Guest blogged by David Edwards

Radar Magazine is reporting a buzz of unconfirmed rumors in D.C. that indictments may be imminent from Fitzgerald's grand jury:

If there is any truth to this rumor, we wonder how the indictments match up with Think Progress' list of 21 Administration Officials Involved In Plame Leak.

Meanwhile, The Raw Story has confirmed that Rove has been missing from White House events and that he may be a target of the probe:

Some are wondering if these rumors could simply be a Rovian stunt to distract from other very real and very damaging news?

...developing...

Guest blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.Org

In a move that some people found amazing and others expected, Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) has filed a new elections bill. HR-3910 ? Verifying the Outcome of Tomorrow's Elections Act of 2005 does nothing to verify the outcome of "tomorrow's" elections, but it does further the RNC's wish to keep as many poor, elderly, disabled, and people of color (in other words ? normally Democratic voters) away from the polls as they possibly can.

And who is this Rep. Feeney? If you recall, he was the person alleged to have asked for a programmer to write software to switch the touch-screen votes, undetected, in Florida. Clint Curtis, whose story was originally broken here at BRAD BLOG, was the programmer. When asked about this latest step by Feeney, he responded via email simply: ?Appears that Mr. Feeney is still trying to protect his fixed voting system?.

Around the water coolers on ?The Hill?, there has been talk that Rush Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550) would be going to mark-up sometime in October. It is timely that suddenly Rep. Feeney would produce a bill that will now allow the House leaders to blend the two bills and make one bill that represents their view of privatization of elections.

This bill provides for a voter verified paper audit trail but it leaves to the states how that audit trail will be used, if at all. No verification there.

{Blogged by Brad from the road...}

During my radio debate last weekend with Ann Coulter on the Ron Insana Show --- audio here (exchange in question at appx. 17 minute mark) --- Coulter correctly suggested that evidence needed to be presented in re: allegations about Sen. Bill Frist's potential misdeeds concerning sales of stock he owned in his family's hospital chain before he should be found guilty. While I agreed with that, I remarked that Coulter was more than happy to call Bill Clinton "a felon" and "a rapist" before evidence was put forward in court or any jury had found him guilty to those ends.

Insana followed up on the fact that Clinton was rarely given "the benefit of the doubt" in the media and by Coulter specifically in such matters.

She answered, in part, this way:

That interview, where Coulter sneared that she'd "moved on from Clinton" was October 1, 2005.

Meanwhile, back in Reality Land, a quick check of Ann Coulter's personal website reveals the following two articles in her "Quotations from Chairman Ann" section. The first was written on October 2, 2005 --- the day after her quote above.

And then there's this one, posted just four days prior to Ann's having announced that she's "moved on from Clinton":

Glad to see she's "moved on from Clinton".

At least she's a terrific spokesperson for today's Republican Party! Being, as she is, apparently genetically incapable of telling the truth. But more than adquately programmed to lie and then lie and then follow it up with a lie. And then lie about it.

Book publishers may feel free to contact me if they are interested in a pitch for a new best-seller: "How to Talk to Ann Coulter (If You Must)".

Special BRAD BLOG / Velvet Revolution coverage
of the Sep 24-26 Rally in D.C.
Guest blogged by Katrina Wilcox

What struck me the most were the buildings which house our seat of government. Old buildings. Massive buildings. Awe-inspiring columns in front. Quotes carved in stone. All representing huge monuments to our history as a nation. Made my heart swell with pride to know that generations ago the citizens who came before us believed that America was worth the anguish and danger and, yes, disruption to their normal lives to struggle against all odds to shape a nation in the best way they knew possible.

And what pissed me off the most, after my great sadness at the number of Iraqi and American lives lost because of this administration, was the fact that the corrupt criminals in power are dragging our wonderful, beautiful, capable-of-so-much-more-goodness country through the sewer. We can't blame our founding fathers. They did their best to protect us from what the future might hold. They couldn't know that all the checks and balances they carefully placed for our protection wouldn't be enough against the greedy corporations and politicians that were to come. It is us - who are to blame. For not keeping a closer watch on our inheritance, for assuming that it was already the best it could be, for not struggling always to make it better.

Which leaves us where we are now. With a broken, corrupt, unfixable system of governance which has enabled fascists to take power and pillage and pocket the spoils of our hard-earned pride, security, and money. We - just a leaderless revolution made up of patriots who will not give up our country - are all that stand in the way of the bastards dragging our noble nation down into the depths of hell.

Yes, we have been waging a revolution since 2000 when depraved evildoers staged a coup d'etat. A revolution in which each participant decided on their own to dig in their heels, frantically grab onto whatever they could find to do, and scream NO at the top of their lungs while watching in horror as the usurpers continued to drag us kicking and screaming ever closer to the precipice of annihilation.

But we have been fighting to rectify the symptoms of the problem (corruption, torture, lies, war crimes, election fraud, media deafness, environmental problems, campaign finance abuses, etc.) instead of fighting to change the system of governance that is the root of the problem. Once we institute a new system of governance, all the different symptoms will disappear along with the old system. We must declare that the American experiment of a Constitutional Republic has failed, take back our country, and bring forth a New America.

We can march on Washington again and stay until our demand to get our country back is met. Or we can wait around while the villains in power continue until there is nothing left of value to pillage and destroy (whether at that time there will be any of us alive and free enough to pick up the pieces is open to debate).

Those are our choices. Facts we have to face. There is no one to rescue us. We are on our own. We must right this wrong and put in place a new system of governance that protects us and future generations from this EVER happening again.

Just as our founding fathers did their best to protect us - now it is up to us to be the founding fathers for the coming generations of Americans. If we don't get it quite right, future generations may also have their day in history when they have to become the founding fathers to correct against dangers that are unforeseeable to us now.

But history has placed you and me ... here ... now ... and it is up to us to take our great nation to the next level of democracy, equality, and freedom for its citizens.

We are the founding fathers of New America.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Marine Captain Josh Rushing has taken a job reporting for an Arab news network which is drawing criticism from some conservatives. He was recently interviewed by NBC's Today Show.

Video in Windows Media format...
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The Arab language news network Al-Jazeera has plans to begin broadcasting an English-language channel by Spring of 2006. The network already had 30 to 50 million viewers in the Arab-speaking world. The network has been called propagandists, liars and terrorists by many neocons like Donald Rumsfeld and Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly. Even so, Al-Jazeera is almost certain to be a popular news alternative for many English-speaking viewers when it launches.

{Blogged by Brad from the road...}

In a speech today to a "Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Symposium", Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, lauded himself, John Ashcroft and the Department of Justice for having made "enforcement of election fraud and corruption offenses a top priority."

Gonzales claimed, without any apparent irony, that "We will not tolerate the infringement of voting rights."

He also seems to have contained the instinct to laugh out loud at his very own words when he said, "The results speak for themselves; you're getting the job done and we are making progress."

Progress, indeed. Here are some of the not-ironic-at-all highlights (or lowlights) from his speech today... (Complete text here)

Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was re-indicted today on a second charge related to the $190,000 in corporate money that DeLay is said to have illegally participated in laundering for use in a number of Texas state races from 2002.

Using corporate money to finance campaigns has been illegal in the state of Texas for nearly 100 years. Yet DeLay, who had previously been indicted on criminal conspiracy charges in the scheme, is now being charged with directly laundering the money. All of which, incidentally, Republican apologist Ann Coulter has no problem with.

From this morning's NY Times:

{Blogged by Brad in Portland, OR}

Last week, Iraq War vet Paul Rieckhoff of OpTruth.org wrote a troubling blog item in which he discussed the DoD's lip-service given to supporting the troops, while sending at least 40,000 of them into harms way in Iraq with inadequate body armor. His item includes a link to a shocking video showing a sniper taking a clear shot at one U.S. troop who was lucky enough to have the appropriate armor!

Today, Rieckhoff follows that item up with another which includes an email from another troop currently serving in Ramadi, where 11 have been killed in the batallion within the last 10 days.

Rieckhoff notes:

The email from his friend in Ramadi complains about the lack of side armor on vehicles where troops are now being targeted every day by snipers and IED's, and goes on to say:

He goes on to add that, though they should have appropriate air support for their daily missions, they are not getting getting the air cover they need. And then he closes with this troubling phrase...

We continue to follow OpTruth's advice to "Really support the troops...Listen to them." We wish the DoD, and the American people, would do the same.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In a moment of true clarity on CBS's 60 Minutes, Andy Rooney says what many Americans are thinking about the Iraq war and the threat of the military-industrial complex.

Andy begins his rant asking:

Reading the transcript may help if you find yourself in a state of shock or disbelief after watching this clip.

CBS Streaming Video in Windows Media format...

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Audio in MP3 format...

{Blogged by Brad from Portland, OR}

Day 1 of the "National Summit to Save Our Elections" in Portland, Oregon, USA, gets some media coverage...In New Zealand's SCOOP...

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

This weekend's Special Edition of The BRAD SHOW is about to hit the airwaves [and the internet]. This week's show will be broadcast LIVE from Portland, Oregon, scene of the National Summit to Save Our Elections.

Brad's scheduled guests include Air America Radio's Thom Hartmann, 2004 Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb, Tribune Media Services journalist Robert Koehler, and vote-rigging software whistle-blower Clint Curtis.

Listen LIVE via the Web! Saturday from 7p-11p ET (4p-8p PT)!
Enjoy the repeat reBRADcast on Sunday 12noon-4p ET (9a-1p PT)

You can listen via the IBC Radio Network or KPFTX.org, or see The BRAD SHOW home page for more information.

It's free speech at its best, but it's not free!
Brad pays for the studio rental --- out of his own pocket --- at $500 per week!
So please donate here to help defray costs!
Every little bit helps, friends.

LIVE OPEN THREAD BLOGGING below: click on the "comments" link at the bottom-right corner of this item to join in!

{Blogged by Brad in Portland, OR}

Just finished my hour on the Ron Insana Radio Show with Ann Coulter...Well, half hour with Coulter. She left at the bottom of the hour for some reason.

Prior to the show, when Ron asked her off air if she would be able to stay for the full hour, she said "Well, I had it down for 30 minutes, so I'll have to let you know at the bottom of the hour if I can stay."

For some reason or another, she was then gone after the bottom of the hour. Hopefully, you can listen and decide for yourself why that may have happened.

UPDATE FROM DAVID: Audio of Brad's debate with Ann Coulter is now available to download [MP3]. The breaks have been cut from this version. Total playing time is about 35 minutes. Or you can listen below, right here...

UPDATE 10/4/05: SpoofNews has some amusing coverage of the Brad/Coulter debate.

UPDATE 10/25/05: Thanks to a BRAD BLOG reader, the entire hour is now available via text transcript!

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In a recent interview on MSNBC's Hardball, Tom DeLay explained how District Attorney Ronnie Earle had duped the grand jury into returning an indictment by saying "Oh sure. You can indict a ham sandwich. This is a ham sandwich without the ham."

DeLay has spun this indictment as a partisan attack by Ronnie Earle. At the same time, he downplays the role of the grand jurors as mere puppets of the prosecutor.

Now, in an interview with News 8 of Austin,the foreman of the grand jury, William Gibson, has stepped forward to defend the indictment:

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{Blogged by Brad from Portland, OR}

Cramming all of this into a single item, since I'm way up against it here in Portland where I'm speaking tonight (and all weekend) at the National Summit to Save Our Elections. If you're in the 'hood! Please come on by and say hello!

UPDATE: Our erstwhile engineer from our BRAD SHOWS in Crawford, Otie Mclay is here, and informs me he's currently streaming as much of the conference as possible LIVE right now at KPFTX.org! Go listen in!

Doing tons of media up here, trying to get the word out about the Summit and the grave need for Election Reform in America. (You can listen to two hours with me battling it out with "Conservative" Lars Larson yesterday, in studio, by way of example. Thanks for posting it, David!)

Got a call from the Ron Isana radio show folks inviting me to debate with ANN COULTER tomorrow morning at 9am PT (12noon ET). That should be fun. On Delay and Frist, etc. Will try to find a minute or two to bone up on it all late night tonight I guess! --- Insana is nationally syndicated all over the place.

UPDATE:See this item for listening links to hear the tape-delay version as it streams live again Saturday @ 3pm ET (Noon PT), and then for the archive posted thereafter.

It was nice to be in-studio, as well, this morning with Thom Hartmann up here. He's agreed to appear on The BRAD SHOW tomorrow (LIVE Saturday, 7p-11p ET or 4p-8p PT, with reBRADCast on Sunday at Noon ET). We'll have tons of stuff from the conference, loads of guests, including, but not limited to David Cobb, Clint Curtis, Robert Koehler, Ellen Theisen, and many more Election Reform All-Stars! We won't have phone lines, however, so you'll need to play along here at The BRAD BLOG in our Open Thread during the show.

Finally, and speaking of Election Reform All-Stars, Debra LaGuercio of the Daily Republic --- who picked up last week on our initial DIEB-THROAT story --- follows up with more on it this week!

It's a great column, that deserves to be read in its entirety, headlined, "Sadly, Dieb-Throat doesn't disappoint". It starts this way...

LaGuercio did receive "a deluge of feedback," but it wasn't what she had expected. Read the entire thing to find out how it came out. Wish I had more time to cover it today! But suffice to say, a new Election Reform All-Star is born in the media and her article ends simply "America - 1776-2004. R.I.P."

I'm reminded of the old Native American (I think) saying, "A path is laid one stone at a time."

Laying stones from Portland, OR...one at a time...and with your help...Talk to ya on the air tomorrow night! Brad

Guest blogged by David Edwards

For some reason the right-wingers seem frustrated and angry lately.

Yesterday, Brad was in studio with The Lars Larson Show for two full hours. The first hour was broadcast regionally. The second hour was a national broadcast with a much larger audience.

During the course of the show, Lars' tone seems to change from mature discussion to outright brawling anger. At one point during the second hour, Lars may have been briefly channeling the venomous Bill O'Reilly.

How did Brad handle the assault? Listen to the interviews and let us know what you think.

Lars Larson and Brad Friedman - Hour 1 (MP3)
Lars Larson and Brad Friedman - Hour 2 (MP3)

UPDATE FROM BRAD: Thanks for getting this posted, David! I wanted to toss out a kudos to Lars for being willing to have me on in the first place! Unlike so many of his wingnut brethren whose arguments are so weak, they won't even tolerate hearing an alternate point of view. For what it's worth, Lars is at least willing to do so. And that is to his credit! As well, he and his staff have been exceedingly generous and gracious in welcoming here in Portland. And now, I'll be debating with Ann Coulter in the morning (Ron Insana's National Radio show, 9am PT --- details on the top of the Blog as soon as I can get 'em!)