Guest blogged by David Edwards

Brad is on the way to Camp Casey in Crawford to amplify the voices of the anti-war movement and provide us with extended daily broadcasts of The BRAD SHOW. We need your donations to make this mission successful so, please, take a moment and donate what you can.

In the meantime, there is more news coming out of Crawford than we can keep up with. Cindy has had to return to California to tend to her mother who had a stroke. The protestors have vowed to increase their numbers and continue calling for President Bush to answer Cindy's questions.

Protestors marched to the Bush 1600 acre palatial estate ranch to deliver letters to the First Lady. Emily Sharpe of Crawford Update reports...

(Be sure to click the following link to view all of the Camp Casey updates!)

Guest blogged by David Edwards

As our readers know, The BRAD BLOG has been a leading source for investigations and reports into the nefarious (and possibly illegal) actions of high-level GOP Operatives that have established a tax-exempt, 503(c)(3) organization called the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR). The group, since its creation, has released false and misleading information intended to advance GOP plans to disenfranchise millions of voters via legislation calling for national voter registration databases and a demand for photo IDs at the polls.

Increasingly, the mainstream corporate media and independent media sources have caught on to the "dirty tricks" being used by these GOP operatives though the cynically named ACVR.

We were pleased to see a recent article, penned by Dimitri Vassilaros, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review titled: 'Study' is political fraud. Vassilaros writes:

Not surprisingly, Vassilaros discovers that the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania has values similar to the organizers of ACVR...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

A reader of The BRAD BLOG submitted this video from one of Wednesday night's solidarity vigils in support of Cindy Sheehan and the anti-war movement.

The original posting can be found at Randi Rhodes forum.

Watch the video (Windows Media format).

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In the opening segment of last night's edition of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart called attention to George W's vacation and Cindy Sheehan's attempts to meet with him.

Just when we were in need of some comic relief, Jon Stewart and Ed Helms nail the right-wing hypocrisy and tickle our funny bone at the same time.

Watch video in Windows Media streaming format

Watch video in Real Media streaming format

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Last night, around 10 PM local time, a pick-up truck ran over about 500 crosses at Camp Casey in Crawford, TX. The crosses, provided by Arlington West, each represent a soldier who has died in Iraq. The Associated Press published a preliminary story on the desecration of the memorial crosses early this morning.

Japhet Els and Emily Sharpe of truthout.org reporting from Crawford:

This morning, NBC's Today show reported that the driver will be charged later today with criminal mischief. This video from NBC's Today show provides a drive-by view (Windows Media) that really highlights the destruction of the cross memorials.

Today may prove to be bring even more challenges as a few local residents vow to challenge Camp Casey in the Waco courts.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Cindy Sheehan is hoping that a less confrontational strategy will be more effective. Will President Bush, as a man of faith, join her and others on Friday at noon to pray for the troops? The president is reported to have nothing on his official schedule for this week.

A candlelight prayer vigil is planned for Wednesday night. Cindy asks that mothers around the nation join together on Wednesday night in solidarity to pray for our troops.

Here is the latest video of Cindy speaking about the prayer vigil on MCNBC's Countdown. (Windows Media format).

CrooksandLiars has an earlier MSNBC report from this morning.

UPDATE: Wednesday Candlelight Vigils...
Join with MoveOn, True Majority, and Democracy for America in organizing or attending a Vigil for Cindy Sheehan in your town on Wednesday, August 17, 2005, at 7:30 p.m.
http://www.moveonpac.org/event/cindyvigils/

Guest blogged by David Edwards

The RAW STORY is reporting that Velvet Revolution, a coalition of over 120 activist organizations, is launching an advertising campaign aimed at the Bush Administration's "lies, corruption, fear, incompetence, indifference, and arrogance."

From the Velvet Revolution website:

Guest blogged by UnderstandingLife and David Edwards

Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that Four-star General Kevin P. Byrnes was relieved of his position due to alleged sexual misconduct. General Byrnes who was near retirement was assigned as commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia.

From Arianna Huffington in At Rummy's Bizarro Pentagon, Torture is Rewarded While Sex is a Firing Offense, on August 10, 2005 we read:

Yes, we agree with Ms Huffington --- the hypocrisy is all to obvious and that is the problem. Many have recognized that whatever General Byrnes private life might be, it is unlikely to be the primary reason for his current career crisis.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Larry Mattlage is a neighbor of George Bush in Crawford. He says he was sympathetic to the anti-war protesters when they arrived but has gotten tired of the crowds.

Deborah Mathews reports for The Iconoclast...

CNN just reported on the situation and it seems that Mr. Mattlage claims he was preparing for dove hunting season.

"This is Texas.", he says. He is clearly agitated.

The CNN video clip is available here. (Windows Media format)

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Guest blogged by David Edwards

cartoon by Mike Thompson

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Brad Friedman, creator of BRAD BLOG, appeared this week on I.N.N. World Report in a segment titled "the ACVR another GOP scam?".

Host, Lenny Charles, interviewed Brad about his series of articles reporting on the phony voting rights group, American Center for Voting Right (ACVR). Brad explained how ACVR was created by high-level GOP operatives and then appeared only days later to testify at a Republican hearing designed to cover up election fraud at the hands of Republicans in Ohio.

In his closing remarks, Brad focused on protecting citizen's voting rights and repairing faults in our election systems...

Watch the video report from the INN World Report main page or launch it directly from here. (or download directly if needed)

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.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Last night on MSNBC's Countdown, Keith Olbermann interviewed Cindy Sheehan. He asked her about all of the attacks from the right-wingers like Bill O'Reilly, Drudge and numerous other chicken-hawk conservative blogs.

Cindy explained why each of the attacks are baseless. She also reiterated why she continues to hold a vigil outside Bush's 1600 acre palatial estate ranch in Crawford, Texas.

We encourage you to take a few minutes to watch the video over at CrooksandLiars. For those that have problems with the Windows Media format posted at CrooksandLiars, we have provided a lower quality version of the video in QuickTime format here.

After watching Cindy's responses to the right-wing attacks, leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In an article published at the Huffington Post this afternoon, Cindy Sheehan reiterated her position and clearly stated the purpose for her vigil in Crawford.

President Bush held a press conference this afternoon. As he denied "rumors" about possible troop withdrawals, a reporter asked if he was referring to Cindy Sheehan. Bush refused to respond to Mrs. Sheehan's concerns directly and did not indicate if he intended to meet with her during his 5 week vacation.

Sheehan has been camping outside of the Bush palatial estate ranch hoping for an explanation for why he sent her son, Casey, to die in Iraq. She has been very clear in statements that she no longer wants Bush to use her son's death as an excuse for continuing the war.

In responding to a direct question about Sheehan, Bush, once again, said that to "honor the fallen" he would continue sending troops to Iraq to "lay the foundation for peace"...

We have a short video clip of the Bush press conference (in Windows Media format).

Even as we are only four days away from the deadline for the Iraqi constitution, Bush refuses to even consider a plan for withdrawing troops. He considers comments about possible troop withdrawal from the pentagon "speculation and rumors".