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Latest Featured Reports | Monday, March 18, 2024
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GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal 2012...
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Tape of Live Appearance Discussing Election Integrity, Ohio 2004, E-Voting Crime 2006...
By David Edwards on 7/20/2006 7:42pm PT  


Video in Streaming Flash format...
Video in Windows Media format...

NOTE FROM BRAD: I'm still out on the road, will be for a while, and thus unable to check into the net with much frequency! Not getting all of my email either because of it, so my apologies. Thanks Dave for getting this up! More when I am able to check back in from a location with net access and enough time to get caught up-ish.




By David Edwards on 6/29/2006 4:04pm PT  

Guest Blogged by David Edwards


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Brad appeared on this evening's edition of CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight. He explained some of the dangers of having wireless connections built-in to e-voting machines.

UPDATE FROM BRAD: Thanks for getting this up quickly, David! Was a quick piece tonight (made it back from a frantic trip back from San Diego just two minutes after my appointed time), but I'm pleased to be in the good company of Avi Rubin and Rep. Rush Holt in the Lou Dobbs report. I'm told they'll be using more of me tomorrow. We'll see. Ironically, I live about 3 blocks from the CNN building in Los Angeles and they've never called me in before...until I was several hours away in San Diego. No rest for the weary.

Full text transcript follows...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---




By David Edwards on 6/13/2006 11:59am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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Stephen Colbert had Robert Kennedy Jr. as a guest on last night's edition of the Colbert Report. With the show's more relaxed interview format, Kennedy was able to give a quick but meaningful overview of how Republican officials may have stolen the 2004 Presidential election in Ohio.




By David Edwards on 6/7/2006 7:34am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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Yesterday, Robert Kennedy appeared on Fox's Your World with Neil Cavuto.

Neil Cavuto didn't give Robert Kennedy the chance to finish a thought or make a point. It was the same old hostile wingnut tactics of distractions, diversions, interruptions and unrelated questions.

Cavuto actually questioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr's integrity based on the 48 year old election of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy. At that time, Robert Kennedy Jr. was only 8 years old. Cavuto asked,

"On this day 38 years ago you had to deal with the loss of your dad. I say this with the utmost respect. Should a Kennedy whose uncle had a very controversial win --- that some say was stacked with dead people voting in the city of Chicago --- be the one to talk about fixing elections?"

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS FROM BRAD: I love how these guys keep saying we shouldn't look back at '04, and then they look back 48 years ago to try and bash RFK's article on '04 (which is as important in re: it's implications for '06 and '08 as anything else). Not to mention, the 1960 JFK "stolen election" canard is exactly that, a canard. Here's some background which also shores up RFK's point to Cavuto that JFK would have won even without Illinois in 1960. But why dally on actual facts in having these sorts of debates?




By David Edwards on 6/6/2006 11:44am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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In Iraq, the month of May saw the largest number of Iraqi civilian deaths since the war began 3 years ago. The Baghdad morgue reported over 1400 dead in May. Over 400 of the dead Iraqis could not be identified. Some journalists, like veteran reporter Robert Fisk, claim that the officials are under-reporting the actual number of deaths. In addition, many more bodies can never be counted because explosions and road side bombs often leave little evidence of human remains.

What's clear is that the violence in Iraq is increasing at a pivotal time for the fledgling Iraqi government. Even the shell-shocked Iraqis are stunned by the new level of violence. For example, over a two day period, 18 severed heads wrapped in plastic have been discovered. The likely cause are the escalating sectarian revenge killings.

In this video, an Iraqi woman cries,

Where is the government?

Where is Bush who occupied our country?

Why did they kill us?

ADDENDUM FROM BRAD: Good timing for David Edward's post here. I was about to do one of my own, pointing out this report that 6,000 Iraqi corpses have been discovered in the last 5 months. Given Iraq's population of appx. 25 million, compared with the US's population of 300 million. The equivalent of 6000 deaths in Iraq over the past five months would be some 72,000 in America. If we had 72,000 murders via "sectarian violence" in America in just five months, would that be considered a civil war? Or would we criticize the media for not reporting all the "good news" in our country?




Wolf Pounces, Hands off to Holt for Phony Claims, RFK Jr. Holds Own
[UPDATE] Text Transcript Now Added...
By David Edwards on 6/5/2006 7:16am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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Wolf Blitzer hosted a "debate"/ambush on CNN's Situation Room between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Bush/Cheney '04 spokesman, Terry Holt. In his Rolling Stone article Kennedy shows that Republicans prevented 350,000 voters from voting or having their votes counted.

Blitzer allowed a more civil discussion than did Tucker Carlson in another recent interview with Kennedy. CNN must have decided that an interview with Kennedy --- which would be entirely warranted --- would have appeared partisan. Republicans don't need someone who is uniquely qualified to defend their illegal electioneering in Ohio. Terry Holt can parrot the same tired GOP lies talking points and unsubstantiated, evidence-free charges as well as any talking head.

Holt said he would turn Kennedy's charges of Republic election rigging "on it's head". His first line of defense was that "an exhaustive bipartisan study of all 88 counties in Ohio was conducted after the election and Republicans and Democrats... have agreed that there was no significant or insignificant fraud." Kennedy is quick with a strong response, saying that, "there has no been no bipartisan commission... It's simply wrong to say that."

Holt wasted no time in blaming the voter. The true threat to America's democracy are the statistically insignificant fake voter registrations. Especially dangerous are those voters that attempt to "stuff the ballot box" registering with fake names like "Mickey Mouse" and "Michael Jordan". Holt's second talking point is a favorite in the Republican's long term strategy to restrict voting rights. They use this argument for everything from establishing voter Ids to purging Democrat voters from the rolls.

Robert Kennedy found his voice and easily defeated Holt's weak attempt to divert attention from the real issues. A few "Mickey Mouse" registrations hardly compare to the fact that Republicans stole the 2004 Presidential election by subverting the will of 350,000 voters in Ohio.

UPDATE FROM BRAD: Allow me to add to David's analysis here that there is not one known instance of phony "Mickey Mouse" or "Michael Jordan" registrations actually recorded as having voted. Holt spent no time speaking to the serious charges made by Kennedy in Rolling Stone but rather made up his own phony, unsupported nonsense. All the while Blitzer charged Kennedy didn't present evidence to support his charges (apparently, only if RJK Jr. had brought forward someone admitting they personally rigged the election would that have been evidence of anything). In the meantime, Blitzer allowed Holt to spread his unsubstantiated garbage without being challenged even once.

The complete text transcript from the video interview from Friday, June 2nd's edition of The Situation Room on CNN follows...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---




By David Edwards on 6/2/2006 5:40am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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Tucker Carlson hosted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last night on MSNBC's The Situation. Kennedy has written an extensive new article in Rolling Stone which exposes how the the Republicans planned, coordinated and executed a plan to subvert the will of voters and put George Bush back in the White House.

As usual, Carlson conducts the interview with the attention span and intellect of a 3-year old (and that may be an insult to 3-year olds). Before Kennedy is allowed to speak, Tucker begins pulling out thinly veiled Republican and corporate media talking points designed to halt any post-election debate. In his lead-in, Tucker says, "Is it really possible that a conspiracy of this magnitude has been kept quiet this long?" Seconds later, turning to Robert Kennedy, Tucker asks, "You are alleging a massive (Carlson's emphasis) conspiracy to, as you put it, fix the 2004 election. A conspiracy of this size would have required the complicity of literally thousands of people. Why have none of those people come forward to admit they were part of it?"

By ignoring the evidence and repeatedly putting together words like "conspiracy" and "massive", Tucker uses one of the first and favorite talking points for those wishing to discourage the truth about Republican electioneering. Tucker implies that a conspiracy to steal a presidential election is logistically impossible. Anyone who believes such theories are irrelevant "crack pots", internet kooks, partisans and wear tinfoil hats to block out the mind control signals.

Tucker's next trusty talking point minimizes the evidence: "I have no doubt --- and I don't think that anybody would --- that there were voting irregularities in this election as there are in any election. Probably some crookedness, again, as there are in any election ." Carlson is implying that liberals, frustrated by Kerry's loss, are blowing normal election imperfections way out of proportion.

Tucker Carlson continued an assault on Kennedy and his article throughout the short interview. Kennedy fights for time to respond and does a good job indicting the media (and Tucker) for ignoring a very obvious problem. Tucker responds by saying that if the stolen election were real then it would have been a news story --- as if truth and reality only exists if the media reports on it.

In the end, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., managed to remain poised and believable. This interview alone may have done little to prove to MSNBC's viewers that there is significant evidence of a stolen election --- but the piece did prove one thing to us: Tucker Carlson is a complete ass.

UPDATE FROM BRAD: Speaking of complete asses... Wolf Blitzer is scheduled to interview RFK Jr. tonight at 7pm ET (4pm PT) on The Situation Room.




By David Edwards on 6/1/2006 9:14am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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Earlier this week, during the trial of David Safavian, photos were released from one of the Abramoff-sponsored golf trips to Scotland. David Safavian is charged with lying to investigators about his relationship with Jack Abramoff.

The photos show Abramoff with some of his "Champions", a term he used to describe people in government who could provide information and assistance to Abramoff's clients. Champions were showered with gifts and trips like the golf trip seen in the released photos.

In the group photo above, Abramoff's Champions are shown prior to boarding the Gulf Stream jet. Neil Volz, pictured on the far left, was chief of staff to Bob Ney. He is considered a star witness for the prosecution. Standing next to Volz is Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition. Congressman Bob Ney is 4th from the left. He is the short guy wearing the grey shirt. Jack Abramoff is on the far right.

This video is from MSNBC's Countdown. David Shuster explains the story behind the photos and the lengths to which Abramoff would go to provide favors for his Champions. Shuster also has an update on the status of the Safavian trial.




Haditha is 'as bad or worse than My Lai' Massacre in Vietnam
By David Edwards on 5/30/2006 11:37am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha appeared on CNN America Morning where he expressed outraged at the military's handling of the massacre of innocent Iraqis by Marines in Haditha, Iraq. It's been over 6 months since the incident occurred, yet the investigation is still not complete. The Pentagon refused to drop their cover story until Time Magazine published an article in February of this year. If it were not for that article, the military would have never publicly recognized the atrocities in Haditha.

Murtha said that, even now, the Military was trying to spin the report by telling the press that the incident happened during a combat situation. According to Murtha:

I think is just as bad if not worse than the My Lai massacre [during the Vietnam conflict]. In My Lai... they were out in the field and they killed civilians and they used the excuse that they looked like they were enemy. Here [in Haditha], there were no shots fired. There was no enemy action at all. A taxi drives up, they kill everybody in the taxi and then they go into the homes and pull the people out.

The stories keep getting worse and worse. Then they try to cover it up by saying they were killed by an IED to confuse the message. They're still trying to confuse the message.
...
Today, I was talking to Charlie Johnson, ABC News, and he says "the military says this, the military says that." Look, this happened 6 months ago, this happened Nov. 19th. They knew the day after what had happened. They keep spinning it to make it look like it was something that happened during [combat] action.

CNN's Pentagon official ass-kisser correspondent reviewed the timeline of events originally compiled by Time Magazine. After a roadside bomb killed one soldier, the Marines killed four teenagers in a taxi. The taxi driver was also killed. In the first house, Marines killed 7 people, including women and children. In the next house, 8 were killed, including 6 women. The third house was spared. In the fourth house, however, 4 were killed.




By David Edwards on 5/26/2006 5:50am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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On Wednesday, May 24th at about 3:43 pm ET, CNN broadcast this odd little story. There seems to be no reference to it on CNN's website and we haven't seen any encore broadcasts since.

Here is the short version of the story... Geronimo's great grandson is making a plea to President Bush to facilitate the return of the remains of the Apache chief. The heir to Geronimo decided to make this request to Bush after a researcher found proof that Bush's great grandfather, Prescott Bush, had robbed Geronimo's grave. The skull, bones and other relics are now part of initiation traditions in the secret society of the Skull and Bones.

Read on for more of this story...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---




By David Edwards on 5/25/2006 7:26am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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The Special Prosecutor investigating the outing of CIA officer, Valerie Plame-Wilson, has indicated in a court filing that Vice President Cheney is likely to be a witness in the Libby trial.

The New York Times quotes Fitzgerald writing, "Contrary to defendant's assertion, the government has not represented that it does not intend to call the vice president as a witness at trial." (see: Muckraker). Cheney's testimony is expected to reflect the state of mind in the Office of the Vice President during the organized attack on Joe Wilson's credibility and the outing of Plame-Wilson. The testimony will likely show that Libby had motive to leak selective information to reporters to smear Wilson and bolster the Administration's justification for war on Iraq.

Fingering Cheney as a possible witness may lead to questions about a conspiracy secret illegal scheme planned and executed within the Vice President's office.




By David Edwards on 5/24/2006 7:45am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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Yesterday, The New York Daily News reported that two top CIA officials discussed Valerie plame with Cheney's former Chief of Staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. If true, the CIA officials' testimony will show that Libby knew of Valerie Plame's status at the CIA at least a month prior to Robert Novak's column which first publicly exposed Valerie Plame's undercover status. The testimony of the two top CIA officials is expected to bolster the charge of perjury against Libby. Libby has previously testified that he first learned about Plame from a reporter.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann takes notice that this story had been originally reported 2 months earlier by Jason Leopold, an internet journalist writing for Truthout. On May 13th, Leopold reported that Karl Rove, like Libby, had been served with an indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice. This report has not been confirmed by other media sources, triggering a fierce debate on the internet about the accuracy Leopold's report that Rove has been served with an indictment. Truthout editor, Marc Ash, is defending the accuracy of the report.




By David Edwards on 5/23/2006 8:37am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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George Stephanopoulos interviewed 2004 Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards on Sunday's edition of ABC ThisWeek.

Edwards repeated his charge that President Bush is "the worst President of our lifetime." He also condemned Bush and Cheney for doing serious damage to the country. From foreign policy to domestic policy, Edwards said that it "will take us forever to recover" from the Bush Administration. The former V.P candidate also blasted breaking the law and ignoring the Constitution to spy on Americans.

Edwards:I think what's more important than all of that is watching what her father, the Vice President of the United States, has done to this country. It is not an accident that he's unbelievable poorly thought of. I can't remember what his last poll numbers were but they're like in the teens... There's a reason for that. I mean, he is --- if not the principal --- architect of this disaster in Iraq. He put us on an energy path that the American people are paying an enormous price for right now. He paid little or no attention to making sure the government was prepared to respond to the type of disaster that hit our Gulf Coast. We've got a healthcare crisis going on and he's had no proposal of any kind, that I know of. And people don't trust him anymore which is understandable. I wouldn't trust him.

Stephanopoulos: You've also said that his boss, the President, is "the worst president of our lifetime".

Edwards: Yes.

Stephanopoulos: Worse than Richard Nixon?

Edwards: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Stephanopoulos: What has President Bush done that is worse than the crimes and the cover-ups of Watergate.

Edwards: Well he's done a variety of things. Things that are going to take us forever to recover from. I think we can recover from them but the damage done to the way America is viewed in the World. The lack of respect for American in the World. What the ongoing conflict in Iraq is doing to America's image. His response to this hurricane on the Gulf Coast which I think is part of a pattern of incompetence.

Stephanopoulos: But if he's worse than Richard Nixon, should President Bush be impeached?

Edwards: I think that the way to deal with this is we need a Democratic President in the next election. I think the damage this President has done --- and I didn't get through the whole list. For example, leading an effort --- an illegal effort, I think it's absolutely clear that it's illegal --- effort to spy on Americans, completely ignoring the law and the Constitution. The President knew and his advisor knew...

Stephanopoulos: He says that he has the authority under the Constitution. Article Two of the Constitution.

Edwards: He is wrong. He is wrong. It is the reason we have a separation of powers in this country. Congress had enacted a [FISA] law that told the President exactly what he was supposed to do and he just ignored it. He intentionally ignored it. If there was any question about this, the least they should have done is to go to Congress and try to get the law changed. Should we be monitoring al-Qaeda? Absolutely. It is necessary to keep this country safe but we can do it under the law and the President is not above the law...




By David Edwards on 5/19/2006 10:20am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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During a Wednesday press confernce, Representative Jack Murtha (D-PA), a former marine, revealed that an ongoing military investigation will show that Marines killed innocent women and children "in cold blood". The incident happened in Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005.

While the Pentagon's investigation has not been completed, Murtha reported:

Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. That is what the report is going to tell.
..
There was no firefight... There were no [roadside bombs] that killed these innocent people.
..
These [Marines] are under tremendous strain, more strain than I can conceive of. And this strain has caused them to crack in situations like this.

At the time of the incident, a Marine spokesman said that 15 innocent civilians had been killed in a roadside bomb explosion and 8 insurgents were killed by U.S. Marines in a related gun battle.

Outraged locals reported a very different version of events. The Marines forcefully entered a home and murdered 15 unarmed civialians. There had been no explosion from a roadside bomb. There were no insurgents in the area. The Pentagon flatly denied the Iraqi's version of events.

We first reported on this incident on March 22, 2006 with video evidence (see our flash video or wmv video) that the Pentagon's version of events were largely a fabrication. The Haditha video evidence, shot by an Iraqi film student, showed the aftermath of the murders in Haditha. Unarmed bodies of women children were seen slain in praying positions. The walls were covered with blood and bullet holes.

A 9 year old girl survived the Haditha massacre and was able to provide an eyewitness account of the crimes. In the video at the beginning of this article (pictured at left), the 9 year old girl describes what she witnessed, "The American's came into my room where my father was praying. They went to my grandmother and killed her too. I heard an explosion. They threw a grenade under my grandfather's bed."

The Haditha video evidence was eventually obtained by Time Magazine and broadcast on Arab television. The Pentagon gave way to public pressure and opened an investigation into the killings at Haditha. We can't help but wonder how many other atrocities have been ignored or covered-up due to a lack of public evidence and public pressure?

This video contains yesterday's report from the UK's Channel 4 News. Then, in an interview on MSNBC, Rep. Jack Murtha can barely contain his frustration with Bush Administration's Iraq "policy" which he blames for creating overwhelming stress on American soldiers. The playing time is about 8 minutes.




By David Edwards on 5/18/2006 12:00pm PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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CNN's Lou Dobbs interviews former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern on Lt. General Hayden's nomination to be CIA Director. McGovern insist that Hayden's circumvented the FISA law and the U.S. Constitution when he followed Bush's order to listen to domestic phone calls without a warrant.

In the past, Hayden has shown to be a person who strictly followed the rule that the NSA and the CIA do not spy on Americans. Hayden has been known to push back against orders that breech the threshold of domestic spying. Since September 11th, Hayden gave way to Administration pressure to do domestic spying.

Hayden eventually created and defended the most publicly known program of warrantless domestic eavesdropping. In this case, one end of the call originates in the U.S. and the other end of the call is a foreign location. The FISA law and the Fourth Amendment require a warrant to listen to any domestic source (regardless of who is on the other end of the call.)

From the CNN transcript:

MCGOVERN: Yes, well, I don't think he's qualified because he made one big error. He --- like me when I was an Army office officer, like Bobby when he was an admiral, we took an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States. That means we were sworn to protect the law, and also we were taught that we were never able or willing or we should never --- we should never obey an illegal order, OK?

Now, General Hayden was --- had a terrific reputation at NSA. Largely because he focused on what they call the 11th commandment up there, thou shalt not eavesdrop on Americans. After 9/11, as we all know, everything changed. We have a new paradigm, as they say, not the U.S. constitution...
[..]
Now the paradigm now is when the president or the vice president says we have to do something and it's sort of not really according to the law, we go ahead and do it anyway. And he said, yes, and if we want a person as the head of the CIA who was a yes man and says yes whether it's legal or illegal, I think that disqualifies him.




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About Brad Friedman...
Brad is an independent investigative
journalist, blogger, broadcaster,
VelvetRevolution.us co-founder,
expert on issues of election integrity,
and a Commonweal Institute Fellow.

Brad has contributed chapters to these books...


...And is featured in these documentary films...

Additional Stuff...
Brad Friedman/The BRAD BLOG Named...
Buzz Flash's 'Wings of Justice' Honoree
Project Censored 2010 Award Recipient
The 2008 Weblog Awards



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