A not too bad article on yesterday's Election Reform Commission hearing buried on page 17 of today's Washington Post. Amongst the quotes used from Carter and Baker --- seemingly taken from their unbroadcast press conference held after the hearing --- is this one from Carter:

"[W]e want to make sure that the electoral process has integrity --- that it is not shot through with fraud."

...Well, that's somewhat encouraging to hear. Though a pity that more such discussion did not actually occur in yesterday's hearings (Live Blogged here).

We've also heard from a reliable source that Carter spoke about "paper ballots" a number of times at that same press conference, and of using them as the counted ballot of record as they are overseas. That's also encouraging...if true...and if he can climb over the mountain of hard-right Bush/Cheney/GOP partisans and voting machine representatives who comprise and stack the commission against such real reform.

Also of note from the WaPo article was this little turn o' phrase:

We're not sure who "many" refers to in the above, nor which "hard evidence" was lacking. We do know that the mountains of existing hard evidence of Election Irregularities from '04 was not presented at all in yesterday's hearings, and that John Conyers --- who presented 102 pages of same --- was not invited to share that evidence with this commission.

The evidence that was presented, specifically on the strawman argument of "Voter Fraud" and "Voter Registration Fraud" and even "Provisional Voting Fraud" was indeed anectodal, and yet that was the "evidence" that was allowed to be presented to the commission yesterday. We hope that things will change in the next (and presumably last) meeting of the commission, but we are dubious at best.

The WaPo piece, however, did manage to offer add small bit of refreshing light to the mainstream media blackout on this issue. A few notable passages from the article:

Hmmm...It's almost as if the WaPo is suggesting that the '04 Election didn't go quite as smoothly as they, and the other corporate media outlets, have led Americans to believe up until now. Who knew?

Perhaps they'd like to begin investigating and reporting to the American people on some of the items in that "dizzying list of electoral problems"? America is still waiting...Perhaps we can bump it up to page 15 when that happens. As we like to say, it's only democracy at stake.

Just posted by AP...

Understatement of the Year Award goes to Carter!

Other than that, however, what's interesting about the article is that the AP got the tenor of the hearing all wrong! But this time, the lazy, inaccuracy of the MSM works out nicely, thank you!

They didn't cover (for the most part) the continuous drumbeat all day that morphed Election Irregularities/Fraud into Voter Registration Fraud and thus a call for Jim Crow-style Photo ID rules!

So three cheers --- in this case --- for a lousy, lazy, MSM who seem to have written their report before the event actually took place! Looks like the phoney-baloney "Election Reform" commission may not have gotten their money's worth! At least so far. We're certain the Cybercast News Service and the other fake GOP News Services will shortly lend a hand.

See BRAD BLOG's Live Bloging of today's Commitee Hearings here...

UPDATE Bloomberg's take...

The office of Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), ranking minority member of U.S. House Judiciary Committee and longtime Election Reform champion tells The BRAD BLOG that Conyers has expressed outrage at the tenor of today's hearings and the morphing of election irregularities/fraud issues into voter registration/fraud issues!

We'll note that, despite having compiled 102 pages of evidence on Election Irregularities in OH, Conyers was not invited to participate in these hearings though he has recently written a letter to Carter [PDF] volunteering to help in any way while expressing disappointment about Baker's position as co-chair.

UPDATE: Conyers' full no-holds-barred statement, condemning today's hearing in no uncertain terms has now been released! A few highlights here, but the whole thing is well worth the read!...

BRAD BLOG's LIVE BLOGGING of today's hearings can be read in this previous item...

Panel meets seperately from audience. James A. Baker, III --- the Bush family loyalist who went to the Supreme Court demanding that America's votes not be counted in 2000 --- presides over first panel.

CSPAN covers it live. All other Cable News channels cover choice of pope...

Secretely seated Commission's website here.
RAW STORY article on fixed commission here.
VELVET REVOLUTION's campaign to inform the public here.

...WE'RE FOLLOWING...LIVE BLOGGING...

Thank you. Thank you. And thank you.

The network said we blew away (numbers wise) all of their current weekend shows! And it kept building throughout the 4 hours. So thank you for helping to spread the word!

Please feel free to thank the satellite network with a quick email for giving us the opportunity!

Resting now. (And be sure to catch the repeat of tonight's show at 12noon - 4pm ET on Sunday, which is 9a - 1p PT for the mathematically impaired! Catch it online via RAW STORY's Easy Links or IBCRadio.com or IBCRN.com.)

Oh...one more thanks (at least!) to Winter Patriot for keeping the Open Show Threads here up and running all night! I had no net access from the studio, so was flying blind! Hope to fix that by next week...So thanks WP for keeping the place in great shape while I was "gone"! More to come...After some rest...and a few more radio appearances tomorrow!

UPDATE: Last night's show can now be downloaded for you podcasting pleasure...All files here MP3, we'll try to get alternate formats in the future when we catch up with things. And, sadly, the swell bumper music at the top of each hour (the rock n' roll, I mean, not that jazz crap) has been cut out of these versions as well. We'll try to correct that later as well. Download away!...

HOUR 4 GUEST: Tribute Syndicate Editor & Columnist, Robert Koehler!

Listen LIVE via the Web! Saturday from 7p-11p ET (4p-8p PT)!
Repeating Sunday 12noon-4p ET (9a-1p PT)
Direct streaming links via RAW STORY!
Donate here to help defray costs!

Discuss this hour of the show and our guest via the comments button...

HOUR 3 GUEST: RawStory.com Deputy Managing Editor & Investigative Journalist, Larisa Alexandrovna!

Listen LIVE via the Web! Saturday from 7p-11p ET (4p-8p PT)!
Repeating Sunday 12noon-4p ET (9a-1p PT)
Direct streaming links via RAW STORY!
Donate here to help defray costs!

Discuss this hour of the show and our guest via the comments button...

HOUR 2 GUEST: Vote Fraud Investigator, Andy Stephenson!

Listen LIVE via the Web! Saturday from 7p-11p ET (4p-8p PT)!
Repeating Sunday 12noon-4p ET (9a-1p PT)
Direct streaming links via RAW STORY!
Donate here to help defray costs!

Discuss this hour of the show and our guest via the comments button...

HOUR 1 GUEST: Vote-Rigging Software Whistleblower, Clint Curtis!

Listen LIVE via the Web! Saturday from 7p-11p ET (4p-8p PT)!
Repeating Sunday 12noon-4p ET (9a-1p PT)
Direct streaming links via RAW STORY!
Donate here to help defray costs!

Discuss this hour of the show and our guest via the comments button...

The sudden premiere of The BRAD SHOW On the Air via RAW RADIO is just hours away! (See the previous item for more details on what the hell that means if you don't already know!) At this late hour, we've still got some mountains to climb to get on air, but we're working on it! Keep your fingers crossed!

RAW STORY has some skinny, some donation links where you can support and direct links to the LIVE WEB STREAM. You can also support by making a donation to BRAD BLOG. We are, for the moment, listener supporter! I'll explain why on the air...

Scheduled guests for our premiere episode:

HOUR 1: Vote-Rigging Software Whistleblower, Clint Curtis!
HOUR 2: Vote Fraud Investigator, Andy Stephenson!
HOUR 3: RawStory.com Deputy Mng. Editor & Investigative Journalist, Larisa Alexandrovna!
HOUR 4: Tribute Syndicate Editor & Columnist, Robert Koehler!

Hopefully BRAD BLOG stalwart and friend, Winter Patriot, will be able to post an open thread here at each hour of the show where you can yack away about the show, how we're doing, and post questions if you can't get in via phone. I'll try to keep my eye on the discussion.

Stand by...it could be bumpy (but hopefully fun!) ride!

If all goes well, The BRAD SHOW on The RAW RADIO Network (of RawStory.com fame!) may will be launching LIVE tomorrow evening (Saturday) from 7p - 11p ET (4p - 8p PT).

This has all come up quite suddenly, and it will take a miracle to get on the air...I'm in the process of trying to pull off a miracle.

Since the lead time for all of this was too impossibly short to even consider selling ad time on the show, now would be a swell time to Donate to The BRAD BLOG if you haven't done so recently in order to help pull off this little miracle.

I've said for a long time "Be the Media". Apparently, I wasn't kidding. With your help, we may very soon have a much louder megaphone!

Details here soon on how and where and if to listen!

UPDATE: Looks like The BRAD SHOW on RAW RADIO will indeed be premiering tonight (Saturday) from 4p - 8p PT (7p - 11p ET)! It's gonna be seat-of-our-pants LIVE radio...if we make it onto the air! But we're gonna go for it!

We'll figure out the affiliates when we learn more (we believe one of 'em is in Florida! Hi Tom!) but for now, tune in Saturday night at the above mentioned times via IBCRadio.com to listen LIVE! And we hope to be taking your calls to boot!

I'll explain how this all came about (a bit) during the show tomorrow as we pull off a miracle!

Scheduled guests for our premiere episode:

HOUR 1: Vote-Rigging Software Whistleblower, Clint Curtis!
HOUR 2: Vote Fraud Investigator, Andy Stephenson!
HOUR 3: RawStory.com Deputy Mng. Editor & Investigative Journalist, Larisa Alexandrovna!
HOUR 4: Tribute Syndicate Editor & Columnist, Robert Koehler!

Should be a killer show...if we can show up on the air! We'll pray the democracy gods will be on our side! PLEASE spread the word since this is all so late in coming! And the better the numbers, the more the network will want us back for a second helping!

Any of you good BRAD BLOG readers know any folks in the radio biz in St. Louis? If so, please Email Me asap! THANKS!

Velvet Revolution, a coalition of nearly 100 true Voting Rights and Election Reform organizations is launching a major campaign to bring former-President Jimmy Carter's attention to their myriad concerns about the secretly seated Blue-Ribbon National Election Reform Commission! Specifically, they are calling for James A. Baker --- the architect of the Bush/Cheney strategy to ensure that America's votes would not be counted in 2000 --- to resign immediatelly along with a number of the anti-reform partisans and voting machine company officials who have been appointed secretly to this commission!

VR is calling for the American people to send an Email webletter to President Carter and the National Election Reform Commissioners, demanding Baker and cronies step down immediately or, in lieu of that, Carter leave this commission in protest of the cynical and mind-boggling hoax being perpetrated on those who understand the need for true Election Reform in America!

The "YES to Election Reform! NO to James Baker & his anti-Reform Cronies!" is now up and online.

The address for the new Velvet Revolution action:
http://www.velvetrevolut...ng=0730E07D500040E02150F
...Please spread it far and wide! And be quick about it!

Also...action on the ground at the first Commission Hearing this Monday! See this Election Reform Coalition Press Release for details!

And finally, if you have no idea what we're talking about, turn off Fox "News" and see RAW STORY's explosive exposé from yesterday on the Commission and its secretive, insidious, partisan, pro-voting machine makeup!

Spread the word! Feel free to use the "Email it to Someone" link at the bottom of this item!

Be. The. Media! It's only your democracy at stake!

(BRAD BLOG is a co-founder of Velvet Revolution)

RAW STORY breaks open the Carter/Baker Election Reform Commission hoodwink!

Frontpage headline screamer:

Full story now here.

From RAW Reporter Larisa Alexandrovna's Exclusive:

• Deep GOP, partisan and Voting Machine Company entanglement in formation of Commission!
• Unauthorized use of the Carter Center name by the Commission on all of its literature though Carter Center says they will have no involvement whatsoever with Commission!
• Commission hold hearings in separate room from audience who may only watch via closed-circuit TV!
• Background security checks required for audience members by Commission, denied by Secret Service!
• As well, BRAD BLOG has learned that the Commission has given the reason for separating audience from Commission is due to Secret Service security concerns. However, as of yet, we have been unable to confirm any such Secret Service request that any such directive came from them! (Warren County anyone?)

Velvet Revolution (an organization comprised of nearly 100 real Election Reform and Voting Rights groups and co-founded by BRAD BLOG author, Brad Friedman) issued a press release on March 30th, calling for Baker to immediately step down from this commission.

VR has now launched an action to allow citizens to contact Carter and the rest of the Commission to let them know we've had enough boondoggling of our democracy! Click here to send Email to Carter & the Commission! Say no to Baker & his anti-Reform cronies!

For more information on the "non-partisan" tax-exempt ACVR scam and the snakeoil salesmen who invented it, Bush/Cheney '04 National General Counsel Mark F. "Thor" Hearne and RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke, please see BRAD BLOG's full Special Coverage of the "American Center for Voting Rights" at https://BradBlog.com/ACVR.