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Latest Featured Reports | Saturday, December 7, 2024
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Trump Already Violating Law (He Signed!) During Transition: 'BradCast' 11/18/24
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GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal 2012...
VA GOP VOTER REG FRAUDSTER OFF HOOK
Felony charges dropped against VA Republican caught trashing voter registrations before last year's election. Did GOP AG, Prosecutor conflicts of interest play role?...

Criminal GOP Voter Registration Fraud Probe Expanding in VA
State investigators widening criminal probe of man arrested destroying registration forms, said now looking at violations of law by Nathan Sproul's RNC-hired firm...

DOJ PROBE SOUGHT AFTER VA ARREST
Arrest of RNC/Sproul man caught destroying registration forms brings official calls for wider criminal probe from compromised VA AG Cuccinelli and U.S. AG Holder...

Arrest in VA: GOP Voter Reg Scandal Widens
'RNC official' charged on 13 counts, for allegely trashing voter registration forms in a dumpster, worked for Romney consultant, 'fired' GOP operative Nathan Sproul...

ALL TOGETHER: ROVE, SPROUL, KOCHS, RNC
His Super-PAC, his voter registration (fraud) firm & their 'Americans for Prosperity' are all based out of same top RNC legal office in Virginia...

LATimes: RNC's 'Fired' Sproul Working for Repubs in 'as Many as 30 States'
So much for the RNC's 'zero tolerance' policy, as discredited Republican registration fraud operative still hiring for dozens of GOP 'Get Out The Vote' campaigns...

'Fired' Sproul Group 'Cloned', Still Working for Republicans in At Least 10 States
The other companies of Romney's GOP operative Nathan Sproul, at center of Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, still at it; Congressional Dems seek answers...

FINALLY: FOX ON GOP REG FRAUD SCANDAL
The belated and begrudging coverage by Fox' Eric Shawn includes two different video reports featuring an interview with The BRAD BLOG's Brad Friedman...

COLORADO FOLLOWS FLORIDA WITH GOP CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Repub Sec. of State Gessler ignores expanding GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, rants about evidence-free 'Dem Voter Fraud' at Tea Party event...

CRIMINAL PROBE LAUNCHED INTO GOP VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD SCANDAL IN FL
FL Dept. of Law Enforcement confirms 'enough evidence to warrant full-blown investigation'; Election officials told fraudulent forms 'may become evidence in court'...

Brad Breaks PA Photo ID & GOP Registration Fraud Scandal News on Hartmann TV
Another visit on Thom Hartmann's Big Picture with new news on several developing Election Integrity stories...

CAUGHT ON TAPE: COORDINATED NATIONWIDE GOP VOTER REG SCAM
The GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal reveals insidious nationwide registration scheme to keep Obama supporters from even registering to vote...

CRIMINAL ELECTION FRAUD COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST GOP 'FRAUD' FIRM
Scandal spreads to 11 FL counties, other states; RNC, Romney try to contain damage, split from GOP operative...

RICK SCOTT GETS ROLLED IN GOP REGISTRATION FRAUD SCANDAL
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) sends blistering letter to Gov. Rick Scott (R) demanding bi-partisan reg fraud probe in FL; Slams 'shocking and hypocritical' silence, lack of action...

VIDEO: Brad Breaks GOP Reg Fraud Scandal on Hartmann TV
Breaking coverage as the RNC fires their Romney-tied voter registration firm, Strategic Allied Consulting...

RNC FIRES NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION FIRM FOR FRAUD
After FL & NC GOP fire Romney-tied group, RNC does same; Dead people found reg'd as new voters; RNC paid firm over $3m over 2 months in 5 battleground states...

EXCLUSIVE: Intvw w/ FL Official Who First Discovered GOP Reg Fraud
After fraudulent registration forms from Romney-tied GOP firm found in Palm Beach, Election Supe says state's 'fraud'-obsessed top election official failed to return call...

GOP REGISTRATION FRAUD FOUND IN FL
State GOP fires Romney-tied registration firm after fraudulent forms found in Palm Beach; Firm hired 'at request of RNC' in FL, NC, VA, NV & CO...
The Secret Koch Brothers Tapes...

'Gagged-Ordered' FBI Whistleblower Calls on BRAD BLOG Readers to 'Demand, Beg and Implore' Congressional Dems to Announce Public Hearings
'State Secrets Act' Still Used by DoJ to Prevent the Fired Translator from Testifying on 9/11, Corruption by Hastert, Perle, Feith...
By Luke Ryland on 3/14/2007 9:19am PT  

Guest Blogged by Luke Ryland

Last week, more than thirty 'good government' groups including the ACLU, POGO, CREW, Liberty Coalition, and September 11th Advocates called on Henry Waxman's Committee "to hold public hearings into the case of FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, and the erroneous use of the State Secrets Privilege to shut down all court proceedings in her case."

Sibel Edmonds says: "Thanks to Brad and Bradblog readers. Exactly twelve months ago, Bradblog helped launch this petition and we had a great response. Fifteen thousand people signed the petition and we have delivered it to Congress. Now we'd like to ask for your help again."

We've had solid indications that Waxman is ready and willing to hold public, open hearings into Sibel's case. We need to give Waxman a final push and get him to commit to a date, in May or June, and that's where you come in. We want you to call the offices of Congressmen Henry Waxman, John Conyers, Patrick Leahy, and Charles Grassley and demand, beg, and implore them to publicly announce that they will have hearings.

Sibel has already told her story in classified briefings to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, Henry Waxman's staff, and the 911 Commission, and her case has been investigated by the Department of Justice Inspector General. All of them have verified Sibel's claims. As Republican Senator Charles Grassley said (YouTube) on 60 Minutes in 2002: "Absolutely, she's credible. And the reason I feel she's very credible is because people within the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story." ...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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Judge Says He Believes the Conspiracy Goes Higher...
By Brad Friedman on 3/13/2007 6:20pm PT  

From AP...

CLEVELAND (AP) - Two county election workers were sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison for rigging a recount of 2004 presidential election ballots so they could avoid a longer, detailed review.

Jacqueline Maiden, 60, a Cuyahoga County election coordinator who was the board's third-highest ranking employee, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer, 40, each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct of an elections employee.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Corrigan allowed the women to remain free on bail pending appeal, but indicated he thought there was a more widespread conspiracy among election officials.

"I can't help but feel there's more to this story," Corrigan said.

And I can't help but feel the two election officials should have been sentenced to 18 years instead of months (though we understand that to be the max sentence), given the number of folks who have died in Bush's War since the 2004 Election and the fact that there were enough votes in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) alone to give the race to Kerry instead of Bush had the election been administered legitimately.

Just for the record, only 6 votes registered for Kerry instead of Bush in each of Ohio's precincts would have changed the result of that election.

Must run, so we'll refer you to our previous coverage when the two Ohio elections officials were found guilty in January for more details.

NOTE: Hat-Tip to "Ninepatch" over at DailyKos for tipping us off to the news of the sentencing. It's a rather sigh-inducing irony to get the news from dKos given it's proprietor Markos Moulitsas Zúniga had once shamefully banned all diarists, and purged their diaries, for daring to discuss and/or investigate the Ohio 2004 Presidential Election conspiracy. Thank you for continuing to make noise on these matters anyway those of you who have done so at dKos!

UPDATE: AP now has more on the sentencing and concerns by both the Judge and prosecutor that the conspiracy goes higher:

"I can't help but feel there's more to this story," said Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Corrigan, who allowed the women to remain free on bond pending appeal. Some of their friends and relatives sobbed as the judge imposed the sentence.

The judge repeatedly asked Jacqueline Maiden, 60, an election coordinator who was the Cuyahoga County board's third-highest ranking employee, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer, 40, if higher-ups in the board had directed the recount rigging.

"It seems unlikely your supervisors wouldn't know," the judge prodded.
...
"This big conspiracy, it's not there," Dreamer said. She said she wasn't protecting anyone at the board and had been truthful in the investigation.

Maiden said she wouldn't lie, even to protect someone. "I've never tried to do anything underhanded," she said.

But the judge sounded skeptical. "Telling the whole truth, that's what's important," Corrigan said. "I'm not convinced you've done that."

Erie County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter, appointed as an outside investigator to look into the election board in Cleveland, told that judge that the women had been uncooperative in the investigation and appealed for prison time for both.

"The defendants have never come clean," he said.
...
Baxter criticized the outspoken support for the women from Robert Bennett, the election board chairman and head of the Republican Party in Ohio. Endorsing such criminal behavior is "amazing, it's astounding," according to Baxter, who didn't indicate if the investigation might lead to more charges.

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FULL LETTER POSTED: ES&S Urged State, Local Officials to Take Corrective Measures Three Months Prior to Contested Jennings/Buchanan Race Last November
Election Integrity Advocate's Warning About Bug Also Ignored Both Before and After Election...
By Brad Friedman on 3/13/2007 4:28pm PT  

Melinda Henneberger at Huffington Post runs a news item today concerning an August 2006 letter from the voting machine company ES&S to Florida Elections officials warning about a defect in the iVotronic touch-screen voting machine which succeeded in losing the votes of some 18,000 voters in the razor-thin election between Christine Jennings (D) and Vern Buchanan (R) in Florida's 13th U.S. House Congressional district. Buchanan was provisionally seated, pending a Congressional challenge and state lawsuit filed by Jennings, after he was declared the "winner" by 369 votes.

The Sarasota, FL, Election Supervisor, Kathy Dent, decided against both having their machines patched to take care of the defect and posting a warning notice for voters as advised by ES&S. "No one in the State of Florida updated," their machines after receiving the letter, Dent told Henneberger. "That's because it was too close to the election. It was a state decision that it was too late to make changes."

Notably, as you'll see in the full letter as posted below, it was CC'd to David Drury, the Chief of Florida's Bureau of Voting Systems Certification. Drury, responsible for overseeing state certification of voting systems, in an extraordinary conflict of interest as we've noted several times previously, was part of the state team commissioned to audit the iVotronic systems used in the election. The commission was empaneled after the state was forced to relent and launch such an investigation in light of the controversy after their initial denials that there was any problem at all with the extraordinarily high undervote rate in the Sarasota-only section of the race.

The ES&S letter, as Henneberger noted, was only seen recently by Jennings's attorneys since "it was not provided to them by election officials as it should have been under discovery motions in the case," according to one of her attorneys.

Instead, the legal team came across the document only recently as posted "on a North Carolina-based website on election reform," according to Henneberger.

That website, as it turns out, is the NC Coalition for Verified Voting as founded by Election Integrity advocate Joyce McCloy. McCloy had attempted, both before and after the election, to get the attention of elections officials and the Jennings legal team. The letter, not linked by Henneberger, is posted here [PDF]. We've also posted the letter in full, as well, at the bottom of this article.

McCloy wrote The BRAD BLOG today expressing her frustration at trying to get anyone in Florida to take notice of the letter warning of "slow response times" to voters' attempts to select candidates on the ballot.

"I sent that memo (and my concerns) to anyone I could think of," McCloy explained in her email, "and this year to every election reform list serve that I could, posted it on political message boards. I asked and asked - has this bug been fixed?"

Apparently the answer is no; the bug was neither fixed, nor did Dent bother to warn voters in Sarasota about the problem as had been advised in the letter by ES&S.

As Henneberger reports today...

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By John Gideon on 3/13/2007 3:27pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

In written testimony presented to the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives; Ellen Theisen concludes in part:

After eight months of study in 2005, the GAO recommended that the EAC immediately take five actions that the GAO considered essential to fulfill the Commission’s HAVA mandate. To date, the EAC has accomplished only a portion of one of them.

The 2005 report emphasized the need for the EAC to complete “key activities.” In recognition of the EAC’s on-going failure to do so, the GAO’s 2007 report emphasizes the need for state and local governments to “address electronic voting system challenges.” It is clear that the responsibilities Congress assigned to the EAC must now, indeed, be taken over by the state and local governments.

Reliable elections are the bedrock of representative democracy. Because of the EAC’s failure to effectively execute its role, public dissatisfaction with the electoral process grows with each election, and the country is now in an election system crisis.

Bills recently introduced into both houses of Congress would establish and fund the EAC permanently, but such provisions defy common sense, and Congress should reject them.

Congress should not tolerate the EAC’s failure to comply with its mandate. It should immediately appoint well-qualified, competent Commissioners and Executive Director to replace those now in office, or it should refuse to authorize further funding for this agency.

That story, and many others are linked below...

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'The DoJ Looks Like a Mob of Self-Interested, Self-Protecting Thugs,' Opines the Court TV Anchor, Former Texas Judge...
By Brad Friedman on 3/13/2007 2:45pm PT  

The good Catherine Crier of Court TV's Catherine Crier LIVE let's loose tonight on a number of the now nearly too-numerous-to-count Bush Administration scandals/failures.

Crier, a former Texas judge, who in a previous "Crier Wire" commentary last year filed perhaps the all-time best televised editorials on the insane dangers of e-voting, unleashes tonight on everything from the U.S. Attorney firing scandals, to the Libby case, to Halliburton's recent announcement that they're ditching America in favor of their real friends, the Arab nation of Dubai.

In tonight's piece which begins "something stinks in Washington D.C.", the Fox "News" escapee and former Dallas County district judge opines: "the more we dig, the more the Department [of Justice] looks like a mob of self interested, self protecting thugs."

The producers of the show were kind enough to rush us a transcript (blame them for the ALL CAPS), which we've posted in full at the end of this item. We'll try to post a video of the commentary as an update here later if we're able to trap it.

Here are a few snippets to whet your appetite:

THE U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IS CHARGED WITH PROTECTING YOU AND ME AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION FROM ALL ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. NOTICE THE WORD "JUSTICE" IN THE TITLE. NOW, THE MORE WE DIG, THE MORE THE DEPARTMENT LOOKS LIKE A MOB OF SELF INTERESTED, SELF PROTECTING THUGS.

On the America-hating Halliburton:

HALLIBURTON. YOU KNOW, THE COMPANY, THAT WAS AWARDED A TWO-POINT-FOUR BILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT ON THE EVE OF THE IRAQ INVASION? THE COMPANY THAT AGREED TO SETTLE AN EIGHT-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD CLAIM FOR OVERCHARGING THE U.S GOVERNMENT? THEY'RE MOVING... YUPTHEY'RE MOVING THEIR CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS FROM HOUSTON TEXAS TO DUBAI IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. CAN YOU SAY TAX BREAK? IS IT ANY SUPRISE THAT THIS COMPANY, SO DEPENDENT ON BILLIONS OF OUR TAX DOLLARS WOULD SEEK SAFE HAVEN IN ANOTHER COUNTRY? SAFE FROM TAXES, SAFE FROM U.S. LAWS, SAFE FROM OVERSIGHT AND SAFE TO DO BUSINESS WITH IRAN...ONE OF HALLIBURTON'S VALUED CUSTOMERS. THEY MAY BE MOVING HALF-WAY AROUND THE WORLD BUT I CAN SMELL THEM FROM HERE...

And, as a woman after our heart, she points out what we're forced to point out far too frequently: These are not issues of "Right and Left" but rather "Right and Wrong." That, even as both bad guys and the guys who ought to know better continue to incorrectly characterize the reporting of such issues --- and indeed this blog --- as "partisan". What a ridiculous world. About which Crier concludes:

THESE ARE NOT CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL ISSUES - THIS IS ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG. IN A BETTER WORLD, U.S. ATTORNEYS ARE FREE TO PURSUE INJUSTICE AND NOT ONE PARTY OR THE OTHER. IN A BETTER WORLD, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FAITHFULLY DEFENDS THE CONSTITUTION AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE - SO DOES THE PRESIDENT. IN A BETTER WORLD COMPANIES THAT RELY ON TAX DOLLARS DON'T MOVE TO ARAB COUNTRIES... IN A BETTER WORLD - AMERICA WOULDN'T HAVE SUCH A STINK AS IT HAS RIGHT NOW....

The transcript from Crier's complete special "Crier Wire" commentary follows in full...

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(All the While Ignoring the Actual DOCUMENTED Voter Fraud Felonies of Their Hero, Ann Coulter...)
By Brad Friedman on 3/13/2007 12:31pm PT  

It's been amusing --- if exasperating --- to watch the latest like-clockwork contortions of the wingnuts in their desperate, if predictable, attempt to spin the U.S. Attorney firing scandal into a "voter fraud" scandal. That, they tell us in lock-step is the "real scandal" that the "liberal media" is conveniently overlooking in their attempts to victimize poor poor George W. Bush.

As we previously noted, we are unaware of any actual "voter fraud" alleged in the New Mexico case, but rather voter registration fraud. And even those allegations seems to have little, if any, substance behind them.

All the while, the dead-end wingnutters happily ignore the fact that their own continuing attempts to forward the myth of a "voter fraud" epidemic (and a Democratic-based one at that) have failed time and again. The most recent attempt was a report on "voter fraud" as officially sanctioned by the partisan-comprised U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Despite desperate attempts to show such an epidemic, the study came up embarrassingly empty handed on the issue and so the EAC subsequently refused to release their final report.

(NOTE: EAC Chairwoman Donetta Davidson promised to turn over the spiked report last week to Congress during a hearing in which was called to testify. We'll keep our eye out for that report, as we are still waiting for Davidson to send us another report which they promised to us nearly two weeks ago on a related story we've been working on.)

The Bush Apologist Bloggers also happily ignore one of the only clear and actually documented cases of voter fraud: That which was actually committed by rightwing sycophant/hate-monger, Ann Coulter in Florida.

Nonetheless, in the wingnuts blogosphere's continuing quest to remain in utter denial of Reality, they're reaching for a new set of straws. Here's a few chuckle-worthy examples...

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By Alan Breslauer on 3/13/2007 10:21am PT  

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

That Iran and al-Qaeda have been the prime beneficiaries of George W's foreign policy is incontrovertible. Another beneficiary is China which has exploited anti-American sentiment in Latin America to sign major trade and arms deals with our neighbors. To add insult to injury, not only has Bush opened the door to stronger China - Latin American ties, but his economic policies are financing China's efforts.

McLaughlin Group clip runs 5:39 with Pat Buchanan and Eleanor Clift comments (03/10/07).

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By Brad Friedman on 3/13/2007 12:04am PT  

Hysterical...


(Thanks Paul B. for the link!)

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By John Gideon on 3/12/2007 4:06pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

There are many good provisions in the new election reform bill (HR 811 introduced by Congressman Rush Holt D-NJ), called the “Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.” There is significant momentum in the U.S. House to pass the bill as written; and it is on a "fast-track."

BUT, the bill allows the continued use of electronic "ballots" (invisible data on a computer) as the ballots of record. Democracy demands that voters can know the selections on their own ballots. This means --- regardless of whether ballots are counted by optical scanner, by hand, or by some other method --- all ballots must initially be cast on paper and only paper – no electronic ballots, which keep the ballot secret from the voter.

The members must hear from us - NOW - that the bill urgently needs an amendment to ban electronic ballots. We are not seeking to "kill" the bill, but to gain support for an amendment banning electronic ballots and the use of Direct Record Electronic (DRE) voting machines, which create them.

We believe we have a chance! Here's what you can do: Go to LINKand take action...

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Guess It Depends On What the Meaning of 'IF' Is...
By Desi Doyen on 3/12/2007 2:46pm PT  

Guest blogged by DES

Apparently the right-wing mouthpiece Fox "News" Channel is a little freaked out over getting fired as hosts of a Democratic presidential debate in Nevada. FNC management has responded to the drubbing by putting out a thinly-veiled threat to other Democratic presidential candidates and their media coordinators to keep Fox "News" on speed-dial (with Roger Ailes's newest bitch-slap here). My, my, such a hissy fit just because they finally got called on the carpet for being the Republican Fox in the henhouse.

As they continue to wring their hands and stamp their feet over such shoddy treatment, Mort Kondracke let drop this amusing little bit of cluelessness:

If Fox was embarrassingly right wing or something like that, it would be plain for all to see.”

See the full clip here at Think Progress. Hat tip to John Aravosis at Americablog.com for pointing out this little gem.

Additional thought from Brad: Dear Fox 'News' Whining Cry-Baby Sore-Losers: You lost. Move on. Get over it.

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By Brad Friedman on 3/12/2007 1:17pm PT  

As we alluded late last week, we'd say this new report further underscores our recommendation to keep an eye on Waxman's Congressional Oversight Committee and his investigation into the Iraq uranium/yellowcake scam by the White House...

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Republican Commentators Misstate Chronology, Facts
Corporate Mainstream Media All Too Happy to Offer the Platform for Demonstrable Untruths...
By Margie Burns on 3/12/2007 10:55am PT  

*** Special to The BRAD BLOG
*** by Libby/CIA Leak Trial Correspondent Margie Burns

After sitting in on the Libby trial every other day and posting about it on BRAD BLOG, I had intended not to write further about the matter barring new developments. Unfortunately, the rightwing spin machine has launched a new campaign of misstatements that sound intentional.

So much for respecting authority, upholding the law, and appreciating honest hard work: now that a conscientious jury has rendered a verdict of guilty on four of five counts of perjury and obstructing justice for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the GOP noise machine is vilifying the prosecution and smarmily denying any wrongdoing, any at all, in the CIA leak.

So much for conservatism.

Well, bad sports are bad sports, anywhere on the political spectrum. Still, the brazen willingness of commentators subsidized by Rupert Murdoch or the Bradley Foundation to falsify every significant fact in the Libby matter, usually without having sat even one day in court for the trial, is pretty much typical of their work ethic and intellectual rigor.

Sunday morning’s talk shows were representative. George F. Will and Torie Clarke on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos downplayed the CIA leak matter by saying the whole thing “all arose from one column” (Will), a column not very important at that (Clarke).

The right wing is trying hard to keep this one alive. But trial evidence and testimony have revealed that the attempt to “leak” – actually, plant – Mrs. Wilson's name with the media began BEFORE Wilson’s column was published.

Wonder why GOP supporters of George W. Bush find that so uninteresting....

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By Brad Friedman on 3/11/2007 1:26pm PT  

The Los Angeles Times continues to beg readers to cancel their subscriptions altogether.

Their latest plan: Dump the progressive, interesting, non-white comic strips.

Last week, the Times decided to dump both Candorville, whose strip we've been running here from time to time --- the only one, mind you, that we're aware of which dealt with the e-voting issue directly. La Cucaracha, the paper's only Latino-based strip (in LA!), was dumped at the same time.

The latter was re-instated after a flood of reader complaints. So far, no return of Candorville, however, the last African-American related strip of note in the once-great Los Angeles newspaper, now gutted by its conservative Chicago Tribune owners/rapists. The Trib also recently canceled the strip as well.

We've gotten to know Darrin Bell, the strip's creator, a bit over the last year or so. He sent The BRAD BLOG the following announcement a few days ago on the latest corporate-media idiocy, noting that though his strip has been dumped, "Blondie and Marmaduke are still safe" at the Times.

The only good news in the bargain: The world's unfunniest "comic strip," Mallard Fillmore, has been put out of our misery. Finally. A dead duck we can all be happy about.

"Without at least one of these two papers," Bell writes in regard to the cancellations at both the Times and the Trib, "Candorville can't continue to annoy the knuckledraggers in two of our most important cities, and the strip itself may not be long for this world."

He also asks that complaints be sent to readers.rep@latimes.com. We join him in that request, and are happy to post his note in full below...

Hello fellow America-hating Osama-huggers...

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State Party Chair Admits Bush's Right-Hand Man Claimed 'He's Gone' After Demands to Fire David Iglesias
New York Times Calls for Gonzalez's Head, but The BRAD BLOG Calls for Bush's...
By Brad Friedman on 3/11/2007 12:45pm PT  

A report from McLatchy Newspapers Saturday night has busted the thing wide open, placing Rove and the White House smack dab in the center of the scandal in which 8 U.S. Attorneys from the Dept. of Justice were canned. As if they weren't already.

While both the now-disgraced Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) have already admitted their own inappropriate intervention in the matter, the state's Republican Party Chair, Allen Weh, has now gone on record directly implicating Karl Rove.

Further, we learn that one of the points the NM Republicans were upset about was Iglesias's failure to move fast enough on a "voter fraud" investigation. However, the McClatchy report indicates (as usual) that it wasn't actually a "voter fraud" investigation, but rather a "voter registration fraud" investigation in question.

We'll add here, for those who hadn't noticed, Wilson was named the winner over her Democratic opponent Patricia Madrid last November by fewer than 800 votes. Since New Mexico's new automatic recount law didn't kick in until the first of this year, there was no recount. That, despite our own discussions with Madrid after the election and our encouragement that she ask for a recount on her own.

(We'll hope, at least, that she kept her "Madrid for Congress" signs around, since depending on how things shake out down here there could be a Special Election in the not-too-distant future as more details of both Wilson and Domenici's inappropriate pressure as applied to Iglesias continue to come out.)

Between last night's report placing Rove at the center of the controversy, and a follow-up later in the evening from AP, it appears, according to Talking Points Memo (who has been all over this story), that someone --- oh, let's say Rove, just for the fun of it --- "may have gotten to Weh." In AP's later coverage, Weh appears to be attempting to mitigate his original account of the Rove incident, suggesting it happened after the attorneys had already been canned.

At the same time, New York Times has now gone on record calling for the termination of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in the wake of this particular mess, and several other failures including his gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The key details from each of the various relevant stories follow, as well as our recommendation about who really needs to be fired at this point...

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By John Gideon on 3/10/2007 4:48pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

A recent report from the Wisconsin State Elections Board says, “The three major vendors (Diebold Election Systems, Elections Systems and Software and Sequoia Voting Systems) have minor upgrades that would improve the administration of elections for local election officials.” The report goes on to say, “The new federal certification process developed by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (US EAC) is in place, but no voting systems are currently under review. The SEB staff believes that these changes should be evaluated by a contract reviewer to avoid the delays attendant with the federal certification process.” In other words, the vendors say changes need to be made but the EAC and the federal certification process cannot be relied upon in the state’s opinion so they will, instead, turn to a contractor to review the equipment. History tells us that as bad as the ITA process is; contractors have been much worse....

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