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...

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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...

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...

Blogged by DES from Houston...

We're launching into the second week 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): AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder and activist DAVID SWANSON, fresh from the scene (if he's not in jail!) of today's Impeachment March and Sit-in at Rep. John Conyers office; Media Matters' ERIC BOEHLERT; MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD, Editor of The Progressive and author of You Have No Rights; and live from Baghdad, Reporter and author of Baghdad Bulletin, DAVID ENDERS! Plus: today's Daily Election Integrity Hour starts a half hour early (4:30pm PT) with software expert, citizen investigative journalist JOHN WASHBURN on his new BRAD BLOG post below, JOHN GIDEON of VotersUnite.org, and YOUR CALLS!

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: Eric Boehlert on the attempted Rupert Murdoch buyout of Wall Street Journal and Matthew Rothschild on Bush's troubling new Executive Orders...

HOUR 2: Bob Fertik of Democrats.com updates us with the latest on the 1,000,000 impeachment signatures dropped off today at John Conyers office, in place of David Swanson who was arrested there today with Cindy Sheehan and others. And, in the first half of our Election Integrity Hour today (which started early), John Washburn gives us inside details on his Exclusive today on the apparent ballot box stuffing and forgeries in Milwaukee's 2004 Presidential Election...

HOUR 3: John Gideon on the failure of Sequoia Printers in New Jersey, and Tom Courbat checks in from Riverside County, CA for the second part of our split EI Hour today, followed by journalist Eric Benders LIVE from Iraq...and not from the green zone!

Not enough time today to give more than the quickest of notes on this, but I'm sitting in this evening on the Sunday Monitor as Guest Host here on Houston's Pacifica Affiliate, KPFT 90.1 FM.

I'll be taking the place of the good Pokey Anderson and interviewing "Diebold Document Whistleblower" Stephen Heller on both his plight and his feelings on the latest Election Reform issues.

Tune in, if ya can, via http://www.KPFT.org at 4pm PT (7pm ET, or 6pm CT locally here in Houston).

POST-SHOW UPDATE: Here's the audio archive of the full hour-long show. Including a new round-up of the week, my interview with Stephen Heller, and an interview on legal and impeachment issues with Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild...

Blogged by DES from Houston...

It's Day Three --- IMPEACHMENT FRIDAY! --- of Brad's week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show, and maybe he's getting the hang of this thing! Listen in today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET), where we'll be broadcasting live from the facilities of Pacifica's Houston station, KPFT.

Today's scheduled guests (subject to change/updates as warranted): CINDY SHEEHAN, "Peace Mom" and leader of the anti-war movement, alongside AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder and activist DAVID SWANSON, LIVE on the scene from the Rally For Peace in Charlottesville, Virginia; investigative citizen journalist/blogger ARLEN PARSA of The Daily Background.com; former federal prosecutor and author of U.S. v. Bush ELIZABETH De La VEGA; and in today's Daily Election Integrity Hour, JOHN GIDEON of VotersUnite.org, San Diego election attorney KEN KARAN, and YOUR CALLS!

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

POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES...

HOUR 1: Kicked off IMPEACHMENT FRIDAY with Cindy Sheehan, live from a Peace Rally in Virginia, and Arlen Parsa on John McCain's PR firm, apparently "Swift Boating" Rudy "JEW-Liani" and all the rest of the GOP...

HOUR 2: Elizabeth de la Vega and a whole bunch of callers on the case for Impeachment NOW...with one caller's news on John Conyers' comments today in California to the effect of "What are we waiting for? Let's take these two guys out!"

HOUR 3: Election Integrity Hour with John Gideon on today's news on the (potential) death of the Holt Bill as reported by NYTimes, election attorney Ken Karan on the death of the Busby/Bilbray election contest, plus more callers with good news out of Ohio, and a visit from Diebold Whistleblower Stephen Heller.

Blogged by DES from Houston...

It's Day Two of our hijacking week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET). We'll be broadcasting from the facilities of Pacifica's Houston station, KPFT.

Today's scheduled guests (subject to change/updates as warranted): FAIZ SHAKIR, Research Director at the Center for American Progress and Editor of ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report; PBC's regular contributor on military affairs, retired Marine SCOTT DICK, MICHAEL ZACCHEA of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and just added, CHRISTINE JENNINGS, candidate for Congress from Florida District 13, and in today's Daily Election Integrity Hour, JOHN GIDEON of VotersUnite.org, voting machine expert REBECCA MERCURI and YOUR CALLS! (More guests added soon!)

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

POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES...

HOUR 1: Breaking news on the Plame case dismissal, Faiz Shakir on that and the politicization of the Judiciary and Executive branches, and "Congresswoman" Christine Jennings announces her intention to run again in '08 and that the GAO will announce their findings on her FL-13 '06 election in a closed door Congressional meeting on July 27...

HOUR 2: Military affairs contributor Scott Dick and Iraq vet Michael Zacchea on the lack of armored vehicles (MRAPs) for U.S. troops and Zacchea's experience training the Iraqi army...

HOUR 3: Election Integrity Hour with John Gideon on the rumored death of the Holt Bill, Robert Carillo Cohen on the emmy nomination for Hacking Democracy and Rebeca Mercuri on the mess that is Election Reform...

Blogged by Brad from Houston...

I'll be kicking off a week and a half of Guest Hosting on the Peter B. Collins Show today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET). We'll be broadcasting from the facilities of Pacifica's Houston station, KPFT.

Today's scheduled guests (subject to change/updates as warranted): Former CIA analyst and Valerie Plame classmate Larry C. Johnson of NoQuarter, Bob Geiger of BobGeiger.com, Larisa Alexandrovna of RAW STORY and at-Largely, Alison Parker of Human Rights Watch and in our first daily Election Integrity Hour, John Gideon of VotersUnite.org, Tom Courbat of Riverside County, CA's SAVE R VOTE, and attorney Gregory Luke on his recent court victory to hold a re-vote in Alameda County, CA.

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

POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES...

HOUR 1: Featuring Bob Geiger on the Senate Iraq debate and Larry C. Johnson on the National Intelligence estimate and other intelligence chicanery...

HOUR 2: Featuring Larisa Alexandrovna on secret CIA prisons and Alison Parker on mandatory deportation laws.

HOUR 3: Election Integrity Hour! John Gideon on decisions coming to a head, Tom Courbat on the latest tomfoolery of the Riverside County, CA Board of Supervisors and Gregory Luke on last week's landmark Alameda County, CA court victory.

Blogged by Brad from somewhere in Texas...

Our long road trip continues. And who knows? At some point, we may even fit in a day or two off if we're lucky!

After heading from California to Arizona to New Mexico to Texas to Oklahoma to Arkansas to Mississippi to Alabama to Georgia to Tennessee to Kentucky to Missouri and then back down through Oklahoma, we now find ourselves somewhere in Texas, en route to Houston, where we will stay put for a couple of weeks.

Beginning on Wednesday, I'll be Guest Hosting the Peter B. Collins Show for a week and a half, Monday through Fridays from 3p - 6p PT (6p - 9p ET, or 5p - 8p CT on our Houston clock) and hope you'll tune in to one of Peter's affiliate stations, or via the Internet for whatever trouble-making we end up cooking up.

We'll be broadcasting each day out of the facilities of KPFT, as generously offered by the good folks of Houston's Pacifica Radio affiliate station there. We're very much looking forward to it, as we've not been on the air for such a long stint in quite a while. The last time would also have been out of Texas, during the Summer of 2005 from "Camp Casey," where we took the old BRAD SHOW on the road for our special "Operation Noble Cause" broadcasts from the middle of one damned hot cow pasture.

Ironically enough, it was some of the good folks from KPFT who helped us get on the air in a broadcasting miracle back in 2005 from on the ground at "Camp Casey." We're promised air conditioning this time, and perhaps even slightly shorter work days, but we'll see. Either way, I hope you'll both join us and spread the word. We're hoping to set aside the last hour of each show, each day, as our Election Integrity Hour. But now that we've left Kansas, things may change quickly around here.

We'll try to keep you up to date each day here at The BRAD BLOG with a list of guests and a LIVE open show thread during the broadcast, as well as take as many of your calls (1-888-5-PeterB) as we can, even while the BRAD BLOG Guest Bloggers (and I) keep on blogging here at the same time.

Should be fun. Hope you'll both tune in and stay tuned! More from Houston...