Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Who are you gonna believe? A reporter who has been reporting from the scene --- live on the ground at Camp Casey --- or a bunch of talking heads who haven't been anywhere near any of it? A short new column by Scott Galindez, published on the truthout.org website today, puts the question in a good clear perspective --- in fact it's so short, and so good, that it's probably worth quoting in its entirety.

I don't expect the mainstream news anchors to answer Scott's questions anytime soon ... at least not in so many words. But if you watch them closely you can see that they do answer these questions --- very clearly, every day!

UPDATE: Cindy Sheehan has received some bad news today. As reported by Scott Galindez,

Now we see who pulls Cindy Sheehan's strings! It's her mother.

Best wishes to Cindy Sheehan, and her mother, and their family, and their many friends and supporters.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Recently, in a few different contexts, people have mentioned a new study by Dr. Dennis Loo which proves once again that the 2004 Presidential election was stolen. BRAD BLOG reader and frequent commentor, VDRES, pointed out an article about it here, in fact. So you may have read it already. But I suspect you probably haven't. And that's too bad, because you should.

The introduction reads as if it were intended for The Whispering Campaign:

The list goes on...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

As our readers know, The BRAD BLOG has been a leading source for investigations and reports into the nefarious (and possibly illegal) actions of high-level GOP Operatives that have established a tax-exempt, 503(c)(3) organization called the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR). The group, since its creation, has released false and misleading information intended to advance GOP plans to disenfranchise millions of voters via legislation calling for national voter registration databases and a demand for photo IDs at the polls.

Increasingly, the mainstream corporate media and independent media sources have caught on to the "dirty tricks" being used by these GOP operatives though the cynically named ACVR.

We were pleased to see a recent article, penned by Dimitri Vassilaros, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review titled: 'Study' is political fraud. Vassilaros writes:

Not surprisingly, Vassilaros discovers that the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania has values similar to the organizers of ACVR...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

A reader of The BRAD BLOG submitted this video from one of Wednesday night's solidarity vigils in support of Cindy Sheehan and the anti-war movement.

The original posting can be found at Randi Rhodes forum.

Watch the video (Windows Media format).

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

But that didn't happen, did it? They never did "take out that cell". Why not?

Read Nafeez Ahmed's Whitewashing the Protection of Terrorists on US Soil, online now, courtesy of our friends at The RAW STORY.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Our busy friends at The RAW STORY have some big things happening today. Here's an excerpt from one of them [slightly edited], by Miriam Raftery:

There's much more where that came from. Please read the entire article: Exclusive: Citizens Request Recount in San Diego Mayoral Race.

We interrupt our previously scheduled vacation to head to Crawford, Texas! (NOTE TO GEORGE: Some things are important enough to interrupt vacations for.)

Because we were on a break, our vehicle is already loaded up with camping gear. We are still several days away from getting there, but once there we hope to be able to get on the air with a special "Operation Noble Cause" daily edition of The BRAD SHOW via RAW RADIO to be broadcast LIVE from Camp Casey!

Whether or not this will be possible is still way up in the air --- there are many daunting obstacles to overcome to make this all happen --- but we are going to attempt to do whatever we can to make it so. We have received 24/7 clearance from our network to get this series of broadcasts out from on the ground in Crawford if we can figure out how to cobble together the pieces and equipment necessary to do so from out in the middle of nowhere.

As I've said, there are a lot of "ifs" still in play to make this all happen, but we're going to give it our best shot.

Your help towards to make this effort posssible is both needed and appreciated!

If you are able to DONATE TO "OPERATION NOBLE CAUSE" I thank you in advance. This effort will be both difficult and expensive to pull off, so I assure you this will not be the last time I ask for your help in making it all happen unfortunately. I wish I didn't have to, but until a Freedom and Democracy Loving Angel shows up, you folks are needed to help continue to counter the spin of the Rightwing Liars, the complacency of the Democratic Party and to see that the Truth of the Message continues to reach Americans!

Please feel free to use the "Email it to Someone" link on this item to share this call for help!

For those cynics who would point to the frequency I'm forced to come to you all with hat in hand, I should mention that every dime I've ever been able to raise here (and it has not been many dimes!) has gone immediately back into both the blog and the radio show. I continue to lose money on all of the above, even while my credit card companies are doing very well thanks in the bargain! All I can hope is we "turn the corner" at some point.

In the meantime, your help is greatly appreciated!

For the duration, the tremendous BRAD BLOG Guest Bloggers have agreed to continue on here to allow me time to get to Camp Casey and figure all of this out on the fly...If I can...Peace.

UPDATE: If you or anyone you know has access to various radio broadcast equipment (microphones, headphones, mixing board, telephone hybrids, etc.) and/or cellular/satellite Internet uplink resources, please contact Kat@BradShow.com ASAP!

(Click here for scenes of the interrupted vacation...A free BRAD BLOG T-Shirt to the first commenter to identify the general location of our previously super-secret camping location and that of the 12 deer in the herd who we met on one of our hikes! BRAD BLOG Guest Bloggers and BRAD SHOW Producers not eligible!)

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

I know not what course most other bloggers have been taking, because I've been so busy here that I've had no time to read any of them [except my very favorites!] ... but as for me, lately I have been very leery of fear-mongering. I do not want to write about this story. I never want to scare anyone --- especially unnecessarily. But, as they say, better safe than sorry.

This is not going to be easy for any of us, and it's taken me a long time to decide what to do about it. But I finally have a plan, and here it is: I'll repost a couple of comments from Torqued [many thanks for these, O Twisted One], who has highlighted the most important bits of news from total411.info ... followed by a few other choice bits from whence that came ... and then a few thoughts of my own.

Please do not wallow in fear.

We are all afraid. We cannot afford to let it paralyze us. We have to make it work for us. And believe it or not, there are things we can do, steps we can take, to try to prevent what looks to be an imminent, false-flagged, nuclear attack.

Breathe deeply.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

LATE UPDATE: Since the following item was posted, we have seen a drastic change in the behavior of email filtering for both Comcast and users of other email services. We do not know what was causing the problem, or why the symptoms have disappeared. We may be forgiven, I suppose, if we suspect the rapid change of status had something to do with the amount of noise generated over this issue. Thanks to you, the blogosphere is working. And we will post further updates if and when we learn more. Thanks again to all who have contributed to the effort.

We no longer need readers to perform the tests described below. But if you wish to do them for your own interest, we have no desire to stop you

UPDATE: After the following speculative item was somewhat tentatively posted, we have been able to confirm reports of emails being blocked by other ISPs as well as Comcast. We'll post more when we know more. In the meantime, please try the tests described below, regardless of your e-mail provider, so we can get some sense of the scope of the problem. Thank you very much, as always.

Five weeks ago The BRAD BLOG ran a report indicating that Comcast, the nation's most popular email provider, was automatically deleting emails containing the web address "www.afterdowningstreet.org". Shortly after the report was published, 6 or 7 people made such a commotion that the problem was suddenly fixed. Various explanations were given, none of which cut any ice in the opinion of this lowly and nearly frozen blogger, but at least the problem went away.

Why am I telling you this? Background info. Today we have received a report indicating that something similar is happening again, but this time the address that triggers Comcast's automatic deletion is "www.meetwithcindy.org".

Personally, I do not have Comcast service, nor do I know anyone who does. So I cannot test this report for myself. I can ask for a bit of help, though. If you are a Comcast subscriber, please help us out by doing the following simple test.

Are you with me so far? I want you to send yourself four emails and tell me how many actually arrive. The four emails will be very simple, as described below:

• one with "www.meetwithcindy.org" in the subject line, and the words "test #1" in the body
• one with "meetwithcindy.org" in the subject line, and the words "test #2" in the body
• one with "www.meetwithcindy.org" in the body, and the words "test #3" in the subject line
• one with "meetwithcindy.org" in the body, and the words "test #4" in the subject line

Send these messages, wait a little while, then check for incoming messages and find out for yourself. According to our source, you will receive "test #4" but not "test #3". Apparently the "www." prefix is necessary to trigger the automatic deletion. If this makes no sense to you, please recall that in the previous episode, the address in question, "afterdowningstreet.org", triggered the automatic deletion only if it carried this prefix. In other words, emails containing "afterdowningstreet.org" passed through cleanly, while those containing "www.afterdowningstreet.org" were dispatched to the nearest black hole.

Most of the time the prefix "www." is insignificant; but apparently the prefix is very important in this case. But we don't know for sure, and that's why we're asking you to do some testing.

We don't know what to expect regarding tests #1 and #2. That's why we're asking you to perform them. After we collect more information, we can take it to Comcast and request a correction in their software --- or in their censorship policy, as the case may be. The more information we can present, the better it will be --- not only for us, but also for the people at Comcast (or Symantec) who will have to solve the problem.

I emphasize that this is not the time to make a lot of noise --- not publicly, at least. This is the time for gathering data. We can make noise soon enough, if we can confirm the report we received earlier today.

UPDATE: Go ahead and make some noise if you like. We've seen enough to know that something terribly fishy is going on.

CONTACT INFO for COMCAST:
Abuse Dept: phone 856-317-7272 – ext 1 or email: Secure-port25@comcast.net
Mike: phone 856-324-2415 or email abuse_99@comcast.net or email abuse99@gmail.com
Jim Janco [Manager of abuse dept]: cell 856-297-3548

We will post more contact information as soon as possible.

If you're still not sure about your e-mail provider, or if you'd like to help us gather more data, please participate in our informal study. I'll be watching this thread to see the results of your testing.

To repeat: Please send yourself four emails as described above, then come here and tell us how many --- and which ones --- you received.

Thanks, as usual, for your cooperation.

Guest blogged by Joseph Cannon

The right continues to make disturbing use of the Able Danger story --- which holds that a secretive DIA unit had identified Atta well before 9/11.

Rush Limbaugh and a number of right-leaning newspapers have continued to spread the lie, first published in NewsMax, that Jamie Gorelick of the Clinton Justice Department somehow forced the DIA to refrain from sharing the unit's discoveries. John Podhoretz at National Review has also given respectful attention to this tale, although he has steered clear of the NewsMax spin.

Now CNN and other sources have given us a name for that mysterious DIA officer who told this tale to Representative Curt Weldon. Meet Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer:

More:

These excerpts address one of the more important questions to arise out of this controversy. Were the commission members informed of Able Danger, or were they not? We've received about three different accounts so far.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

This thread is intended as a place to talk about vigils in your area, your plans for this evening, and any de-briefing you may feel like contributing afterwards.

Please don't go OT on this thread. There's an open thread immediately below for everything else.

This might be a good place to remind you that tonight's gatherings will be ideal places to spread the word about The Whispering Campaign ... And please bring a few pages with you. Or, better yet, stop by Kinko's along the way, and bring a whole stack of them!

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

There's a half-open thread just above, for discussion of tonight's vigils. You can talk about anything else here.

And you might as well...

All three guest-bloggers may be tied up at the same time today and/or tonight, but we'll be with you again as soon as possible.

Cheers to all!

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Click here or on the photo for the latest!

Thanks again, Larisa!!