Guest Blogged by DES

What's the matter with Indiana? Nothing. Unless you want to vote. And happen to fall onto anti-democracy champion, Republican Sec. of State Todd Rokita's hit list...

Guest Blogged by DES

In a response to unprecedented voter turnout, this afternoon Florida's Republican Governor Charlie Crist ordered the extension of early voting hours...

Guest blogged by DES

This week, Broward County, Florida, Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes said, with a straight face, "No one could have anticipated that this election would be so historic and draw as much attention as it has," and defended her choice to oppose expanding early voting hours next week due to "logistical problems."

In addition to the problems in Florida, there are now reports that longtime GOP "voter fraud" hoaxster Pat Rogers (also known for his involvement in the U.S., Attorney Purge Scandal for the bogus "voter fraud" allegations he filed in 2004, and as a board member of the now-defunct and fully-debunked GOP astro-turf group, "American Center for Voting Rights," or ACVR), is apparently using private investigators to intimidate voters in New Mexico.

Details on those stories and many more --- pre-election litigation over polling place photo I.D. restrictions in Georgia and Ohio, absentee military ballots in Virginia, GOP efforts to close early voting polling places in Indiana, GOP calls for the Dept. of Justice to investigate ACORN just days before a federal election --- from across the country, all follow in the detailed round-up below...

Guest blogged by DES

The Hill reports today that defense attorneys for Congressman Rick Renzi (R-AZ) have filed a motion to dismiss 35 charges of corruption stemming from a sweetheart real estate deal, claiming the federal government secretly and illegally wiretapped Renzi's cell phone.

Ironically, Renzi appears to have been caught up in the very same warrantless wiretapping that he supported as a Congressman...

Guest Blogged by des...

The emerging meme last week from the conservative corner is that the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is to blame for the economic meltdown on Wall Street. The CRA was intended to confront decades of institutionalized discriminatory lending practices by banks in refusing loans to women and minorities. The twisted logic behind this newest meme is that the CRA forced formerly prudent lenders to abandon their previously cautious ways, and forced them to throw sound lending practices out the window because that's what the law demanded, and gosh, it's not their fault that they made bad loans in the bargain.

You may not be surprised to learn that's not the case. Read below, in full, for some facts that counter the insidious prejudice --- with racism at its heart --- inherent in the latest lie drummed up in the conservative blame game. You'd think they couldn't cry "Political Correctness made me do it!" with a straight face, but alas, they do...

Guest Blogged by des...

Nouriel Roubini, RGE Monitor, who accurately predicted the current economic crisis: "Last week we argued that, with the nationalization of Fannie and Freddie, comrades Bush, Paulson and Bernanke had started transforming the USA into the USSRA (United Socialist State Republic of America). This transformation of the USA into a country where there is socialism for the rich, the well connected and Wall Street (i.e. where profits are privatized and losses are socialized) continues … with the nationalization of AIG."

Atrios: "The entire financial system is practically collapsing and they're lamenting the possibility of more regulation...People who prattle on about 'the free market' are usually too stupid to have a clue how complicated and pervasive the "rules" had to be to to get a well-functioning modern market system: sophisticated concepts of contracts and enforcement, property rights, legal entities, proper accounting, bankruptcy, limited liability, etc... etc..., did not descend from the heavens but were, in fact, created."

Matt Yglesias: "Who knew the 'Washington Consensus' would die in Washington, DC under a Republican President in a mad fit of bailouts and nationalizations?"

Tom Toles:

Guest Blogged by DES...

From The Associated Press:

The White House's opinion that advisers cannot be compelled to testify does not address whether or not the witness is nonetheless required to appear in response to a subpoena. From Congress.

It remains to be seen whether Congressional Democrats will actually assert authority and re-establish parity as a co-equal branch of the federal government under the Constitution, or if this is just more sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Last February the full House voted to hold White House officials Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress. They have failed to enforce that vote, which passed 223 to 32, and AG Mukasey has said he would not enforce the House's contempt finding.

Last December, the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended finding Rove in contempt in a bi-partisan 12 to 7 vote, during which Republican Arlen Specter noted "we have no alternative," given Rove's snub of the subpoenas issued by the panel.

Despite the endorsement from even two Republicans on the committee, Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid has failed to bring the recommendation to the full Senate for a vote. Will Pelosi hold the House committee's endorsement (and the will of the American people, and the Rule of Law) in similar contempt?

UPDATE FROM BRAD: In addition to the Committee's finding of contempt, the resolution passed today also recommends an interesting additional course of action recommended for the House, as noted in the Resolution's markup memo [WORD] that we received from the House Judiciary this morning...

Guest Blogged by DES

Washington Post coverage...

Coverage from around the world, including the inevitable politicization in this country, and a late update or two, all follow below...

The Washington Post reports that the United States and the European Union signed an agreement this week detailing the amount of private information the U.S. can obtain on EU citizens traveling to and from the United States, what kinds of information can be gathered, and for how long the data may be stored.

Privacy advocates in the U.S. and the E.U. immediately questioned the agreement's sweeping expansion of data mining of travelers’ private information, including such data fields as medical history, religious affiliation, trade union membership, sexual orientation, and sexual partners.

According to WaPo:

Paul Rosenzweig, Homeland Security’s deputy assistant secretary for policy, explained that the broad categories of information gathered are due to U.S. authorities' fears of risks they haven't yet imagined. Rosenzweig justified the unusual data fields if, for example, U.S. officials learned of an alert about passengers who request wheelchairs hiding bombs in leg casts.

Guest blogged by DES

It was the second week of Brad's guest hosting stint for the Peter B. Collins Show from the studios of KPFT in Houston, and what a week it was! (Audio archives now available after the jump!) BRAD BLOG DC Correspondent Margie Burns dug up the genesis of the catchphrase "compassionate conservative," Guest Blogger John Washburn uncovered apparent election fraud in Minnesota's 2004 Presidential election, and Video Master Alan Breslauer tore up the airwaves to bring you the latest and funniest video on the 'tubes! It's all here, including new revelations from CA Sec. of State Debra Bowen's "top-to-bottom" review of all of the Golden State's voting systems (all were easily hacked --- no surprise there) and the stunning reaction from some CA election officials... the quiet revisions to the Dept. of Justice manual on "voter fraud" indictments...and the reaction of a PA election director upon discovering voting machine company ES&S's "unsavory business practices" (also no surprise there)!

Catch up on all that you may have missed in the last week, and more, after the jump....

Blogged by DES from Houston...

It's the LAST DAY of Brad's week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show! And boy have we had a great time, and hope you have, too! Listen in today at 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET) for our final "Bradcast" from the facilities of Pacifica's Houston station, KPFT.

Today is BE THE MEDIA/FREE-SPEECH FRIDAY! So it's your chance to call in with whatever's on your mind (1-888-5PeterB)!

We'll have a few guests hanging with us. With perhaps more to come (if we're in the mood, or they decide to drop by). Just added: GREG PALAST, whom you may have heard of, will be dropping by to say hello and take your calls.

Also, today's previously scheduled guests (subject to change/updates as warranted): BRYAN MYERS, producer of PBS's NOW, on tonight's special report --- including new, never-before-released documents --- on Voter Caging (check local listings for airtime); today's Daily Election Integrity Hour with JOHN GIDEON of VotersUnite.org with news on the release of CA SoS Bowen's unprecedented "Top-to-Bottom Review" of Voting Systems, plus a backlog of stories we haven't been able to get to all week, BREAKING NEWS and YOUR CALLS in the Free Speech/Be The Media Zone!

Listen LIVE via: http://www.PeterBCollins.com (or an on-air affiliate station)
Call in at: 1-888-5-PeterB (1-888-573-8372)
Open thread discussion during the show: In Comments below...

POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVE:

HOUR 1: Open lines, news from Bush World, breaking news on Bowen's "Top-to-Bottom Review" of voting systems, and Greg Palast on vote-caging et al...

HOUR 2: Open lines, more news from Bush World, and Bryan Myers on details from PBS's NOW report on vote-caging, airing this evening...

HOUR 3: Election Integrity Hour - Details from Bowen's "Top-to-Bottom Review" with John Gideon (report was released while we were on the air), a hand-off to Christine Craft of 1240am Talk City in Sacramento, who will be taking over as Guest Host of the PBC show beginning next week, and also leading a group to Bowen's public hearing next Monday, and tons of last minute callers!...

Thank you, PBC! Houston! And everybody in between! We're "outta here"!

Guest blogged by DES...

The Hill reports that Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has issued a subpoena to White House adviser Karl Rove, the next step in the escalation of the standoff between the White House and Democrats over their attempts to assert congressional oversight and investigation over the executive branch. Scott Jennings, a White House aide, was also subpoenaed.

The latest subpoenas come on the heels of the contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, in which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was openly derided by both Democrats and Republicans on the committee for his perceived misleading testimony; several members of the committee alleged the testimony borders on perjury and today asked the U.S. Solicitor General to appoint a Special Prosecutor.

Comparing current Bush White House tactics to the embattled Nixon Administration, Leahy said:

Rove and Jennings have one week to appear before the committee to testify under oath.

Hold your breath.

Blogged by DES from Houston...

It's our penultimate day of Brad's week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show! We've got a big show again today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET), broadcasting still from KPFT in Houston, Texas.

Our Election Integrity Hour today will feature the first LIVE broadcast interview with TOVA ANDREA WANG since she's finally been un-gagged by the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC). You'll recall she co-authored a report on Voter Fraud for the EAC (her original report here [PDF]) which was subsequently buried and then altered without her permission by the federal commission, when they didn't care for her findings that Voter Fraud was not the wide-spread epidemic that Republican operatives in the White House, DoJ, and other front groups like the ACVR had pretended it to be. Wang, a Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation, had been disallowed, through dubious legal tactics by the EAC, to speak about their duplicity, their changes to the report, and much more for months...until now!

Other guests scheduled for today's show: (subject to change/updates as warranted): FAIZ SHAKIR of the Center for American Progress, KRISTINA JOHNSON of the Sierra Club and TRACY FLEISCHMAN of Brave New Films on the hard-hitting new documentary Fox Attacks!, JOHN GIDEON of Voters Unite and the PBC show's military affairs contributor, SCOTT DICK (and perhaps more to be announced shortly), plus BREAKING NEWS and YOUR CALLS throughout!

Listen LIVE via: http://www.PeterBCollins.com (or an on-air affiliate station)
Call in at: 1-888-5-PeterB (1-888-573-8372)
Open thread discussion during the show: In Comments below...

POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES:

HOUR 1: Faiz Shakir on the Democratic requests for a special prosecutor to investigate Gonzales for perjury. Kristina Johnson and Tracy Fleischman on the campaign against Fox "News" (and their advertiser Home Depot) and their anti-environmental propoganda...

HOUR 2: Scott Dick on all matters military, Iraq, and the meltdown of America...

HOUR 3: The latest on CA SoS Debra Bowen's release of her "Top-to-Bottom" study of electronic voting systems and the rest of the hour with Tova Andrea Wang on her extraordinary experience with the EAC and the political gaming of her voter fraud report...

A complete text-transcript of this interview with Wang is now posted here...

Blogged by DES from Houston...

It's Day 6 and we're closing in on the last few laps of Brad's week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show! Listen in today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET), where we'll be continuing our live broadcasts from facilities of Pacifica's Houston station, KPFT.

Today's scheduled guests (subject to change/updates as warranted): MAX BLUMENTHAL of Huffington Post; MIKE LUX of American Family Voices on OpenLeft.com; BRAD BLOG D.C. Correspondent MARGIE BURNS (see Margie's newest article here); LARISA ALEXANDROVNA of RawStory.com; today's Daily Election Integrity Hour with JOHN GIDEON and ELLEN THEISEN of VotersUnite.org on today's Senate hearings for Diane Feinstein's new election reform bill, plus the latest news on Debra Bowen's "Top-to-Bottom" voting system review in California, plus BREAKING NEWS and YOUR CALLS in the Free Speech Zone!

Listen LIVE via: http://www.PeterBCollins.com (or an on-air affiliate station)
Call in at: 1-888-5-PeterB (1-888-573-8372)
Open thread discussion during the show: In Comments below...

POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES:

HOUR 1: Latest on Contempt of Congress in the House, Mike Lux on "Legislation 2.0" and Max Blumenthal on "Generation Chickenhawk" with some great audio from his recent video taped visit to a College Republicans convention...

HOUR 2: Audio from Gonzales hearings in the Senate, Margie Burns on where Team Bush came up with "Compassionate Conservative", and Larisa Alexandrovna on the questions about the ties to Iran in the latest National Intelligence Estimate...

HOUR 3: Election Integrity Hour! With John Gideon on the latest ES&S mess in San Francisco and the horrible idea to sell poll worker sponsorship to corporations in one Ohio County, a Brad rant on the California Election Clerks' Dick Cheney-like attempt to undermine Debra Bowen's "Top-to-Bottom Review" of voting systems in the state, Ellen Theisen on the Senate hearings for Diane Feinstein's S.1487 Election Reform Bill, and a quick in-studio special appearance by 9-year old George W. Bush expert, Alister...

Blogged by DES from Houston...

It's Day 5 of Brad's week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show! Listen in today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET), where we'll be continuing our live broadcasts from facilities of Pacifica's Houston station, KPFT.

Today's scheduled guests (subject to change/updates as warranted): MARY MAPES, the Peabody-award winning former CBS Evening News producer and current Huffington Post contributor; Investigative Journalist and author of News Junkie, JASON LEOPOLD of Truthout.org; DUANE BRADLEY, General Manager of KPFT Pacifica Houston and OTIS MACLAY, formerly of the Pacifica Radio Network, old-school veterans of independent radio (and our generous hosts here in Houston), on the Fairness Doctrine and our ever-changing media landscape; today's Daily Election Integrity Hour with JOHN GIDEON of VotersUnite.org, Luzerne County, PA Election Director LEONARD PIAZZA on his county's problems with ES&S, plus BREAKING NEWS and YOUR CALLS in the Free Speech Zone!

Listen LIVE via: http://www.PeterBCollins.com (or an on-air affiliate station)
Call in at: 1-888-5-PeterB (1-888-573-8372)
Open thread discussion during the show: In Comments below...

POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES

HOUR 1: Joined in-studio by KPFT's General Manager Duane Bradley on the history of the station and Pacifica, and the KKK bombing of their transmitter in the 70's, and then by Pacifica legend Otie Maclay to discuss the Fairness Doctrine (which he's against)...

HOUR 2: Mary Mapes on George W. Bush and his brutal record of using the death penalty in TX (after commuting Scooter Libby's sentence for being "excessive") and the railroad she received after her CBS/Dan Rather story on Bush's National Guard service (or lack thereof). And Jason Liepold on Dick Cheney's coverup of his energy task force and the phony California power "crisis"...

HOUR 3: Election Integrity Hour, with...John Gideon's Daily Voting News update, and PA Election Director Leonard Piazza on the strongarming of his county by the ES&S voting machine company and a somewhat contentious exchange or two on DREs. Plus, Bill Richardson and his "touch stone" voting systems...