(Hat tip YesButNoButYes)

The folks at DU are talking about this caller to O'Reilly's Radio Factor on Friday claims to have refused a tip to a waitress after she said "Happy Holidays" at the end of the meal.

Here's the audio clip [MP3] (it's just about two minutes).


What are your thoughts?

UPDATE: Eric Jaffa at SpeakSpeak says the call reveals O'Reilly as a "flip-flopper" for contradicting his own previous statements about "Happy Holidays".

ADDENDUM: Larisa has some serious thoughts on the threat O'Reilly's silly campaign poses to this country in an open letter at HuffPo.

To protest what Free Press investigative reporters describe as a "holiday burial for American Democracy" in the Buckeye State, Ohio divinity student and Columbus resident, Jonathan Meier is continuing his prayer vigil and hunger strike at the Ohio Statehouse despite heavy snow and brutally cold winter temperatures.

House Bill 3 has already passed the House and is about to be approved by the Republican-dominated Senate in the ground-zero snakepit of GOP political corruption otherwise known as Ohio.

Activist Meier, in a just-issued press release says "that his Christian faith calls him to 'constantly pursue social justice and illuminate social ills, and, often, this call requires personal sacrifice."

Free Press' Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman recently described the latest onslaught to democracy in Ohio, which Meier is protesting, this way:

Says Meier, "Most people don't realize that this legislation, if passed by the senate next week, would make it virtually impossible for homeless folks to vote, would make it virtually impossible for groups to register large numbers of voters, would eliminate oversight of voting machines, and would cancel our right to challenge election results."

He added, "Instead of addressing the long lines at the polls, instead of making it easier for people to register and to vote, Republican lawmakers put forward 424 pages of legislation that will set up roadblocks to our democracy. I, for one, do not trust a vote reform bill that is purely a partisan act."

Fitrakis and Wasserman put the Ohio legislation in context for the rest of the country, where similar bills are being explored by various Republican-controlled legislatures:

Richard Pryor, 1940 - 2005

The beloved 40 year-old Voting Right Acts, implemented by Lyndon B. Johnson after violence and death to Voting Rights activists in Selma, Alabama in 1965 has been all but gutted by the George W. Bush administration. The VRA celebrated it's 40th anniversary this summer, even as Bush's Department of Justice was destroying one of its most important measures by covert political caveat.

That gutting now appears to be becoming a still greater threat to our democracy as it is being institutionalized by recent policy changes which bar career Voting Rights staffers and attorneys in the DoJ from offering opinions on new laws that fall under the jurisdication of the VRA.

Two recent reports by Dan Eggen of the Washington Post revealed that Bush political appointees in the DoJ has overruled the recommendations of career staffers and attorneys in the Voting Rights division tasked with determining the legality of two separate laws sent to the department for "pre-approval" under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

Section 5 requires that states with a history of discriminatory election practices --- like Texas and Georgia --- must receive pre-approval from the DoJ before implementing any changes to their voting systems. It prohibits "retrogressive" changes to voting laws, or laws that would bring harm to minority voters.

In the last several weeks Eggen has reported on remarkable memos leaked by DoJ staffers showing that they had recommended against approval of new laws both in Georgia, where the legislature had insituted a new Photo ID requirement at the polls, and in Texas, where then Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) had helped to redistrict the state to allow for more Republican representatives after the GOP gained control of the state house in 2002.

Georgia's law has since been ruled unconstitutional by two Federal Courts who deemed the law to be a "Jim Crow-era Poll Tax". Texas' law has resulted in 7 additional Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. The fallout from the DeLay led gerrymander of Texas districts has resulted in several indictments for DeLay and his cronies who helped force it through the legislature and allegedly conspired with the Republican National Committee to launder money in support of GOP candidates running for the new seats. The Texas law, which had been unanimously recommended against by 8 DoJ staffers, including the lead attorney in the Voting Rights Act division, still stands.

Today Eggen reports that such staff opinions are now completely banned in Bush's Department of "Justice"!

The one ray of hope that Eggen offers is that Sen. Arlen Spector (R-PA) is considering Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings...at least on the Texas redistricting case.

We often bristle when we hear those on the Left criticize the Bush Administration as Fascistic. It's simply too easy to ascribe to them the worst possible traits as a blunt political weapon. But if the issues discussed above don't send a shiver down the spine of every democracy-loving American it's either because they don't understand what's actually at stake --- and being dismantled in the process --- or they simply don't give a damn about this country's most important legacy to the world: A free and fair electoral system where all citizens are given an equal voice in the selection of our leaders...or at least a system as close to that as we can possibly muster.

Our Republic is in grave danger.

Less than 16 hours after Bob Harris posted about Bill O'Reilly's disingenuousness on his own website, his crew made the obligatory attempt to send yet more evidence of their own hypocrisy down the memory hole...Harris made sure that didn't happen...

(Previously, the Fox "News" website was caught off guard as well, and had to scramble to change the ads for "Holiday Ornaments" in the Fox "Holiday Store" in order to meet the new stringent requirements for their hilarious-were-it-not-so-pathetically-transparent "War on Christmas". Nah, on second though, it is simply hilarious! Happy Holidays!)

The BRAD BLOG has received exclusive detailed information about a developing potential class action securities litigation against Diebold, Inc. (stock symbol: DBD). The class for the suit will involve shareholders who purchased or owned stock in the Ohio-based company any time from October 22, 2003 through September 21, 2005.

Though we are not at liberty at this time to discuss the specifics of the potential litigation and the causes of action in the complaint being compiled, The BRAD BLOG has learned that the class action lawsuit, currently being drawn up, will involve securities fraud violations and other troubling matters for the controversial company, its CEO as well as current and former members of its Board of Directors.

VelvetRevolution.us (an organization co-founded by BRAD BLOG managing editor, Brad Friedman) is seeking additional individuals and groups who may qualify as plaintiffs in the specified class. Those who owned or purchased Diebold stock, or mutual funds which carried Diebold during the period mentioned, are asked to contact LawSuit@VelvetRevolution.us where information submitted may be turned over to attorneys for possible addition to the plaintiff class.

Union groups who own or owned shares of Diebold or mutual funds which invest in the company are specifically urged to contact VR about joining the class action.

The mutual funds which are most heavily invested in Diebold are listed here. Information on "Insider Transactions" is listed here.

Diebold, Inc. is the controversial Voting Machine and ATM manufacturer who was recently compared to Enron by an anonymous company insider The BRAD BLOG dubbed "DIEB-THROAT" in a series of exclusive reports. The Internet news site, RAW STORY ran a new exclusive interview with DIEB-THROAT yesterday revealing additional details on the inner-workings of the company and potential legal issues they may face.

Shortly after our first report on DIEB-THROAT, Diebold's stock price plummeted some 15.5%. The company attributed their troubles at the time to shortfalls in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and on the same day announced the resignation of their chief operating officer (COO) and President, Eric C. Evans. Our source, DIEB-THROAT, challenged the company's response to the falling stock prices in the wake of lower than expected earnings by suggestion that "Using Hurricane Katrina is a poor excuse for bad products - the last time this kind of deception occurred it was called Enron."

Diebold CEO Walden O'Dell has come under harsh criticism for his statement to Republican fundraisers that Diebold he (see explanation for correction below) was committed to delivering the electoral vote of the state of Ohio to George W. Bush prior to the 2004 Presidential Election. O'Dell was part of Bush's "Rangers and Pioneers," a group of individuals who had raised at least $100,000 each for Bush/Cheney's 2004 re-election campaign.

As well, the company has been facing other mounting troubles, legal and in the court of public opinion, over their implementation of software, hardware and various Elections Systems contracts around the United States as has been reported in have charged the company may be in violation of a court order stemming from that agreement. In North Carolina, Diebold recently lost an attempt in the court system to receive exemption from parts of a state law requiring the escrow of their voting system's software source code. They were certified anyway the next day in North Carolina, and some activists have questioned whether or not the certification was done according to state law and whether or not new legal proceedings may be launched there. And in California, a debate rages on concerning the possible re-certification of Diebold's touch-screen voting machines here after some 20% of their machines failed in a recent mock election test.

According to internal "Privileged and Confidential" documents of "Attorney Work Product" originally obtained and reported by Ian Hoffman of The Oakland Tribune in 2004, an estimate of legal costs in California for the Voting Machine giant was pegged by their attorneys at $535,000 - $925,000 for just a single two month period in order to fight mounting legal troubles in the state. Diebold's law firm, Jones Day fought in Los Angeles County Superior Court to keep those leaked memos from being further circulated.

The document estimating legal expenses [PDF] lists costs in regard to the Qui Tam Action filed (and eventually settled) by election watchdogs at BlackBoxVoting.org, the costs for fighting "Criminal Exposure" such as "legal analysis of potential criminal violations" and "White collar criminal law attorney pre-grand jury investigative advice" and even costs to the firm to "Monitor selected Web sites to gain key intelligence."

Concerning the potential of a new lawsuit against the company, DIEB-THROAT is not surprised, and expressed hopes to The BRAD BLOG in a recent email that some good may come from the possibilities of upcoming litigation:

"The denial of every documented problem with Diebold's voting system was bound to unravel sooner or later. I am not surprised that such a lawsuit has developed [as] the company consistently offered Wall Street deceptive information. Perhaps with the help of few patriotic plaintiffs our nation will be saved from Diebold's corporate takeover of our right to vote - and have that vote counted free from corporate and political influence."

The BRAD BLOG will, of course, continue to follow this story as it develops...

UPDATE 12/12/05: Diebold CEO, Walden O'Dell resigns in wake of imminent fraud litigation! MUCH MORE...

CORRECTION: A reader correctly pointed out that O'Dell promised that he, not necessarily his company, Diebold, as we originally reported, was committed to delivering the state of Ohio to George W. Bush in the 2004 election in his now-infamous fundraising letter to Republicans. More details here on that letter, here....

Sources tell The BRAD BLOG that The Daily Show on Comedy Central will be running an item tonight on self-proclaimed satirical journalist Bill O'Reilly's use of a year-old video clip to support his phony "War on Christmas" as originally reported here on Sunday.

Our report was picked up by MediaMatters.org yesterday. We had reported on O'Reilly's use of the clip in his "Talking Points Memo" segment on Fox "News'" The O'Reilly Factor program last Friday and Media Matters added that O'Reilly had also run the same clip by Daily Show "correspondent" Samantha Bee audio-only on his Radio Factor show earlier that day where he misleadingly introduced it as "what happenened there last night" on Comedy Central.

BRAD BLOG's original report has the video and discusses O'Reilly's phony use of the clip to shore up momentum in his imaginery "War on Christmas". The video clip clearly shows a calendar for 2004 behind Bee who is also currently very pregnant --- which she wasn't in the clip. As well, Media Matters confirmed our report that the segment had not been played on The Daily Show at any time during the previous week contrary to O'Reilly's assertion.

UPDATE: The Daily did, in fact, run a piece on this as we predicted. A very funny one. The clip is now available right here...

RAW STORY's Miriam Raftery unleashes a terrific new piece today based on an interview with the Diebold Insider, dubbed as "DIEB-THROAT", who we originally introduced in our BRAD BLOG EXCLUSIVE back in September.

Raftery previously delivered the terrific San Diego CityBeat story in October on all manners of electile dysfunction since the November 2004 election mess, right on up to the recent Mayoral boondoggle on Diebold machinery in San Diego. She's covered the Election Reform and Diebold beat in various outlets for some time.

Amongst the revelations reported by Raftery for RAW from her exclusive interview with the anonymous whistleblower who has chosen to keep their identity undisclosed for the time being due to "a continuing sensitive relationship with the company":

Much more and full details in RAW's complete article here...

As former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay received troubling legal news today in Texas where he's been indicted on several charges related to money-laundering campaign contributions for Republican candidates, Fox "News" did their best to buck up the spirits of "The Hammer".

The judge in the case rejected DeLay's motion to drop all charges, though he did toss out one charge for "conspiracy" which hadn't yet been against the law in Texas at the time DeLay allegedly conspired. The decision now paves the way for the criminal trial to begin and for DeLay to be permanently replaced in his House leadership position.

But we hope you "Fair and Balanced" zombies out there will note how it was reported via several different Email Alerts today:

From Yahoo Email Alert...

From CNN Email Alert...

And finally, from "We Report, You Decide" Fox "News" Email Alert...

Sigh...

Meanwhile, on the tube version of the above Alert, John Gibson's plans to mislead are quashed by Judge Andrew Nepalitano who manages to sneak a bit of truth past the Fox police:
-- Fox News Video in Windows Media format...

And yet, despite FNC's failure to inform Americans about what's really going on in their Government (or perhaps more accurately, their demonstrated attempt to misinform them), it seems the message is getting out anyway. More bad news tonight for Tom DeLay, this time from his own home district in Houston, courtesy of Jesse at Stakeholder who also has additional info there on the battle brewing to replace DeLay permanently in the House Leadership...

(A well overdue hat-tip to BRAD BLOG's not-so-secret weapon David Edwards for his "News Alert" info!)

Joseph Cannon has been digging deep and looking under the slimy rock of the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal to take a closer look at the MZM and Wilkes Corp firms and seems to be finding what appears to be millions of tax-payer dollars funnelled through fake "Defense Contractors" (who actually appear to do nothing) and then straight into the pockets and campaigns of scores of Republican politicians.

This seems to be the sort of thing actual journalists used to report, the U.S. Congress used to investigate and the Justice Department used to prosecute. Thank God that bloggers like Joe get the big big bucks for doing all of that (save the prosecute part) even while they have a day job!

So is Cannon onto something big here? I'm busy digging into a few things of my own, but it seems to me that his work deserves a much closer look...

UPDATE: (Upon further reflection on Joe's work, it seems to me that if he's got this right, this could be the mother of all historic scams in this country...For that reason, my natural inclination says that this can't be. The implications here would be so enormous, my initial reaction is that he must have something wrong here. But does he?)

On the Friday edition of The O'Reilly Factor's "Talking Points Memo" segment, self-proclaimed satirical journalist/host Bill O'Reilly used a year-old clip from Comedy Central's The Daily Show in an attempt to make it look as though "Secular Central" (as he referred to them) were out to get Christmas!

The latest chapter in O'Reilly's phony "War on Christmas" or whatever the hell he calls his sad cry for attention --- and/or swell reason to avoid reporting on actual news --- provides more ammunition to the argument that the Fox "News" Channel's #1 personality continues his bizarre slide into bonkerhood/irrelevancy.

Previously, the so-called "Christian" Right had decried the commercialization of Christmas, but having apparently found that tactic not as politically adventageous as they might might have liked, have this year declared "war" on whatever retail outlets don't remind shoppers of their latest reason for the season: The Commercialization of Jesus Christ as a Weapon in a Self-Induced Paranoia-laden Phony Culture War (or, as Tom Delay's one-time aide, the now-indicted Michael Scanlon described it via email: a way to fire up the "Christian wackos" to trick them into voting for Republicans).

O'Reilly introduced a video clip from The Daily Showduring Friday's "Talking Points Segment" by saying "Predictably, the opponents of public displays of Christmas continue to put forth counter arguments." He then referred to Comedy Central as "Secular Central."

Trouble is, the clip appears to be from last year's Daily Show as evidenced by a) We watched every episode this week and didn't see the clip O'Reilly played, b) Daily Show "correspondent" Samantha Bee is standing in front of a 2004 calendar and c) Bee is currently quite noticably pregnant...which she is noticabaly NOT in the clip O'Reilly used.

-- Video in Window Media format...
-- Video in QuickTime format...

UPDATE: 12/6/05 Media Matters picks up on our story. ... A few details added: O'Reilly also played the Samantha Bee clip on the same afternoon's Radio Factor and referred to it as "what happenened there last night" (he dropped the "last night" part when misleading viewers later that evening on his TV show). They also cut the first part of Bee's comment from the TV version, but played it on the radio where she began the joke by saying, "But really, let's face it. All other days bow down to the 25th..."

In related news, O'Reilly and the other GOP shamelessly opportunistic Political Paranoia Peddlers featured stories about the Jewish Rightwing wackos who are also jumping on the Chutzpa Wagon to publicize their own mock outrage about this non-issue.

Former Boston Herald editorial writer and O'Reilly Factor guest Don Feder, tossed his tallis into the hat to try and help trump up O'Reilly's phony pet-project du jour by giving statements to the Cybercast News Service (CNS) on Friday. The statements were given by Feder to CNS --- a Republican propaganda organization created by GOP operative Brent Bozell and edited by Scott Hogenson, a long time director of operations in the RNC Press Office --- under the guise of heading up a Jewish group claiming to be supporting the effort to "save Christmas." In one of his statements, Feder, who is apparently Jewish, is quoted by CNS as stating that "America is a Christian nation."

Feder, a hard-right political consultant, bomb-thrower and smear-merchant (the kind O'Reilly pretends to not like) and the President of a group calling itself "Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation" (JAACD) goes on to inflate his and O'Reilly's own strawman "war" by saying "we think it's good for Christians to be able to celebrate their holiday." As if any American had ever suggested otherwise.

The JAACD, which announced their mission to "Wage Web Warfare Against The Liberal Establishment" on its website, was formed last April. Jewish comedian Jackie Mason, who is also on the board of JAACD, was provided to O'Reilly's show as a guest on Friday. One of the other Republican propaganda "news" services, NewsMax.com ran a similar article in lockstep with their comrades at CNS on that same day. No mention was given in either article about Feder's relationship with O'Reilly.

Incidentally, no mention is given that "America is a Christian nation" in either the U.S. Constitution or the Declaration of Independence declaring America's nationhood.

CNS, NewsMax and O'Reilly have similarly forgotten to mention that as their shameless anti-American crusade for the hearts and minds --- and votes --- of the Rightwing Christian "wackos" continues.

(ADDENDUM: For those unfamiliar with all of this nonsense, see Bob Cesca's hilarious piece at HuffPo which also discusses Crooks & Liars discovery of O'Reilly's own Fox store offering "Holiday Ornaments" for your "Holiday Tree". Since John Amato reported that at C&L, by the way, Fox's store has been ethnically cleansed of the offensive balls, which several of their shows had offered, in favor of biblically accurate "Christmas" balls instead.)

UPDATE: Judging a man by the company he keeps... More on the hate-mongering, possibly psychopathic and self-discrediting Don Feder follows...

MSNBC picks up on Ann Coulter's pathetically infantile attack on BRAD BLOG Guest Blogger Lydia Cornell by naming Coulter in their "Worst Person in the World" segment Friday. She receives this dubious honor for "posting the personal phone number and email of a blogger who was critical of her" and for otherwise referring to to groups who disagree with her as "Nazi block watchers."

-- Video in Windows Media format...
-- Video in QuickTime format...

Indeed it's been nearly a full week since the cowardly hate-mongering "satirist" Coulter posted Cornell's private information on the front page of her website in petulant retaliation for an article Cornell wrote here on BRAD BLOG. Coulter has refused to take it down despite Cornell's polite requests to do so. The Ivy League educated Republican mouthpiece also regaled her readers by adding "Death is sexier than Lydia Cornell" to a post which included a polite private email from the actress/author.

In the bargain Cornell and her family continue to receive harassment and threats via her personal email and phone number which Coulter supplied to her millions of her uncompassionate attack dog sycophants who (predictably) refuse to condemn Coulter's indefensable lapse of simple "netiquette" and common decency. They --- like so many of their fake "conservative" brethren --- would rather attack someone whose message they don't like, rather than condemn one of their own or force them to take person responsibility for abhorrent behavior. Clearly these folks recognize neither "compassion" nor "conservatism" as anything other than a blunt linguistic instrument with which they are to bludgeon their perceived American "enemies".

(More details on the above here if you missed it.)

Debra Bowen, author of the "Bowen Amendment" (SB 370) which mandated "paper trails" for all votes in California, is now running for Secretary of State out here. She blogs about the now-nearly-infamous "Hack Test" that may soon occur on Diebold machines here in California.

She also asks that you sign her email petition demanding current Sec. of State Bruce McPherson thoroughly test such machines before they are certified by the state. I ask you to do so as well!

You don't need to be in California to sign the petition, as far as I know. And since what happens here will soon happen there, I strongly recommend you sign it.

(I recommend this because it's important, not just because she called me her "hero" during a joint appearance earlier today on KRXA 540am. Though that didn't hurt!

UPDATE 12/5/05: Bowen's office sends this information to clarify one of my statements above:

It does indeed, and my thanks to Bowen's office for sending over the clarification!