We haven't had much luck in raising donations, so I've been going out of my way to try and find premiums in order to offer some incentives to help encourage folks to support our work here at The BRAD BLOG.

The folks at DK publishing have been kind enough to offer a very limited number of copies of Chuck Wills' gorgeous new hardback, LINCOLN: THE PRESIDENTIAL ARCHIVES, to us for use as a premium.

This one is really cool. I suspect that folks here may really appreciate this particular item. As the publishers describe it, the book is an "interactive 'museum-in-a-box' including removable documents and replicas of Lincoln's personal correspondence, landmark speeches and more. Accessible text and photography throughout brings Lincoln's childhood, political ride, presidency, the Civil War era, and untimely assassination to life on the page."

The brand new book --- with literally hundreds of cool pull-outs --- has a suggested retail price of $40, so we're offering it as a premium to folks who make a donation to BRAD BLOG of $100 or more. It's more pricey than our usual offerings, but we hope there are enough folks out there who may be interested in the topic, and in supporting our work, to jump on this one.

We've got just a few of them, but will ship them out ASAP to folks who donate $100 or more online right away. For those who prefer snail mail donations, our address is...

As we could all use something to lighten things up around here, and it's so amusingly off-base, and it's a slowish posting day, and clearly someone needs some attention, why not...

Some pseudonymous blogger named "Vigilis" with some blog named "Molten Eagle" has called me out. I am so wounded to the core by his stinging and ingeniously well-supported critiques and barbs that I just must respond in desperate defense of my once-good name.

In his item called "Confronting Brads Baloney Blog", our man (I presume) "Viligis" instructs his readers (reader?) that "today's leftist propagandists...refuse to stand and debate" before alluding to me (presumably) as "con artists and their ilk [who] shift topics as rapidly as possible by disparaging opponents with both charges of falsehoods and rancorous name-calling."

"Of course," our friend "Vigilis" ironically charges: "this is done without citation of the slightest facts." (More on that in a minute.)

But it's not just me of whom the anonymous blogger is critical. It's you! You commenters! Especially you female commenters, whom "Vigilis" calls out not once, but twice in his amusing post:

I have "frontmen"?! Cool!

But wait, it gets more tickling!

"Vigilis" then asks, "How can serious people behave so irresponsibly?" before dropping the most absolutely, amusingly ironic (read: immeasurably foolish) graf, particularly in light of his earlier charge that "propagandists" and "con artists" like us ply our trade "without citation of the slightest facts."...

Speaking tonight at an event sponsored by the Democratic Westside Progressives here in Los Angeles, along with election attorney Paul Lehto and local election integrity champion Judy Alter.

The event begins at 7pm tonight at the Westside Pavillion Mall , 10850 Pico Blvd., Community Room, 3rd Floor Food Court (map here). More info: 310-490-3858.

I'm going to try to focus on the topic "Why Paper Trails Do Not Work" and will also be taking questions, as usual. If you're in the hood, come on out and say hello!

Finally catching my breath, and beginning to get back up to speed here at home after three months on the road. Given that I'd hoped to find a few much needed days off over the summer --- and largely failed, but for a few days snuck in here and there --- it seemed a worthy effort at reviewing some of what we were able to do here, even while on the road.

All of this by way of reminding folks that my work here at The BRAD BLOG is supported almost solely by the generosity of you readers. We sell a few ads occasionally, but it is your donations that give me a shot at paying my bills on time(ish) and covering the various expenses here. The rest I try to cover by an occasional freelance article where I can get one, and otherwise I continue to pray to the democracy gods that I'll be able to pay for food, rent, gas, and credit card bills. Somehow.

So your help is appreciated --- and relied upon! Online donations can be made at this link, or, preferably, you can use the blue form on the right side of every page to create a monthly "subscription" for any amount you like, or use the snail mail address there to send a paper-based contribution.

Having made that pitch, if you're still not convinced that you are needed to keep this place going --- and that keeping this place going is worth while --- here are just some of the highlights of both our reporting and other missions (the public ones anyway) that we were able to pull off even while on the road this past summer...

During last Wednesday's televised address from the Oval Office, George W. Bush said, "We thank the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq."

As it turns out, you'll be stunned to learn that his number was a lie. But it wouldn't be the first time the Administration has lied about who is, and isn't, a part of the so-called "Multinational Coalition" in Iraq, as The BRAD BLOG reported exclusively as far back as October of 2004, prior to the Presidential Election.

Concerning Bush's "36 nations" mentioned last week, Spencer Ackerman reports, in an exclusive over at TPM, that the number is fudged at best, and just another unsupportable, outright lie by the administration at worst. The White House's fuzzy math used to comprise the "36 nations" with "troops on the ground in Iraq" apparently includes several nations which "aren't in Iraq in any capacity anymore," according to Ackerman.

The number also includes Canada's one soldier who had been serving at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), who has since been withdrawn; New Zealand's single troop (yes, like Canada, just one!) commitment to UNAMI; Tonga's now-withdrawn force; a single press aide from Iceland; and an unknown number from Hungary which may, or may not, have anybody still in Iraq at all as part of a tiny NATO contingent.

Bush's prepared statement lie on national television last week, however, simply continues the pattern set years ago, prior to the 2004 Presidential Election, by Dick Cheney, as The BRAD BLOG exposed in a series of reports back then in what would become our first breakthrough story to be picked up by both national and international media alike...

Blogged by Brad from...LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA!

Home again. Finally. After three months on the road, I wish I could say it's good to be back. But for the moment, I'll remember how incredibly difficult it's been to keep up with everything while on the constant move for so long, and will just be glad that I'm back in one place. For at least a few weeks.

Though the gods seem to laugh and the news seems to conspire to keep me blogging even more frequently from the road at times than when I'm at home...Nonetheless, for those long hours when I was barreling down the highway from coast-to-coast over the past months, guest-hosting radio shows, engaged in some super-secret mission or another, or otherwise sneaking in a few hours off the grid, on a mountain, or both, there are a bunch of folks who are owed much thanks.

To all of the tremendous BRAD BLOG guest contributors who kept the joint lively and up-to-date with important news and commentary while I was otherwise occupado, I thank you. The talented list of folks who contributed here over the past few months, in case you hadn't noticed, includes the following impressive list (in no particular order):

Joseph Cannon of CannonFire; Jon Ponder of Pensito Review; Bob Bancroft of Voters Unite; Miriam Raftery of Writer, Ink; Clint Curtis of ClintCurtis.com; Steve Huff of CrimeBlog.us; Emily Levy of VelvetRevolution.us; John Washburn of Washburn's World; Margie Burns of MargieBurns.com; Arlen Parsa of The Daily Background; Rebecca Mercuri of Notable Software, Inc.; Tom Courbat of SAVE R VOTE and Bo Lipari of New Yorkers for Verified Voting.

Additionally, much always-reliable heavy lifting was performed for the duration by BRAD BLOG perennials DES, Alan Breslauer of HotPotatoMash and Agent 99 of neufneuf. As ever, guys, thank you.

But there is one person whose efforts deserve extra special mention here, and not just for the extra duty he's had to pull at The BRAD BLOG for the past few months...

Blogged by Brad from Glenwood Springs, CO...

We've emerged safely from the woods after three glorious days off the grid up at 10,200 feet. No net. No cell. No bears. No mountain lions. Though we did have a few close encounters with a bald eagle and some moose (even if we avoided being trampled by the two who stampeded through our campsite at dawn one morning.)

Starting slowly this morning and catching up on some of the bear stories you guys posted in the the Open Thread I left on my way out the door. Thanks for those. Was only able to read a few of them before we set out, but CharlieL's amusing story provided a good laugh or two around the campfire.

From the real mountains to the mountain of email that has come in while we were gone, it may take some time to get cranked back up to full speed. So for the moment, here's a look at what I've been looking at over the past few days...

More photos later, perhaps, unless I learn I'm needed elsewhere after discovering what's really going on out here.

Oh, and btw, you folks in San Diego were in our hearts and on our minds even in the wilds over the past few days!

Glad to see it looks like Progressive Talk AM 1360 KLSD is still on the air at this hour! If you haven't already, please take the time to sign the petition to register your support for some semblance of both fairness and balance on the public's airwaves in the country's 6th largest city!

More soon(ish)...

Blogged by Brad from somewhere in Colorful Colorado...

After threatening, and trying for the last two months, to get fully "off the grid," by jiminy, I'm gonna do it. At least for a few days. Come hell or highwater. At least until after Labor Day.

Heading up to get lost in the mountains for a few days beginning today, and so the Guest Bloggers will do as they please here (or not). Whatever happens at The BRAD BLOG, will stay at The BRAD BLOG.

Goodbye cruel world! At least until next week at some point (unless the bears get me)...

Blogged by Brad from Burlington, CO...

P.S. We're not in Kansas anymore.

Blogged by Brad Friedman from Salina, KS...

There was some pretty decent press coverage of my speaking event last week in St. Louis as sponsored by Missourians for Honest Elections.

The full front-page feature article "Voter Beware", by Fran Mannino of the Webster Times, was the most complete in describing the "packed house" event, offering a very good description of some of the issues we face, and featuring a bunch of good quotes from myself and other sources as well.

It also offered a pathetic and shamelessly untrue quote (an out and out lie actually) from St. Louis County Election Director John Diehl, who was invited to share the podium, as were St. Louisans Thor Hearne of the GOP voter-suppression front-group ACVR and Paul DeGregorio, the former chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) who parlayed the gig into his next one as chief of an Internet Voting Company. All three were no shows, but that didn't stop Diehl from trying to bullshit the voters he's supposed to be serving, as revealed in Mannino's report...

Please help us continue our original, one-of-a-kind, found-nowhere-in-the-MSM investigative reporting.

Click here to donate online, or better yet, see the blue box at right to sign up for a monthly subscription for any amount you wish. There's also a snail mail address there as well if you prefer.

We've been traveling virtually coast to coast, on our own dime, over the past several months on our democracy road tour. The costs are great, yet we have no corporate or foundational sponsorship. Nobody's paying for The BRAD BLOG (and our replaced car radiator) other than you. We need your help to save democracy. Please consider a donation to help keep us going today...

Blogged by Brad from St. Louis...

Last night's event out here in Kirkwood, sponsored by Missourians for Honest Elections, was terrific. A packed house, and a bunch of fired up folks --- hopefully ready to go out and fight for their democracy --- by the time we were done, I do believe. Speaking of "fired up," I was particularly honored to have ace bloggers, reporters, muckrakers Thomas Charles and Howard Beale from the Fired Up! Missouri blog in the house.

As well, between my remarks and the Q&A period, I was informed that a full contingent of officials from the City of St. Louis Board of Elections had come out as well. Though I offered them the opportunity to respond at the top of the Q&A to any of my comments, e.g., "tell me where I was full of it," they all declined, saying instead they had "just come to listen." After encouraging them to bring a lawsuit against Diebold (the voting machine vendor foolishly relied upon in the city of St. Louis) for fraud, we moved on to some great questions from the very enthusiastic group of folks who turned out on another sweltering St. Louis evening. Afterwards, one of the Republican members of the St. Louis City BoE bothered to come up, introduce himself, and swap business cards. Which is very much appreciated.

I'm told that the Democrats on the board are also appointed by Republican Governor Matt Blunt (former SoS and ACVR founder/scammer Thor Hearne's partner in crime), so it's said that they may or may not be actual Democrats. I'll stay agnostic, since I don't know either way, and just appreciative that they bothered to come and at least one came by afterwards to make contact.

On the other hand, Thor Hearne, Paul DiGregorio (former St. Louis County Election Director, turned EAC Chair, turned Voting Company chief), and John Diehl (current St. Louis County Election Director) declined to show despite the invitation sent to them to speak at the event along with me. Oh, well.

The biggest honor of the week for me here in St. Louis, no doubt, was an invitation I received by phone on Tuesday afternoon to come in and meet with the Editorial Board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the once-great paper founded by Joseph Pulitzer in 1878. It's now the city's only major daily.

The hour and a half chat on Wednesday, with some six or so folks, including commentary editor Eric Mink, editorial writer Jim Gallagher, letters editor Jamie Riley, editorial cartoonist R.J. Matson, and reporter Jo Mannies (the last remaining reporter to whom vote-suppressor Thor Hearne will speak, apparently), was a good one. They had tough questions for me, which I'd like to think I handled well-enough and, as you may have guessed, I had some tough questions and/or challenges for them in return. Specifically, in reference to their dearth of coverage on these most important issues, particularly here in Missouri, where Thor (whose first name they all sang out in chorus when I mentioned "one of the nation's top 'voter fraud' guys lives right here in St. Louis") lives, and in the state regarded aptly by Greg Gordon of McClatchy as "Ground Zero" for the GOP in the 2006 Election.

By the way, everyone here seems to know Thor in some way and has a strong opinion about him. Most not necessarily kind.

Little time for more details right now, other than I was struck by the words, plastered on the wall across from the elevator doors, in the lobby of the old Post building downtown where we met. The words greet everyone as they leave the elevator, just above the promotion for the Post's "Millionaire Money" promotion (see photo below.)

Given some who have charged me with being less than polite from time to time in my reporting, the 1904 quote from Joseph Pulitzer was notable for its bluntness and lack of "diplomacy." If I'm "coarse" enough to follow in his tradition, I will wear that label proudly. Here's the photo of the quote, but if it's difficult to read, so the text of Pulitzer's comments are reprinted below it:

"Our republic and its press will rise or fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself. The power to mould the future of the republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations."
-- From North American Review, Written by Joseph Pulitzer in 1904

I've got absolutely nothing to add to that.

Blogged by Brad Friedman from the Ozark Mountains in Missouri...

In a late comment posted just this morning, in reply to the article and photos about my recent visit to Diebold in Texas, a person claiming to be an employee of one of Diebold's New England distributors believes I am "totally full of shit"...

I don't know Mr. Hajjar, nor his company, LHS Associates, and don't have much time again today, as I'm still on the road, to look into them, but I'll presume both are legitimate entities and he is the one who posted the above comment. Hajjar, according to LHS's website, appears to be their "Director of Sales and Marketing," so it's little wonder he's a bit deluded about the products his company represents and upon which his livelihood depends. It makes sense that he might be a tad paranoid about what may come in the wake of recent devastating findings out of California concerning Diebold and their shitty, hackable voting systems, as far as his continuing ability to make a living off them courtesy of the tax-payer teat.

Nonetheless, I am happy to reply to a point or two of his silly, ill-conceived screed, along with gladly accepting his invitation to debate these particular issues publicly...

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"!

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...