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....

Guest blogged by DES

BRAD BLOG Guest Bloggers were on a tear this last week, with Video Master Alan Breslauer doing much of the heavy lifting, and John Gideon of VotersUnite.org keeping you up-to-date on the (apparent) death of the controversial Holt Bill, HR811, among other deeds and misdeeds in the world of elections and politics. Dr. Rebecca Mercuri brought us some verrrry interesting photos and Arlen Parsa weighed in with a weird "Swift-boating"-style campaign video making its way around the intertubes... and a very special shout-out to the makers of Hacking Democracy to congratulate them on their very first Emmy Nomination! (Host a house party and share this stunning documentary with your friends and neighbors!)

All the while, Brad has been blogging from the road and holding down the fort as daily Guest Host of the Peter B. Collins Show, reporting on the big news of the day --- like the dismissal of the Plame civil suit, Impeachment Friday with Cindy Sheehan, and more. Archives from this last week are now posted, so you can catch up on all the breaking news, analysis, commentary, and of course, your calls and comments!

It's all the news that you won't find in the Mainstream Corporate Media, and it's all right here after the jump...

Guest blogged by DES

It's high summer and the movers and shakers got back to movin' and shakin' without delay after coming back from the 4th of July holiday week. Brought to you by our intrepid Guest Bloggers and the Travelin' Brad, the biggest stories this last week ranged all over, but our BIGGEST story bar-none was the victory of dogged citizen activists in their battle to dump disenfranchising DRE (basically, touch-screen) voting machines in their home county of Riverside, CA. Be sure to read the story of how unflagging dedication to election integrity and sheer stick-to-it-iveness can overcome bureaucratic stonewalling and stupidity...

In other election integrity news this last week, the big cajones award goes to the California judge who ordered a RE-VOTE after county election officials destroyed the evidence from a 2004 race, depriving plaintiffs of a recount... PFAW continues their disingenuous campaign to keep those dangerous DREs in every county in the nation... the notorious Election Assistance Commission finally un-gagged researcher Tova Wang, author of a study proving the "myth" part of the Republican Myth of Voter Fraud... Rep. Dennis Kucinich dropped his support of Holt's HR811.... plus the other biggie story of the week: the stunning revelation of discrepancies in the code ES&S submitted to the state of California --- which could have national implications!

In other big stories this last week, BRAD BLOG DC correspondent Margie Burns analyzed the politics of leaks and pardons by presidents, past and current... the Guts of Michael Chertoff told him bad things might happen to the U.S.... revelations of Vote Caging by Republicans in Florida in 2004 (aren't you shocked?) and the release of the escort service client phone list of the "DC Madam", already netting one Republican representative senator (aren't you shocked?) in just the first 24 hours...

From tireless Guest Blogger Alan Breslauer, we have multo must-see video: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s inspiring speech during the Live Earth concerts, NYC firefighters exposing Giuliani's actions in the aftermath of 9/11, and the er, unusual eavesdropping of a conversation between Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, and a very entertaining smack-down delivered by RFK, Jr. to the hapless Glenn Beck...Plus a revealing debate between Wolf Blitzer and Michael Moore over his newest film, "Sicko"!

Check out the newest pro-Net Neutrality video released this last week, and sign up to tell the FCC to PROTECT YOUR INTERNET from corporate raiders! They aren't playing fair, kids --- they never do --- and it's up to us to save it --- the deadline is July 17th, so spread the word!

Even more awaits after the jump...

Guest blogged by DES

Hope you had a fabulous Independence Day! While Brad is out and about traveling on various speaking engagements and posting where possible, our Guest Bloggers are doing the heavy lifting to bring you stories and analysis that matter, that you won't find anywhere else.

The biggest story on last week's list: Fallout from Bush's unprecedented commutation of "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence dominated the newscasts and the marbled fat halls of punditry, as apologists and critics joined in the chorus in the continually-escalating drama that is the Valerie Plame/CIA Leak case. (Guess the Bushies didn't read the DoJ handbook, and are blaming Clinton --- again.) As our newest guest blogger Jon Ponder reveals, the Bush Administration is now publicly operating under "Justice for me, but not for thee."

Second biggest story from the last week: The Obstructors of Justice (Department of Gonzo) continue to bob and weave to hide from congressional oversight, but the Summer of Accountability inexorably rolls forward. What extra-constitutional tactic will the Bush Administration try next? Perhaps VP Dick "A Law Unto Myself" Cheney and his anti-Constitution minions in the Office of the Vice President are working overtime to bring you the latest in bizarre interpretations of the Constitution. If you're down with OVP, you get out of jail for (nearly) free... (at least until you're discovered on the newly-released "DC Madam" phone list... or Cheney-fatigue sets in...)

Although the leaders of the astro-turf group ACVR have "hit the mattresses" for now, the long tentacles of their trumped-up campaign to spread the Republican Myth of Voter Fraud across the nation have surfaced (again) in the U.S. Attorney Purge Scandal, this time in David Iglesias' New Mexico. Perps in the Jack Abramoff Lobbying and Bribery Scandal are also trying to escape further scrutiny (there are so many --- are there any congressional Republicans not involved?)...

And be sure to give a listen to Brad's debate with Larry Norden of the Brennan Center, as they try to sort out just what is going on in the controversial Holt bill on the Peter B. Collins Show...

Guest blogged by DES

No time for detail today due to travel, but be sure to review the highlights of stories from the last week that you won't see anywhere else, including the stellar contributions of our most excellent guest bloggers, who are holding down the fort while Brad is on the road...

Guest blogged by DES

Just a quick intro this week due to travel, but be sure check out the headlines below to make sure you're up-to-date on the goings-on from the last week: From another special report by Greg Palast on tearful vote-cager Tim Griffin (followed shortly thereafter by a new Senate Judiciary Committee investigation into the activities of the Crying Cager), to more fun with Thor Hearne and Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Abramoff), to the unprecedented move by CA Sec. of State Debra Bowen to access voting machine source code, it's been a busy week. And, while Brad is on the road to the Progressive Cabinet Summit and the U. S. Social Forum Conference in Atlanta, check out our new guest bloggers, bringing you fresh perspective and news items you won't find in the MSM....

Read up on all the stories you may have missed from the last week, and consider yourself upped...

Guest blogged by DES...

No time for anything but the goods. But it was another huge week. Don't believe me? Take a look at the notable headlines from the past week at The BRAD BLOG, all below for your convenience...

Guest blogged by DES

The last week here at BRAD BLOG has been dominated by the concept of Justice: the dispensing of it and the perversion of it.

Tuesday was the Big Day: in the morning, former Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison for perjury in obstructing the investigation of the unprecedented outing of a CIA agent by senior Bush Administration officials. (Be sure to read BRAD BLOG D.C. Correspondent Margie Burns's analysis of the sentencing.) That afternoon, Bradley Schlozman appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain his many partisan, anti-democratic, anti-voter activities during his many jobs in the Bush Administration's Department of Justice. BRAD BLOG's DoJ source called Schlozman's words "on the razor's edge of perjury." "Schlozzie" may want to revise his testimony...

But the most fun this week came from BRAD BLOG stories you won't get anywhere else (at least until the MSM swipe them without attribution)... Like Bush-Cheney operative Mark "Thor" Hearne, who is miffed that BRAD BLOG has stuck a wrench into his Republican dirty tricks machine, exposing his now-defunct astroturf organization, ACVR, devoted to spreading the Republican Myth of Voter Fraud, and slamming renewed attempts to push through disenfranchising Voter I.D. laws in the State of Missouri --- Hearne's especiales de la casa --- along with exposing other Bush Administration shenanigans intended to muck with your legitimate right to vote...

Other stories you saw here first: L.A. talk radio host Bree Walker stepped up to the plate to take ownership of Cindy Sheehan's Peace House in Crawford, TX... Democratic Congressional Candidate John Russell, on his ongoing battle to get a fair hearing of the evidence in his election challenge... BRAD BLOG's exposure of PFAW's disinformation regarding the Holt bill, HR 811... The questionable editing practices of the KC Star in anti-Bush Administration stories...

It's all here --- the good, the bad, the ugly, and the chipmunk...

Guest blogged by DES

We started out the long holiday weekend last week with a delicious rant from HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher --- so sad to see him go on hiatus again, since the news never takes a holiday...

We found out that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff doesn't really keep track of pesky details like casualty numbers for our troops. Greg Palast followed up his bombshell post from the week prior with a snarky rebuttal to critics of his evidence regarding electoral machinations by RNC-opposition-researcher-Vote-"Cager"-turned-Rove-aide-turned-partisan-U.S.-Attorney, the newly-resigned Tim Griffin. The revelation on late Thursday night that House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) is examining Palast's evidence should help to quell the quaking boots, who appear to fear there is no "there" there...

Obviously, The BRAD BLOG believes there is plenty of "there", but no need to take our word for it --- even the DNC (here and here) and Slate finally noticed "vote-caging" just this week, and the Department of Justice is looking into allegations of illegal partisan hiring practices at the DoJ, too!

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald confirmed, again, in a new court filing that Valerie Plame was indeed covert at the time of her unprecedented outing, and he directly implicated VP Dick Cheney in the scandal. Did the rightwingnuts admit they were wrong? Of course not! Video Blogger Alan Breslauer gave us a personal montage of New Orleans, a living monument to preventable outcomes of incompetence --- still destroyed, still struggling nearly two years later. Maybe Karl Rove can drop in with some of that butter, root beer, and toilet paper ...

Read on and be prepared for what the cat drags in this coming week...

Guest blogged by DES

Posting a more streamlined review on this holiday weekend to take advantage of the beautiful weather (while also dealing with some technology issues yet to be sorted out, so no added graphics)... Below you'll find the most notable of notable stories posted last week to The BRAD BLOG.

From new revelations about the machinations of fox-in-the-henhouse Federal Elections Commission director Hans Von Spakovsky, to the great unraveling of the politicization of the Department of Justice and the bombshell testimony of former DoJ staffer Monica Goodling, to another exclusive report from Greg Palast expanding on the GOP 'Voter Fraud' scam, and the heroic efforts of individuals like Texas State Senator Mario Gallegos to hold the line at great personal cost. Plus a handful of interesting and funny bits in the media this last week, from a wide-ranging discussion between Brad and radio host Tony Trupiano, to the insightful season finale of Bill Maher's Real Time, for your listening and viewing pleasure.

And, oh yeah, more BRAD BLOG readers think Al Gore will run, than think he won't. But what do they know?

A quick review of the following will get you all caught up for whatever thunder will inevitably roll this coming week, as the cicadas crawl out of the ground after 17 years and the rest of us fire up the barbie and celebrate the unofficial start of summer...

Guest blogged by DES

On the road this weekend, so little time to offer a summary or ad graphics, but below you'll find the most notable of notable stories posted last week to The BRAD BLOG. From more news of Ann Coulter's felony voter fraud, to exclusives on the U.S. Attorney purge from Greg Palast and another from Brad on the worm which took down Early Voting in Sarasota's 13th district last year, to the continuing unravelling of the GOP 'Voter Fraud' scam and the crooks and liars of the ACVR and the legal firm, Lathrop & Gage, behind it all. A quick review of the following will get you all caught up for whatever tumult is undoubtedly set to follow this week as the wheels continue to come off at a breakneck pace...

Guest blogged by DES

We have a shorter rundown this week due to technology issues (yes, my computer died), but looking at the headlines below, two running themes are clear: rich and famous people really are different from you and me (especially when it comes to enforcement versus prosecution of voter fraud allegations), and no matter how much trouble you may be in, it's good to have friends in high places. And if you're really lucky, the press will help out, too!

Among the big stories this week --- besides the ongoing spectacle of Sad Conservative Clown and Vote-Fraudster Ann Coulter --- the deeply flawed House bill HR 811 sponsored by Rush Holt (D-NJ) passed out of committee minus a crucial amendment to ban the use of touch-screen DRE systems, and the election challenges of Clint Curtis and 3 other Democratic candidates were dismissed by the House Administration Committee (although we've heard it may be coming up for a full House vote later, btw), leaving only the challenge of Christine Jennings in FL-13. We also learned that no matter what else may be going on with those Krazy Kids in Kongress, Russ Feingold will find a way to punch through the fog with another way to keep the ante upped in hopes of ending the disastrous war in Iraq and bringing the troops home.

But things got still worse for the poor voters of San Diego, who have a brand spanking new Registrar of Voters freshly minted from the Diebold Sales Force! (Not kidding.)

Read on, dear reader, read on...

Guest blogged by DES

It was a quiet week in Lake Wobegon last week.... but not in the District of Columbia, where scandals and revelations erupted by the hour.

Bush's War in Iraq dominated the week - the fourth anniversary of "Mission Accomplished" --- as former CIA Director George Tenet attempted to defend himself, shamefully, with his just-released tell-all book, as closer to home a storm of BRAD BLOG comment controversies erupted in the wake of disturbing video of riot police beating and kicking demonstrators and reporters in the L.A. May Day Melee, and guest blogger Stephen Heller call to re-institute a draft...

The Abramoff Lobbying Scandal spotlight has re-focused on BRAD BLOG's favorite corrupt congressman, Florida Republican Tom Feeney. A free golf junket to faraway Scotland to escape the Washington "heat" probably sounds like a great idea right about now...

We saw major developments on the Election Integrity front: in Florida, the Governor and tireless activists were able to overcome all obstructions and finally restore paper ballots to the Sunshine state. And Missouri was 'ground zero' for the GOP's "suppress the Democratic vote" campaign --- a web of corruption that The BRAD BLOG has been following for years now --- along with the welcome addition of McClatchy News Service (even if the Kansas City Star has attempted to undermine them) in connecting the Republican Myth of "Voter Fraud" to the U.S. Attorney Firings Scandal via the Show-Me State. Click on our ACVR Special Coverage page to get the whole sordid story so far...

And be sure to check out last Sunday's peace-lovin' music video for inspiration, as we pause for a breath before finding out what the cat will drag in next week. Links to High and/or Lowlights from what the cat dragged in last week are conveniently summarized and linked below...

Guest blogged by DES

An incredibly busy week this last week went turbo-charged with the sudden re-emergence of the Abramoff Lobbying Scandal, now starring our favorite as-yet-unindicted Republican, Tom Delay's Rep. Tom Feeney (FL-24). Naturally, The BRAD BLOG has been following Feeney's follies for years, along with the heroic efforts of whistleblower, computer programmer, and now challenger for the 24th District, Clint Curtis... Click on our "Special Coverage" to catch up on all the fun in this twisted tale of corruption and vote-rigging...

The scandals continue to roll fast and furious: this last week, The BRAD BLOG exposed the connection between the cynical Republican myth of "voter fraud" and the ongoing scandal of the firings (and near-firings) of U.S. Attorneys. And the extraordinary failures of the Election Assistance Commission were already compounded when they were caught trying to hide and change the results of their own report debunking the Republican myth of "voter fraud", but now they're silencing their researchers when they don't like the results!

It's a "harmonic convergence" of scandals (or a Unified Field Theory of Corruption, if you will, plenty of snarky nicknames for this debacle to go around). Read on, dear reader, and do your best to keep up with this Great Unraveling of the Republican Culture of Corruption.

The headlines from many of last week's most notable articles follow after the jump...

Guest Blogged by DES...

Tragedy and bloodshed visited two very different worlds this week, related only by their utter incomprehensibility, when many souls were lost to violence in Virginia and Baghdad. Last week we spent quite a bit of time contrasting how each was covered in the media: a gusher of emotion over the heroism, selflessness, and senseless loss among the victims of the shootings in Virginia, yet an astounding lack thereof for the hundreds killed in the daily carnage that is today's Iraq. No attention must be paid to flag-draped coffins arriving from our wars; there are few photos and honors for the lives of our soldiers or their families.

Yet even the Bush Administration managed to get in on the act, appearing at the Virginia Tech tragedy in just over 24 hours, beating their own record of four days in responding to Hurricane Katrina. (Perhaps because the university is so near the White House...?) Bush then said at the memorial, in perhaps his all time "greatest" urecognized-irony-laden moment: "Those whose live were taken did nothing to deserve their fate --- they were simpy in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Electronic voting machines, and the U.S. EAC, which is supposed to oversee them, are still a disaster --- as we were reminded, yet again --- this time when ES&S iVotronic machines across America were revealed to have a vulnerability allowing an undetectable voter-flipping virus about which the EAC refuses to alert America. Also, Diebold Whistleblower Stephen Heller offers encouragement for the Honest American confronted with secret wrongdoing --- a must-read during these troubled times.

"Elections have consequences", and it showed most this week when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was called on the carpet before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a vain attempt to explain himself --- the attempt being in vain because there is no honest explanation for this perversion of justice.

Not to worry --- there still appears to be consequences for actual voter-fraudster Ann Coulter! But if any small good can come from this shameful period in our nation's history --- notably the U.S. Attorney scandal --- perhaps it will be the wide exposure and long-deserved death of the Republican myth of widespread 'voter fraud' --- which we've been covering for years on these pages (literally).

That, however, may be only the tip of the poisoned arrow into the Heart of Justice, as Brad revealed late in the week what could well be the "underlying crime" and direct link to the White House that the wingnuts claim isn't there. Brad tells me there is more where that came from...

There will be more --- do try to keep up. And see below for links to those stories and many others you may have missed at BRAD BLOG last week...