Special to BRAD BLOG by BTC News White House Correspondent Eric Brewer

Hundreds of people who came out on a cold January evening to hear Congressman and Marine Corps veteran Jack Murtha speak on the war in Iraq were turned away last night from an overflowing town hall meeting in Arlington, Virginia, that was organized by my congressman, Jim Moran, who supports Murtha's position that it's time to pull the plug on Bush's excellent adventure. But among the 600 or so who did get in were several Iraq War veterans, all of whom criticized the war. One young man, who had served a year in Iraq as a sniper, finished up his statement with the following question:

That got applause from the crowd, although little in the way of an answer from the two congressmen. C-SPAN has video of all two-and-a-half hours of it here.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

As BRAD BLO reported when this story broke earlier this week, US air strikes north of Baghdad destroyed a house and killed an Iraqi family as they prepared for bed.

US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said that three suspicious men were seen by an unmanned drone. US Forces used precision guided munitions to destroy a nearby building.

Descriptions of the situation by local police and witnesses do not agree with the official version offered by the US military. Reuters quoted police chief Colonel Sufyan Mustafa: "I absolutely confirm there were no terrorists in this house."

Some believe that the US intends to increase the use of air strikes in coming months. Air strikes increased during the course of 2005 from 20 per month to 120 per month. In the December 5th edition of The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh writes:

This translated Syrian TV report is the only significant video coverage we could find detailing the deadly air strikes reported by BRAD BLOG earlier this week.

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Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

According to a January 3 article on VoteTrustUSA, Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron delayed the purchase of 800 Sequoia Edge touch screen voting machines that some New Mexico counties had chosen to meet federal accessibility requirements.

On January 5 Voter Action amplified and corrected the statements of the Secretary. In their press release, Voter Action said:

NOTE: There is presently NO Sequoia voting system that meets the presently in force voting systems standards. The best that Sequoia can do is to meet standards that are 15 years old. Today this reporter called the Election Assistance Commission and I was told that Sequoia has nothing close to federal qualification at this time. This means that counties who have purchased their voting machines on the promise of being compliant by January 1, 2006 cannot meet the Help America Vote Act of 2002 accessibility mandates.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Yesterday, TV evangelist Pat Robertson said that God may be punishing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for "dividing God's land". Sharon is in intensive care recovering from a serious stroke.

This is not the first time that Robertson has made controversial statements. Not long ago, Robertson was in the news for suggesting that the US should assassinate Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

In November, Robertson said that Dover Pennsylvania should not expect help from God when disaster strikes their city. The voters of Dover had rejected teaching "intelligent design" in public schools.

Robertson has also angered Muslims by calling Islam "a scam".

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What with all this talk of Abramoff, DeLay, corruption in DC, we have a strange feeling our old friend, Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL), may soon be finding his way into the news more and more in the coming weeks and months. For those reasons (and more to come), now may be a good time to remind BRAD BLOG readers who may not have been around during the Clint Curtis affair, just how dirty this guy is!

Of course, you can read the summary of Feeney's involvement with a computer programmer in Florida who was allegedly asked by the one-time Florida House Speaker, one-time Jeb Bush running mate, now-U.S. Congressman on the House Judiciary Committee, to create Vote-Rigging Software. That summary will also give you an idea of the confirmed Chinese Spies who worked at the same firm where Feeney was a registred lobbyist (even while he was Speaker of Florida's House) and how the computer programmer, Curtis, has passed given a sworn affidavit, sworn video-taped testimony before members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, and how he has passed a polygraph test concerning all of the above. All of the key articles in that series are also indexed here for convenience.

Then you can flashback to our coverage revealing that Tom Feeney was one of indicted former-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's #1 supporters! And vice versa! The two lovely Tom's are just like two peas in a corrupt pod!

So inseperable, in fact, that (in case you didn't know, we'll remind you) Tom Feeney took some of those very same Foreign Agent-funded overseas trips that DeLay did! Yup, Feeney loves his St. Andrews Golf as much as the next Tom. And trips to Asia? Don't even get us started! Here's a lovely breakdown of Feeney's trips as he was most recently listed as amongst the Top 13 "Ethically Challenged Members of Congress!"

Way to go, Tom! And we have a feeling we'll be talking much more about you in the not-too-distant future!

Perhaps it's a step up from "dissidents" as the AP once called them, but Election Transparency Advocates who turned out today at Arizona's Sec. of State Jan Brewer's speech to announce her re-election bid were labeled "anarchists" and "conspiracy theorists" by the woman who recently approved Diebold's flawed "AccuVote" touch-screen voting machines for use in virtually every precinct in the state.

During her speech today, according to the Arizona Star, "which boasted of the state getting rid of the last punch card ballots as part of her accomplishments since being elected in 2002 but one that never mentioned the Diebold contract" the Republican official in charge of ensuring free, fair and accurate elections in the state was repeatedly interrupted by advocates for transparent election who objected to the use of Diebold's failed machinery in the state.

Diebold's election equipment was recently shown to be hackable in a mock election test in Leon County, Florida, where the final results were completely flipped by computer security specialists. Over the summer, 20% of the same AccuVote touch-screen systems that Brewer approved on Friday, were found to have failed during a massive mock election test in California.

According to the Star, Brewer apparently dismissed the adamant concerns of the very voters she is (theoretically) in charge of serving:

In December of 2004, while members of several political parties had joined in challenging the results of Ohio's disastrously run Presidential Election, the Associated Press referred to those challengers who dared seek transparency in an utterly gamed election as "dissidents" which prompted one dubious American to reportedly ask at the time, "Great! So now we're dissidents?! What's next --- 'insurgents'?!"

No. Apparently "what's next" is that those who wish transparency and oversight and accountability in American democratic elections are now "anarchists." At least according to Arizona's shameful --- and hopefully out-going --- Secretary of State, Jan Brewer.

A useful thought for those considering running for the office of Secretary of State around the country: "It's the voters, stupid."

...CONTACT...
AZ SoS Email Contact Page: http://www.azsos.gov/info/contact_us.htm
AZ SoS Office: 602-542-4285

Campaign Website: JanBrewer.com
Campaign Email: info@janbrewer.com
Campaign Office: 602-439-3425

UPDATE 1/8/05: Brad was on Air America Phoenix today to discuss, amongst other things, the incident above on the M&M Show. The hosts, Fred and Steve McChesney, were amongst the "anarchists" and "conspiracy" --- and later called "brownshirts"! --- who made poor Jan Brewer's life so difficult. Audio available here.

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Additional Reporting by Brad Friedman

The voting activist and election reform advocacy community was excited yesterday upon release of news about the signing of a new bill in Wisconsin, AB267, that originally included wording that would allow munipalities to "provide to any person, upon request, at the expense of the municipality, the coding for the software that the municipality uses to operate the system and to tally the votes cast". Indeed, The BRAD BLOG received many email reports last night about the "good news" concerning this bill.

The bill, as understood and reported by many, would have been the first time that voting activists would have been afforded the opportunity to actually "look under the hood" of voting machines by examining the source code used in the software in order to see what was really being done on the equipment supplied by Voting Machine Companies. So far, those companies have managed keep such source code secret and proprietary and away from the 'prying eyes' of the pesky public who has been forced --- by the corporate privatization of America's public elections --- to rely on such secret
software to accurately record and count their votes.

The apparent "good news," however, was incorrect, as The BRAD BLOG has learned. The language from the original bill was changed during the amendment process to strip it of the provisions that would have allowed the public inspection of the secret code!

The good news still left to report is that the bill, signed yesterday by WI Gov. Jim Doyle, will at least require a voter verified paper "record" for every vote cast. In theory, the measure would allow for a manual count or recount of votes in cases where the state determines such a count would be necessary.

Unfortunately, the version of the bill widely cited by election reform advocates was to the original language as introduced on August 24, 2005.

On November 3, 2005 a committee gutted the "disclosed source code" requirement with an Assembly Substitute Amendment 1. That amended deleted AB627 as introduced and replaced it with ASA1.

On November 10, that version was replaced in toto by Assembly Substitution Amendment 2 which is the version eventually signed by the Governor yesterday.

So, we are now going to have to wait for another day to "look under that hood"... Though that day may be coming soon...

The U.S. Senate convenes two weeks from now. George W. Bush could not wait and had to "recess appoint" the three latest additions to the Federal Elections Commission. You know how he is about those things. Hates to wait. And hates that whole annoying "Congressional oversight", "check and balances", blah, blah, blah stuff.

Amongst Bush's 17 recess appointments made today:

We had more previously on these characters when they were first nominated last month, including details on Bush crony von Spakovsky as well as Lenhard, who happens to be the husband of Vivica Novak (she, not just coincidentally, of TIME Mag/RoveGate fame). Novak will likely be testifying in some fashion concerning crimes surrounding the Bush Administration's alleged outting of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. Now, it seems, Novak will have to decide whether or not to give damaging testimony against her husband's boss.

Aside from being a key player in the 2000 Florida Election Boondoggle, a member of the extremist Federalist Society and a former Republican Party Chairman in Georgia, von Spakovsky was Bush's political appointee at the DoJ who recently made the papers as well. He was revealed to be behind the overriding of opinions given by career DoJ attorneys in the Voting Rights division concerning the Georgia Photo ID requirement laws and the Texas redistricting pet project of indicted former House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay. 4 out of 5 attorneys said the Georgia law would disenfranchise minority voters. While 8 out of 8 unaminously found the new Texas congressional map to be in violation of the law for similar reasons. Both of those decisions were overriden with the help of von Spakovsky and resulted in an effective gutting of the very heart of the 40 year-old Voting Rights Act of 1965 as we reported in early December. Who better to sit on the Federal Elections Commission?!

The Georgia law has since been found unconstitutional by two Federal courts and the Texas law is headed to the Supreme Court where still more Bush appointees will likely be sitting in judgement.

One party rule. America rocks! Except for this whole "Decade of Shame" thing we seem to be in the middle of...Lady Liberty weeps...More encouraging news on other matters tomorrow...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

The L.A. Times is reporting that Jon Stewart will be named as host of the 78th annual Academy Awards.

Stewart is expected to take a week off from hosting The Daily Show to prepare for the Oscars.

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Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

DRE's? Optical Scan? Diebold? ES&S? Not for the little town of Cheshire, Massachusetts! They've used paper ballots for 213 years and the system, they say, is not broken so it needs no "fixing"!

Furthermore, they suggest an interesting (and perhaps obvious) means for meeting the new Federal requirement for disabled voters...The absentee ballot!

According to The North Adams Transcript the "Voice of the Northern Berkshires", town Selectmen in the small city have signed a letter to Secretary of State William F. Galvin, giving notice that they would not comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, which mandates the purchase of an electronic voting machine for elections. (Note: There is actually no requirement for any electronic voting machines as noted in VotersUnite's "Myth Breakers: Facts about Electronic Elections")

Great news! Just in from WTHN.com in Connecticut...

And, in a message that we hope other states and counties will also hear loud and clear now that the 1/1/06 deadline for "Help America Vote Act" (HAVA) money has now passed, the article adds:

So we can now add Connecticut to the growing list of American states and counties, including:

- Leon County, FL
- Volusia County, FL
- St. Louis County, MO
- The State of California
- The State of N. Carolina

...amongst those who seem, at least partially, to be coming to their senses of late vis a vis the absurd proposition of instituting unsecured, uncertified, un-transparent, hackable, secret software to count votes in our once-great American democracy!

(Hat-tip to BRAD BLOG emailer Robert R.!)

UPDATE 1/5/05: More details today from AP:

We were remiss in pointing out originally, by the way, that Connecticut is home to Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, one of the authors of the original crappy "Help America Vote Act" (HAVA). We suspect he can't be too happy about his home state sticking with the older machines instead of caving to HAVA's many flaws. Oh, well. Too bad.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In an interview earlier this week on ABC Nightline, John Murtha explained how he came to believe that American forces should be redeployed from Iraq as soon as possible. The congressman made a trip to Iraq where he saw the futility of military operations. Every supply convoy was attacked. The commanders that Murtha met with expressed extreme discouragement at the progress being made in Iraq.

John Murtha believes in the necessity of having and, when necessary, using a strong military. After experiencing the situation in Iraq first hand, Murtha strongly believed that the Iraq war had caused long-term damaged to the Army. He now admits that he made a mistake by voting to grant war powers to the president.

ABC correspondent John Donvan was surprised to hear Murtha say that he wouldn't join today's Military. Murtha left college to fight for his country in the Korean War and went on to fight in the Vietnam war. He knows what he's talking about when he says that he understands why young men and women wouldn't want to join the military today. This is just one way that the Iraq war and the current administration are diluting the integrity of America's national defenses.

One of Donovan's questions prompted an emotional response from Representative Murtha. His voice trembled and he held back tears as he answered.

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It's another fashion "home-run" for Jack Abramoff! His smart head attire --- this time captured by eager paparazzi as the increasingly well-known GOP uber-lobbyist, took "a lap around the bases" of a Florida courthouse today --- attracts still more attention from an adoring press!

The BRAD BLOG just can't get enough of America's daring new trend-setting chapeau-wearing fashion mogul! And apparently, neither can the photogs who are now following him around whereever he goes!

And again --- since we know such luxurious adornments don't come cheap! --- we're happy to remind Mr. Abramoff that help is available if needed to ensure you won't have to "put a lid" anytime soon on your continuingly courageous profiles in haberdashery!

(A literal hat-tip to the style-mavens at Cursor.org for following up on our previous nod to the latest in Capital Couture!)

Good news (we hope). All three cable nets are reporting that 12 of the trapped miners have been reported as having been found alive...

AP has the breaking story here. The news, so far unconfirmed by officials, seems to be coming from "Family Members". We pray they have good info:

One of the minors was reportedly found dead earlier this afternoon.

I had hoped to post something on this today --- and perhaps David Edwards can update this item with some video --- but I was tremendously moved and impressed by the remarks and demeanor at the Press Conference very late last night (about 2am PT) by Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the mining company, International Coal Group Inc. His apparent candor and willingness to take all questions from reporters is something not often seen these days from CEO's or others who find themselves at such pressers (elected officials especially, of course). Hopefully David can add some video to this item, or the commenters can jump in with appropriate links to relevant items. A short account of the conference late last night is here.

UPDATE: WV Governor seems to now be confirming:

VERY LATE UPDATE: 2:38am Tragic news. The reports were all apparently wrong. All but one miner was found dead. Just now from AP...

Complete late update here...

Oh, well. At least we're killing women and children over there, so they don't get killed over here! Or something....Can you imagine the hue and cry if a terrorist bombed a house in residential U.S. and killed twelve citizens --- including sleeping women and children --- in the bargain? (Not to mention if the United States' statistical population equivalent of at least 30,000 citizens, as Bush recently admitted, had been killed by terrorists? You think the wingnut whackjob girly-men are quaking in their boots with fear of the boogey man now?! Just imagine. But I digress...)

From today's WaPo (via Truthout):

The Reuters account of the incident further makes clear how we are winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people through our efforts "over there":

No time for that, we suppose. And how dare he second guess America?!

In other related news (sorta), the "Commander-in-Chief" regaled military personnel who'd lost their limbs and much more in Iraq about his "combat with a Ceder" over the holiday weekend. Said the brave "War President" in a courageous statement to troops at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio over the weekend:

Phew! Glad he's okay! And so thoughtful to share such a harrowing personal tale with our brave troops.

Jerk.

(Hat tip Larry Johnson, who has additional thoughts on the above.)

UPDATE 1/6/05: A translated video report from Syrian TV on the 12 killed Iraqi civilians is now posted here. It's the only we could find on the --- apparently --- not newsworthy event.