Jess Durfee, who the original editorial smugly referred to as "the local Democratic Party boss." Biased much, Union-Tribune?

Want an extra laugh? This rightwing rag has been calling themselves a "watchdog" for the people in a series of recent TV ads. No, seriously. That's what they tell people. As laughable: Their published Mission Statement says: "Journalistic excellence is our commitment to readers. Above all, integrity." Apparently, they were just kidding.

Our most recent open thread is getting too long for those who must wait for the page to load.

So it's time for a new one.

Blog away!

Mimi Kennedy of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and Emily Levy of California Election Protection Network (CPEN) appeared smartly today in my usual weekly Friday slot on The Peter B. Collins Show. Somehow, from somewhere, off to the side of a blistering hot stretch of highway in the middle of the Great Plains, I found a computer and net access from which I could secretly listen in (don't tell them.)

A busman's holiday.

They were all three tremendous on the topic mess that is the Busby/Bilbray CA50 election fiasco and on the anti-American, democracy-hating, truth-averse San Diego County Registrar Mikel Haas and his facilitating partner-in-crime CA Sec. of State Bruce McPherson. They offer a few hints as well about what's to come on those topics within the next few days (and what it is that's been keeping me from getting fully off the grid for the last week or so.)

Give 'em a listen...

-- Mimi and Emily on the Peter B. Collins Show, 7/28/06 [MP3]

And one quick personal word about Peter B... He has, nearly single-handedly, devoted more air time time to the issue of Electoral Integrity over the past year or so than just about anybody else across the entire media spectrum. Not just with my weekly appearances, but with many other guests and discussions on the same issues. For that, this country owes him an enormous debt of gratitude. Especially while the bulk of the media still fails to deal with this issue head on. PBC's willingness to use his platform for the public good, instead of distraction, is not to be "misunderestimated". Thank you, Peter. I'll be back. Though hopefully not too soon.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

The federal government has opened a new chapter in its continuing assault on the truth and the people who tell it. On Wednesday, Russell Tice, a former National Security Agency (NSA) and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) analyst, received a subpoena requesting him to testify before a federal grand jury.

Why? According to a press release issued today by National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), Tice seems to see it simply as an attempt at intimidation.

But another reason lurks just beneath the surface: Tice has knowledge that, if it ever became public, would pose a serious challenge to one of the current administration's favorite projects --- secret and illegal spying on law-abiding American citizens.

Fortunately for Russell Tice, and for all Americans who love the truth and the freedom to express it, he is not alone in this. He's getting considerable support from NSWBC, an organization founded by Sibel Edmonds to support truth-tellers in government.

We have the press release sent out early today by NSWBC, which explains everything I've been saying. We also have an op/ed piece written by Sibel Edmonds, in which she makes a compelling plea for more whistleblowers to come forward. I will post both documents in full below and I encourage you to read them.

But that's not all we have ...

Dobbs has this to say (tongue in cheek) when talking about Diebold's denial of any problems while there is evidence of vote tallying problems, "A minor, minor consideration when one is holding an election is to be able to count the vote."

A written transcript follows...

Video in Streaming Flash format...
Video in Windows Media format...

Guest blogged by Chris Floyd

A slightly expanded version of the column appearing in the July 28th edition of The Moscow Times, as posted at Empire Burlesque.

The history of almost every religion is a tragedy of betrayal: the betrayal of the radical, egalitarian vision of its founders by generations of powerful elites, who twist and pervert the original principles in order to augment their own status, wealth and dominion. It has always been thus, but is nowhere more marked than among the "People of the Book" – Christians, Muslims and Jews – whose elites have for centuries steadily led their followers away from the sparks of light that shone in their beginnings, dragging them deeper into darkness, into error, until today the world finds itself mired in a new Jahiliyyah: "the time of ignorance."

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Meet Mark Jenkins, a Republican from Gate City, Virginia, who supposedly lost the 2004 mayoral race, but who stood up for his rights, and for those of the voters, and for democracy in general, after it turned out that his opponent, incumbent Charles Dougherty, had captured nearly 90% of the absentee votes, but less than 51% of the overall total.

After the usual number of shenanigans and attempted shenanigans, the result has been overturned, and now the supposed winner faces time in prison! And --- guess what --- the people behind the shenanigans appear to have been --- are you ready for this --- well-connected Republicans!

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

In a sidebar on the book-review "Edwards emerges from cancer with grace", The News & Observer's Rob Christensen quotes Elizabeth Edwards describing her husband John's side of a conversation with "unidentified individuals" ...

NB: Elizabeth Edwards' book, "Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength From Friends and Strangers", is scheduled for publication September 26 by Broadway Books. Christensen reviewed an advance copy of uncorrected galley proofs.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot, with a big assist from Brad and another from long-time BRAD BLOG friend and ally, Robert Lockwood Mills

Our friends at Diebold were all over the business pages yesterday, and the numbers seemed much more precise than the verbal descriptions. All the reports agreed that Diebold's second-quarter profits were down, compared to last year, by either 46 or 46.3 percent. They also seemed to agree on what lines of business Diebold pursues. And judging from what they've written, Dieblod has nothing to do with elections!

Pfew! What a relief! For a while there, I was starting to think these Diebold guys were a threat to our democracy! I guess I must have spent too much time reading Internet Blogs!

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

We've been reading some very interesting news today from John Stanton at Roll Call.

The full text is available to Roll Call subscribers only, but we have a few more excerpts after the fold.

Regular BRAD BLOG readers will have have seen this coming a long time ago.

So here's a big hat tip to Brad for being way-ahead-of-the-curve on this...

and now back to our story:

"More evidence tonight that many of this nation's elected officials remain somewhat out of step or just completely in the dark as far as their constituents are concerned. At least half the states in this country are now requiring a paper trail for electronic voting machine ballots. But in Maryland, that kind of common sense and concern about our democracy has hit a roadblock."

Video in Streaming Flash format...
Video in Windows Media format...

A written transcript follows...

Blogged on the road by Brad...

Mimi Kennedy, chair of Progressive Democrats of America, makes some noise re: the Busby/Bilbray election fiasco over at Huffington Post yesterday...

Lawless Elections: Sleepovers, Voter Vault and San Diego

Please note that PDA has been on top of this issue from Day 1, proving to be the only large national organization (along with VelvetRevolution.us, of course) to meet this issue with the seriousness that it deserves. For that, they deserve mountains of credit and support in return. Mimi has spoken at most of the CA50 Busby/Bilbray related Townhall Meetings and Press Conferences and has been organizing nationally to fight for accountability on this matter as well as to ensure the same mess won't happen around the country this November.

In other words, they're fighting for electoral integrity now rather than waiting until November. Their efforts should be a model for all groups, nationally and locally, who take election integrity seriously. As I've tried to stress many times, fighting for accountability in Busby/Bilbray now is about accountability across the nation prior to the election.

If there's one thing Busby/Bilbray teaches us, it's how difficult it is to fight for accountability after an election has been held when irresponsible, appointed elections officials like San Diego County Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas are given credibility by the media simply because they have a title before their name. No matter how little they deserve such credibility and no matter how illegally and irresponsibly they administer an election against the best interests of the very voters they are supposed to be serving.

And now...I'm back off the grid. Don't bother me. I'm trying to notice trees and mountains and the sky. (When the phone's not ringing...urgh...)