· Man Referred to in Curtis Affidavit, Testimony Admits Guilt in Plea Deal on Single Count!
· Sent Such Parts out of Country 'ten to twenty times' in Past Year!
· COURT DOCS: Hai Lin "Henry" Nee Free To Go After Sentencing of 3-Year Probation, $100 Fine!

Court Documents obtained exclusively last Friday by The BRAD BLOG from the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Orland0 Division, show that the Tiawanese born national referred to in the Clint Curtis' affidavit released exclusively here last Monday, and again in Curtis' sworn testimony before House Judiciary Committee members yesterday, was charged by a grand jury with three counts related to the illegal exportation of computer chips made by a Lockheed-Martin subsidiary and intended for delivery to the People's Republic of China.

As mentioned in Curtis' affidavit, and reported by the Orlando Sentinel in March of this year (link now archived, requires $ to view), Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a Henry Nee), an employee with whom Curtis claims to have worked at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI), was taken into custody last March by the U.S. International and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency for attempting to ship "Missile Components to China". The "low-frequency amplifier" chips are said in the article --- and confirmed by a statement on the the official ICE website --- to be used for "radar-frequency guidance systems for fourth-generation Hellfire anti-tank missiles".

According the official indictment which The BRAD BLOG has reviewed after receiving it from the Circuit Court in Orlando, Nee was charged in the case of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. TING-IH HSU, HAI LIN NEE a/k/a Henry Nee on March 10, 2004 on three counts. The official case number is: 6:04-cr-38-Orl-31DAB.

Nee plead guilty, according to a plea agreement signed on July 15, 2004 and obtained by The BRAD BLOG and was then sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presenell on October 7, 2004 on Count Three of the indictment concerning False Statements made to Customs Officials and on official documents.

The Nee sentencing documents [3 pages total] are available online here, as generously hosted by RAW STORY. (The indictment and plea agreement docs total about 23 pages, so we are not yet posting those until we are able to secure sufficient bandwidth. Those documents, however, are public records available from the U.S. Circuit Court in Orlando).

The first two charges related to "export[ing] protected electronic components to the Peoples Republic of China without...Authorization" were subsequently dropped as part of the Nee plea agreement.

According to that agreement:

The official sentencing documents, however, reveal that Judge Presnell sentenced Nee to be released under a 3-year supervised probation and a $100 fine to be paid immediately. Case closed.

The plea agreement also quotes Nee as admitting "that business has been slow in the last year and that he had only sent parts out of the country ten to twenty times..." [emphasis added]

The Sentinel's Henry Pierson Curtis reported on March 17, 2004 that "A 4-year-old sting operation over a shipment of Hellfire missle parts to China finally will face its day in court."

That report goes on to explain that...

UPDATE 12/18/04: The full video of Clint Curtis' sworn testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Members in Ohio is now available.

Previously, we only had links to a portion of his testimony, which did not include his naming of Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) as having asked him to write the "vote-rigging software prototype! This clip now includes all of Curtis' testimony!

FULL CLINT CURTIS TESTIMONY ON VIDEO:

• Text-Transcript Available Here

The testimony was reported as "jaw-dropping" and "stunning" last week in this earlier BRAD BLOG exclusive!

The transcript of the earlier partial video, transcribed by the good "ignatz" from DKos is here. (Though you'll miss the audible gasps as heard on the video versions and the naming of Tom Feeney!) The full transcript is now here.

Be the media.

A source inside the Judiciary Committee --- just back in D.C. after returning from Ohio --- has informed The BRAD BLOG that testimony at today's hearings from Green party presidential candidate David Cobb at today's hearings in Columbus shook up their investigations "at least as much" as the stunning surprise of Clint Curtis' sworn testimony reported exclusively by BRAD BLOG earlier today!

The Cobb testimony concerned an eyewitness account from an Elections Official about election machine tampering by a worker from Triad Governmental Systems, Inc. as late as last Friday!

A transcription of part of David Cobb's testimony is now available online via RAW STORY.

Cobb claimed to have spoken over the weekend to an unidentified eyewitness to the tampering in an unspecified Ohio county.

Said Cobb at today's hearings, "A representative came in on Friday to see if there were any questions, the Triad representative had told him that [the machine] 'had a bad battery' and had 'lost all the data'. The machine was then taken completely apart" and it's memory apparently permanently lost.

All of this before the full Ohio state recount demanded by the Green and Libertarian parties has been able to get fully underway.

Th eyewitness, who was unnamed in the public hearings, was later identified and interviewed privately by staffers from the office of Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Judiciary committee.

Reliable sources have informed The BRAD BLOG that the investigation into this matter by Conyers is currently "ongoing" and the conclusion of staffers so far is that the eyewitness and information presented is "100% real and credible".

Cobb noted today in emotional testimony that "this is going on all over the state of Ohio."

Break For News reported earlier to today that Cobb accused Triad of "attempting to orchestrate a fraudulent recount of the 3 percent of precincts likely to be included in the first phase of the recount process." (Audio of Cobb's testimony also available at the site.)

They further report...

A letter sent to all 88 Ohio Elections Boards last Friday by Donald J. McTigue, the Kerry-Edwards State Counsel in Ohio speaks to concerns by the Kerry campaign about how the 3 percent sample, discussed by Cobb, will be chosen. That letter also expresses a number of other notable concerns to the Ohio Elections officials.

Further notable news out of the hearings, in a day already filled with enough BRAD BLOG sirens to made Drudge's head spin, include troubling reports from Columbus Free Press' Bob Fitrakis who testified to the Committee last Wednesday in D.C. and again today in Columbus.

Fitrakis, who's excellent reporting on the ground in Ohio has set the standard for investigative journalism over the past month, had several troubling reports in his testimony, several of which are described in this Free Press article.

Amongst his reports are first hand accounts of a "a team of 25 people who called themselves the 'Texas Strike Force' using payphones to make intimidating calls to likely voters, targeting people recently in the prison system." The calls were made from a Holiday Inn and were observed by a worker there. Apparently people were warned that they if they had child-support payments due, or outstanding traffic-tickets, they could be arrested at the polls on Election Day.

Fitrakis presented evidence to the committee which demonstrates that the hotel used was paid for by the Ohio Republican Party whose headquarters is across the street!

He also reports on, and testified to, new information --- including arial photographs --- from the Warren County Elections Board on the night of their now infamous Election Night "lockdown" which officials had attributed to warnings received from the FBI about terror warnings.

The FBI has since denied giving any such warnings to anybody in Ohio. We hope to have more details on those photographs in a report soon.

We're sorry to have had to break out the siren so many times today, though it was suggested to The BRAD BLOG by our source that the Cobb revelations warranted three! We'll stick with one for now.

But we will also take this opportunity to note for the skeptics out there who have wondered where the corporate media is on so much of this, and how one can be sure they can trust "Internet bloggers" like The BRAD BLOG and "Internet-only news sites" like RAW STORY --- who has also produced quite a bit of good breaking information on these events --- that we, so far, have gotten the story right on all of these matters from the get-go.

The BRAD BLOG was the first to break the news of the Democratic Judiciary Hearings, and the first to bring you the exclusive report on the Clint Curtis "WHISTLEBLOWER AFFIDAVIT" that lead to today's "jaw dropping" sworn testimony by Curtis in front of the Committee.

Furthermore, we'll note that, as of this hour, according to AP, those objecting and writing about questionable Election Results in Ohio and elsewhere are now officially described as "dissidents".

"Dissidents" is a step up, we suppose, from "conspiracy theorists" and "leftwing bloggers", and frankly...sounds a bit Ukranian.

So we'll take it.

Testimony Described as 'Show Stopper'!
'Stunner', 'Jaws Dropped'!
Audible 'Gasps' heard in chamber room!

The BRAD BLOG has just received an exclusive first-hand account of Clint Curtis' sworn testimony (as reported earlier) to the Judiciary Committee Democrats holding hearings this morning in Columbus, Ohio on Election 2004 Voting Irregularities.

The software programmer, whose sworn affidavit was first reported by The BRAD BLOG, named Republican U.S. Congressman Tom Feeney (a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee!) as having asked him to create "vote-rigging" software in a meeting at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) prior to the 2000 elections!

Feeney was, at the time of the alleged meeting, a Florida legislator and later became Speaker of the Florida House. He was also the running mate to Jeb Bush in his failed 1994 bid for Florida Governor.

Curtis was the only witness to be sworn in at today's hearings.

Here is the exclusive account as we've just received it by a very reliable BRAD BLOG source inside the committee hearings!

The following account may sound melodramatic but it is highly accurate.

None of these are quotes and represent my best recollection.

At apprx 1p, after a witness had finished, cliff arnebeck --- who had given a presentation some time before --- interjected and asked to call one more witness. He was given permission to do so. He said he was calling clint curtis.

Some of the audience literally gasped while others applauded. They clearly knew who he was.

Curtis stood at the front of room with arnebeck seated behind him. Curtis was about five to ten feet from the members of congress. At the front of the room, he placed his hand on a bible and was sworn. To my knowledge, he was the only witness sworn.

Arnebeck began a direct examination of curtis with basic questions, name, residence....

Then got to his qualifications.

Then, he asked curtis something like whether voting machines could be hacked. He said yes. Arnebeck asked him on what he based that opinion. He said because I wrote a program that could do it. Arnebeck asked when that happened. Curtis said feeney had asked him to design such a program at yang enterprises.

Jaws dropped. Tubbs jones and waters looked shocked.

Tubbs jones, waters and nadler asked questions. Waters asked him to repeat who asked him to do it. Congressman feeney, he said. Nadler asked him some questions, as did tubbs jones and a state senator.

Curtis was asked what he would conclude if there was such a substantial deviation btwn exit polls and actual results. He said he would conclude the election had been hacked. Gasps. Could have heard a pin drop.

In the end, curtis was very very convincing to everyone in attendance. He was a show stopper, a stunner. It was a really amazing moment.

MORE....

As we've previously reported since breaking our original exclusive story on the Curtis affidavit [PDF] last week (Key articles are linked in a box in our right sidebar) Curtis last week met privately with staffers on the Judiciary Committee as well as Senate staffers.

Wired Magazine revealed today in their article on Curtis that it was staffers in Sen. Bill Nelson's office with whom Curtis met last week in D.C.

Nelson oversees NASA in the Senate. Curtis had charged in his affidavit that an employee, Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a Henry Nee) with whom Curtis worked at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) had inserted "wiretapping routines" into programs that YEI had been contracted to create for NASA, among other companies (including the Florida Dept. of Transportation).

Nee was charged with shipping chips used in Hellfire anti-tank missiles to the Peoples Republic of China in March of this year, and has since plead guilty to one of those counts (more on Nee soon!)

At the time of the alleged October 2000 meeting at YEI when Curtis claims that Feeney asked him to create a "vote-rigging software prototype", Feeney was a member of the Florida Legislature, a corporate attorney for YEI, as well as being a registered lobbyist for the company.

Feeney was said to have been, at the time, the only registered lobbyist known to have been serving concurrently as a legislator in the 160 member Florida statehouse.

Shortly thereafter, Feeney became Speaker of the Florida Legislature.

In 2002 Feeney won a U.S. Congress seat in the newly created 24th Florida congressional district.

Feeney was the running mate to Jeb Bush during his first failed bid for Governor in 1994.

As we noted earlier, Wired Magazine article quotes YEI Attorneys as saying that Curtis was a "disgruntled employee", but does not note that the Attorney who made the statement is both a campaign contributor to Feeney, and, as well, is Feeney's former law partner in Florida.

As well, there seems to be little to indicate that Curtis was "disgruntled" with YEI or vice versa. He submitted his resignation in December of 2000 and stayed on, at YEI's request for an additional six weeks afterwards until a replacment could be found.

It has been reported YEI threw a "farewell party" for Curtis, and email correspondce that The BRAD BLOG has seen would indicate that employees --- including Nee --- missed Curtis a great deal in the months after he finally left the company.

...CONTINUING TO DEVELOP!...

UPDATE: Video of portions of Curtis' testimony now available online!

Judiciary Committee sources have just informed The BRAD BLOG via Email from their hearings now taking place in Columbus, Ohio, that Clint Curtis is now testifying under oath before the committee!

MORE...Apparently Curtis was the only witness to testify under oath.

BreakForNews.com has more detailed info on the hearings so far this morning in Ohio. We'll report specifics in a new item shortly. UPDATE: Audio highlights now available at that link!

UPDATE: Bob Fitrakis of Columbus Free Press offers additional details.

Audio report on Triad Computer engineer alleged by Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb today to have disassembled tabulation machine in Ohio last week via this report from What We Know!

Also...See the letter from Conyers to the Governor of Ohio, and the Leaders of the Ohio Senate and House asking them to delay or set aside the Electoral College results in OH until recount can be accomplished.

The BRAD BLOG's original exclusive story on Clint Curtis is here. Further key points to the story are now linked in the sidebar at right.

MORE DETAILS COMING...

UPDATE: CURTIS' SWORN TESTIMONY 'STUNS' HEARINGS! NAMES FEENEY! EXCLUSIVE detailed first hand account here!

In a fairly even-handed article today, Kim Zetter of Wired.com covers the story of Florida computer programmer Clint Curtis who has charged that he was asked by Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL), then a Florida legislator, to create a "vote-rigging software prototype" while working at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) back in October of 2000.

The story picks up on our coverage of Curtis' affidavit [PDF], first reported by The BRAD BLOG in our "WHISTLEBLOWER AFFIDAVIT" shocker story published one week ago today.

The Wired.com piece drops the ball notably in only one area where Zetter quotes a statement from Yang attorney, Michael O'Quinn.

She quotes the attorney as calling the allegations "absurd and categorically untrue" and refers to Curtis as "an opportunist and a disgruntled former employee furthering an agenda by telling lies".

Unfortunately, Zetter, who we had spoken to last week, fails to note that Michael O'Quinn of the lawfirm "Fowler and O'Quinn" has been a longtime campaign contributor to Tom Feeney in both 2002 and 2004. Perhaps more notably, O'Quinn is also a former law partner of Feeney!

As The BRAD BLOG reported over the weekend when the comments from Yang's attorney's were first announced, O'Quinn's lawfirm was previously known as "Fowler, Barice, Feeney, & O'Quinn".

That very notable conflict of interest in the matter should have been acknowledged by Zetter in her article.

The BRAD BLOG has also spoken on several occasions (here and here) about the "disgruntled employee" charge, to point out that there seems to be no known basis for that claim.

Curtis resigned from YEI effective December 2000, but stayed on at the firm for another six weeks, at the request of the company, until a replacement for him could be found. The company was said as well to have thrown a "farewell party" for him when he finally left, and email correspondence reviewed by The BRAD BLOG would seem to indicate that he was missed greatly by employees of the company.

Still, overall, it was a fair enough article, and we're glad to see the story begin to break into some of the "corporate media". And there will be more to come...

Zetter has written a number of articles for Wired debunking, or otherwise disputing electoral malfeasance or irregularities in the 2004 election, so her generally positive coverage of Curtis' story is also notable despite missed notice of the Yeng Attorney's direct connection to Feeney.

CONTACT: Kim Zetter, Wired Magazine

Following our previous report on momentum building in Ohio and U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearings that will be held there tomorrow...

Two reports right now out of Ohio media outlets confirm what has been buzzing on the net over the last several hours.

According to the reports, an attorney representing John Kerry has sent a letter to all 88 Elections Boards in Ohio requesting that his team be allowed to inspect the 92,000 ballots which recorded no vote for President!

The letter also reportedly contains 11 other requests for election officials regarding the recount in the Buckeye State set to take place this week. UPDATE: Full text of Kerry Letter here.

The Ohio News Network (ONN) report is here.
WBNS-10TV report is here.
UPDATE: NY Times picks up AP feed on this story.

The reports come on the heels of speculation growing around a lawsuit said to be filed Monday morning by attorney Cliff Arnebeck on behalf of a voters alliance in Ohio asking the Ohio Supreme Court to set aside the results in that state due to massive fraud and/or error.

Arnebeck has been quoted on media outlets, such as Air America Radio, in recent days suggesting that he will be including evidence in his suit to show that John Kerry may have actually won the Ohio election as well as the national popular vote.

...DEVELOPING...

The BRAD BLOG proudly welcomes The Los Angeles Times into the reality-based community!

Today, some five weeks after one of the most questionable national elections in U.S. history and the day before the Electoral College is to meet, the paper is finally bothering to report that there may have been some problems.

· Conyers Issues Blackwell Alert!
· Accusations of "Stonewalling", Wonders if they are "trying to hide" something!
· PLUS: Arnebeck Summons Curtis to Buckeye State!
· Events Now Moving Very Quickly on the Ground!

The office of Congressman John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, has just rushed an alert out to the media in regards to recount efforts on the ground in Ohio. The release quotes Conyers as asking publicly if Ohio election officials are now attempting to hide information and accuses them of "stonewall[ing]" Judiciary Committee member's "search for truth"!

"We have now repeatedly seen election officials obstruct and stonewall this search for the truth," Conyers says in the release, adding "I am beginning to wonder what it is they are trying to hide." [emphasis added]

The Press Release, just issued, headlined "Conyers Alarmed at Efforts to Obstruct Ohio Recount Effort, Calls Witness to Monday Hearing to Detail Such Efforts", outlines the troubling reports, discussed here yesterday, of Ohio Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell (also Co-Chair of the Ohio Bush/Cheney Re-Elect Committee!) reportedly attempting to obstruct efforts by Green/Libertarian Recount Volunteers in Ohio over the last several days.

Conyers, on behalf of Judiciary Committee Dems had previously announced on Friday that hearings would be held on Monday at the Ohio State Capitol Building on these matters. The location for those hearings was abruptly moved to the Columbus City Council after, Judiciary sources told The BRAD BLOG, "republican leaders in Ohio got word of the meeting and denied the request for a room" in the state capitol building.

From today's Press Release...

As tomorrow's scheduled date for the Electoral College to cast their votes for U.S. President approaches, the Judiciary Committee hearings and other gatherings by various election-recount groups in Ohio are gaining much momentum.

Cliff Arnebeck, the attorney who is said to be filing a suit with the Ohio Supreme court this week to have the Ohio election results completely set aside, has spoken recently with Clint Curtis and has asked him to come to Ohio immediately to testify in regards to possible vote fraud in Election 2004.

Curtis is the Florida computer programmer who gained national attention this week after The BRAD BLOG revealed his stunning affidavit claiming that he was asked by Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) to create a "vote-rigging software prototype" while an employee at Yang Enterprises, Inc. in Oviedo, FL (Feeney's home district) back in October of 2000.

His story was revealed in a BRAD BLOG "Exclusive" originally published here at the beginning of last week.

YEI, and their "outside general counsel" (the former lawfirm of Congressman Feeney) have since issued two terse statements dismissing Curtis' charges.

...ALL STILL DEVELOPING...HARD...

UPDATE: Kerry letter sent to Ohio Elections Boards! Details...

Yesterday we reported that Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) had issued a terse --- yet patriotic --- statement on their website in regard to Clint Curtis' allegations (first reported here) that YEI had colluded with U.S. Congressman Tom Feeney (then a Florida Legislator, Speaker of the House, as well as YEI Corporate Counsel and registered lobbyist) to create a "vote-rigging software prototype" at Feeney's request in 2000.

This was the text posted yesterday on the YEI website...

Curtis has also alleged malfeasance by YEI and their CEO, Mrs. Li-Woan Yang concerning the shipping of secrets to China from Yang, over-billing to the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT), and the employement of an illegal-alien, Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a Henry Nee) who, Curtis charges, added added "wiretapping routines" to software that YEI created for NASA and FDOT among others.

This morning, Elites TV announced that they had received the following statement from Michael A. O'Quinn, Esquire of Fowler & O'Quinn, P. A. representing himself as "outside general counsel" for YEI.

Here's O'Quinn's statement, in total, as reported by Elite TV:

As The BRAD BLOG has previously noted, there seems to be no basis currently known for O'Quinn/YEI's "disgruntled former employee" charge.

Curtis has told us, and we have confirmed with several additional sources, that he was not fired by YEI, but rather submitted his resignation effective December 2000.

Afterwards, YEI then asked Curtis to stay on until a permanent replacement could be found. One was soon found, but he reportedly quit the same day and Curtis ended up staying at YEI for another six weeks past his original resignation date.

As well, a "Farewell Party" was reportedly thrown by YEI for Curtis upon his leaving! We hope to report more details and related evidence for that soon.

The BRAD BLOG has also reviewed email, supplied by Curtis, purportedly sent to him by several YEI employees --- including Mike Cohen, Mrs. Yang's executive secretary who was, with Mrs. Yang, said to have been present during the now infamous October 2000 meeting where Feeney allegedly described the "vote-rigging software" that he was seeking. Several of those notes indicate that Curtis was missed by company employees after he left YEI.

One note, purportedly from Hai Lin "Henry" Nee --- who Curtis has charged in his affidavit as being an illegal-alien employed by YEI and having included "wiretapping routines" into software for NASA and FDOT --- shows that he was missed at the compnay.

That note from Nee, apparently sent on April 15, 2001, just a few weeks after Curtis had finally left YEI, includes the following:

The BRAD BLOG will have more to report on Mr. Nee in the coming days.

As to the lawfirm of Fowler & O'Quinn P. A. --- YEI's "outside general counsel" who issued the statement reported by Elites TV this morning, it seems that they are the lawfirm previously known as "Fowler, Barice, Feeney, & O'Quinn P. A."! That's right, Tom Feeney's old lawfirm where he served as a partner at the time he represented YEI as corporate attorney and registered lobbyist!

Furthermore, a quick spin through Tom Feeney's page at CampaignMoney.com reveals that Quinn is a campaign contributor to Feeney!

Michael A. O'Quinn, attorney of Fowler & O'Quinn P.A. is listed by CampaignMoney.com as having given $1,500 on 11/19/03 to Mr. Feeney's campaign.

Not uninterestingly, that contribution is listed just above another one on the same page as being from Tyng Lin Yang, Yang Enterprises Inc./president who gave Feeney $1,250 on 6/23/03.

His wife, Mrs. Li-Woan Yang, CEO of Yang Enterprises Inc., present at "the meeting" is also listed as having given $2,000 to Feeney's campaign on 9/5/03 and another $2,000 on 3/23/04.

Tom Feeney ran unopposed for Florida's 24th Congressional district in the November 2nd, 2004 election.

YES...IT'S STILL DEVELOPING...

As you've likely imagined, I'm currently working on a number of items related to the Curtis/Feeney/Yang affair. Some small items I'll pop here shortly this evening, some larger fairly breathtaking items will be coming tomorrow or Monday. As well, I'm trying to get the original BradBlog.com moved over to a new server that can better handle the traffic so we can resume reporting back at home sweet home in the not too distant future.

Because of all of that, I have been unable to give the proper attention to the affairs on the ground relating to the recount in Ohio.

There have been some notable, and some disturbing developments over the last day or so however, and to that end, I associate myself with the good Mr. Joseph Cannon's coverage of some of those troubling events seeping out of the Buckeye State...

Check back for more soon...

UPDATE: Bev Harris' promised update/clarification/retraction mentioned in the following story is now posted at her site here. The BRAD BLOG wishes to thank her for her thorough reply to our response to her original concerns, and we will investigate the additional items she mentions in her update over the weekend.

After appearing yesterday morning on the Alex Jones Radio Show I'd heard that he was planning to have Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org on today's show to discuss the Clint Curtis case and her ongoing investigations into alleged vote fraud in Florida and elsewhere.

On Tuesday, Harris had written a piece that was critical of Curtis' case, suggesting that she felt it was likely disinformation. After reading her piece I posted a detailed response here and asked that folks make sure she saw it.

Her original piece seemed to be working from a misinformed perspective about the case that she seemed to have gotten after reading Wayne Madsen's piece on Curtis. The publication of that article --- as I mentioned in both my original story on Curtis and my response to Harris --- was one of the released I posted my article earlier than I might have liked. To avoid such potential misreadings of the situation.

I contacted Jones to make sure he knew about my response to Harris before she came on the show, and he asked if I wanted to come on with her. I declined as I really had no interest in creating a public spat with Harris, I'd just wanted to get the correct information about the story to her so she'd better be able to assess it.

While Harris was on the show today, the producers called and again asked me to come on, and --- after hearing that they'd cleared it with her, since I really didn't wish for her to feel sandbagged --- I agreed.

I did a quick 15 minutes or so (which, as with yesterdays show, I'm still trying to get permission to post here) in which Harris said that she had seen my reply, and thanked me for it. She said it had cleared up quite a few issues, and that she'd since been able confirm some elements of Curtis' story herself independently.

To that end, she said she'd be posting a clarification/update or retraction on her site later today or tonight on the matter "even it means some egg on my face", she said on the show. Such things are not always easy to do, so I greatly commend her for that in advance.

So I'm happy to report that all now seems well in that regard! Thanks to those of you who helped her get my response, and thanks to Harris for the many kind words she had to say about The BRAD BLOG's work while on the show. (And thanks to Jones for allowing me the opportunity to speak with her on-air).

Hopefully that's one more potential distraction that can now be set aside from the troubling claims of Clint Curtis' actual allegations.

Some non-Curtis/Feeney/Yang news briefly...

"We definitely did not have a glitch-free election," said [U.S. Elections Assistance Committee] chairman DeForest Soaries Jr., a Bush appointee in what may be entitle him to the BRAD BLOG Understatement-of-the-Year Award!

It's from an AP item just hitting the wires headlined "Doubts Persist About the Election" which summarizes a lot of the more well-known problems with Election 2004 that regular BRAD BLOG readers are certainly well familiar with by now.

Also, of note, this quote from a Democrat in California (I am pointing to this in particular because I know that there are quite a few big time DNC'ers currently following this blog! Ignore this man's words at your own peril!):

RELATED...The U.S. House Judiciary Dems are today announcing an election forum they are holding this Monday in Ohio to be lead by ranking minority leader on the committee, Rep. John Conyers. At the Ohio State Capitol's "North Hearing Room", Monday morning at 10:30am. Official announcement to be posted shortly at the House Dems website.

A source inside the Dem Judiciary Committee confirms that "events on the ground in Ohio are moving quickly and the House Judiciary Committee is too."

UPDATE: I've just received this via email from a Judiciary Committee aide:

More kudos to the Dems on the House Judiciary Committee for putting up the good fight! Would that more Dems in the House and Senate (and the DNC!) demonstrated the kind of stubborn tenacity and care for the U.S. Constitution that the House Dems have shown over the past week or so!

According to the Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) website, a statement on the Clint Curtis / Tom Feeney charges is forthcoming. As of this morning, the following text now appears on the front page of the YEI website:

MORE...

The BRAD BLOG can confirm that all references to Mike Cohen, Mrs. Yang's executive secretary at YEI --- who was named in Clint Curtis' affidavit as having been in the October 2000 meeting with Feeney to discuss the "vote-rigging software" --- have now been removed from the YEI website and have been replaced by the name "Lowell Weaver" as of now.

Searches for "Mike Cohen" at the YEI site for the moment, will yield several documents though they no longer contain Cohen's name. A search at The Internet Archive Wayback Machine for those same documents reveal that Cohen's name was once were Weaver's name is now. Here's one of those cached pages revealing Cohen's name via the Wayback Machine. (Thanks to BRAD BLOG commenters for the tip!)

AND STILL DEVELOPING...

Unfortunately, over the last few days since breaking the "WHISTLEBLOWER AFFIDAVIT" story, I've been stuck doing more answering to folks (media, etc.) than reporting on the story.

Many questions have appropriately been raised out in the net and beyond about the entire Clint Curtis / Tom Feeney / Yang Enterprises story, and --- occassionally --- my role in it.

Rather than answer the same questions so many times, I'll attempt to answer here some of the most frequently asked... And I'd encourage you folks out in Blogistan, who may see such questions or charges raised, to point folks to this document and/or any of the specific answers you may find germane to questions being asked.

As more arise, I'll try to answer them as the story moves along. Feel free to ask any you may have in comments here, and I'll do my best to speak to them. I'd echo the comments I reported earlier from Clint Curtis himself yesterday morning when I told him about all the questions coming up about his case: "Good! We want them to debunk as much possible, since that means they'll research the claims and find out how much is out there about it all...including stuff that I don't even know yet!"

In that spirit and in no particular order, but for the easiest (and most annoying one!) first...