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!...

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.

As mentioned yesterday, the Tribune Syndicate's Robert Koehler has dropped a killer column on Election 2004 and the National Election Reform Conference which we attended, and spoke at, last weekend in Nashville.

Koehler was the one member of the MSM brave enough to show up in Nashville and to share a stage with both ourselves and Free Press' Bob Fitrakis (editor, writer and attorney who joined the lawsuit in Ohio to have its vote count set aside).

As it turns out, Koehler is one of the good guys still fighting the good fight in the MSM, and his column today --- which out and out declares the 2004 election to have been stolen --- hits on so many pistons it's virtually impossible to pull out just the money quotes. So we strongly recommend you read the whole thing. Here's the first and last few grafs to whet your appetite...

Additionally, there was some coverage of the event during and after, by Laura Luxor of The Tennessean. Her two --- much appreciated pieces --- are here and (from their front page) here.

As to a few other random and personal thoughts, and photos (and even a bit of video) from the event...

Must be something afoot...Now it's Madison, Wisconsin's The Capital Times jumping into the Clint Curtis fray as a part of their online Daily Briefing item headlined "Is Your Vote Being Counted?":

The article also hits much of what BRAD BLOG readers have known about for months concerning the evils of the likes of Diebold and ES&S, etc. And granted, they may not be the Miami Herald (who also discussed Clint Curtis earlier today), but hey, the word is getting out! And better late than never! Democracy may be saved after all!

Reuters reported yesterday that attorney, Paul Lehto has filed suite in Washington state against Electronic Voting Machine company, Sequoia Voting Systems Inc.

You go, Paul!

And for Sequoia's part:

Yes, we'd hate to violate the "trade secret" for counting the votes in the world's most important democracy. And paid for by your tax dollars to boot! Shame on these companies.

Which reminds us, if you haven't already, now is a great time to Send an Email to the Voting Machine Companies letting them know you've had enough! The Velvet Revolution webletter is ready to go, you just need to sign it and send! It'll take you 30 seconds!

(DISCLOSURE: Paul Lehto is also a legal advisor for VelvetRevolution.us, a Voting Rights and Election Reform organization co-founded by BRAD BLOG's Brad Friedman.)

The drumbeat of the pro-democracy movement in America (who could have ever imagined there'd be a need for one in this country?!) seems to be growing louder as more and more Mainstream Media folks get into the game!

Following on the heels of yesterday's Miami Herald piece about Miami-Dade's possible return to paper ballots, Herald columnist, Robert Steinback jumps in with a damning condemnation of Electronic Voting today pointing out that, "Nothing is more important, for the world's pre-eminent democracy, than assuring the sanctity of each vote."

Steinbeck goes on to say:

Indeed. Clearly there are still a few in the MSM who get it. It may just take them a while to figure it out.

Moreover, Steinbeck --- for the first time that we know of --- mentions the Clint Curtis / Tom Feeney vote-rigging scandal in the pages of The Herald, along with a litany of reasons for returning to paper ballots [emphasis added]:

And tomorrow, The BRAD BLOG has learned, syndicated Tribune Columnist, Robert Koehler will also go on record about the pitfalls of E-Voting, a condemnation of what went wrong in 2004, and some terrific coverage about those of us who are out there trying to fight the good fight to save our endangered democracy...even while the rest of the MSM continues to yawn.

Perhaps things are changing, however. We'll see. But at The BRAD BLOG, hope always springs eternal. And so we press on...

...CONTACT...
Robert Steinback and the Herald Editors

From today's Miami Herald:

Uh, oh...Tom and Jeb aren't gonna like that...

In a letter sent yesterday by Congressman John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, to former-President Jimmy Carter, Conyers has expressed his "strong opposition" to the "conflicting interest" of having Bush/Cheney loyalist, James A. Baker, III serve as the Co-Chair of a recently seated blue-ribbon commission set to investigate Election 2004!

Carter has been named as Co-Chair, along with Baker, on the secretly convened and recently announced commission to investigate problems in Election 2004 and to make recommendations on changes needed to improve accuracy, confidence, transparency and inclusion in the American Electoral System.

From Conyers' letter to Carter [PDF]...

In the letter, Conyers also calls upon Carter to include true Voting Rights and Election Reform advocacy groups such as Velvet Revolution on the commission which is currently staffed instead by politicos and Bush/Cheney/RNC cronies.

ALSO: The BRAD BLOG can now confirm that Mark F. (Thor) Hearne, II, the National Attorney for Bush/Cheney '04 Inc. and leader of the recently invented, phony GOP front group calling themselves the "non-partisan" American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) has been seated on the Academic Advisory board for this commission!

The fix, as we've been warning for some time, is clearly --- and dangerously --- in with this commission!

For more on the Bush/Cheney/RNC-run ACVR and how they are tied directly to the Baker/Carter Commission, please see the BRAD BLOG Special Coverage page on the developing ACVR scam.

UPDATE: The letter from Conyers to Carter is now posted here [PDF]. As well, Conyers has just blogged on the topic, and added even stronger language for his concern of Baker on this commission. From the just posted item at ConyersBlog:

...MORE WILL BE COMING ON BRAD BLOG CONCERNING THE BLUE-RIBBON COMMISSION, ITS MAKE-UP, AND THE INSIDIOUS GAMING OF ITS MANDATE...STAY TUNED...

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.