Happy 4th of July!

If only after the shock and awe bombs bursting in air revealed that the constitution was still there ... a flag seems so cloth like ... so not the constitution ... so not enough.

Lets do an amendment to rewrite the song to say:

"showed proof thru the night
that our constitution was still there"

Oh well ... we can dream still ...

Hear, hear, Dredd! (#1, let's be clear about that!)

HATS OFF, BRAD.

When the nation finally tunes into this scandal in sufficient numbers to Stop the Corporate Insanity, it will be recognized that you were one of the key bright voices that sounded against the Darkness.

Other than that, maybe you can get free coffee by showing your Most Ignored Activist Award.

Or maybe not. America's a harsh mistress, and she can barely remember the names of all the men who raped her, much less the princes who stood up for her honor and ideals.

Great work as is usual.

What kind of voting goes on in CT?
Can Joe 'Leaverman' count on E-Voting to cover his ASS?

Or does NED LAMONT stand a chance at a fair count?
This guy is good, watch for him to kick ass in the debate Thursday.

"Other than that, maybe you can get free coffee by showing your Most Ignored Activist Award."

Thanks! Could use both the coffee these days, and the freeness!

Connecticut, I believe, has asked the DoJ for an extension for HAVA implimentation, and I believe is planning to stick with their old lever machines this year. Sensibly. Don't take that to the bank, however, since I'm working here only from memory. Very little sleep. And not enough coffee. Free or otherwise.

You aint going to be able to be everywhere all the time Brad, just get to where you can, this movement is growing legs of its own now
We don't want you pulling out the little of hair you have left

Paul in LA #3

Well, since that saddle is so worn by this guy and this other guy, and America's Front is also getting worn (link here), we do not need to keep producing saddles ... we need an amendment to the constitution to prohibit constitution burning ...

will you burn a flag to that ... or drink an American beer to that ... with 86 and 99 and me and my lady?

Oh ... ok ... perhaps we should allow the fascists to burn something ... pyros that they be ... I think they should burn the midnite oil ... barons ... perhaps.

Hear, hear, Dredd! (#7...)

I feel that all loyal bloggers here will always support the efforts of voting organizations like voteraction.org, VR, BBV, and any other American or group of Americans who simply want one thing:

the actions of election war lords to be the same as the words of election war lords

Until then election war lords are invaders to be resisted by the insurgency of those who tell it like it is.

That is why we support bradblog, voteraction, VR, and BBV.

"If you must ... burn flags ... not constitutions".

Ann Coulter responds,...

LINK

Pat Robertson's,.. James Dobson's,.. Ann Coulter's,..
new America.

Old Flag : Link

New Christian Flag,..marching off to war : Link

Old Statue of Liberty : Link

Proposed new Statue of Liberty : Link

Final,.. Christian Statue of Liberty,...
Look what this Tennessee church did : Link

Christian Statue of Liberty blog response : Link

The Christo-Fascists are going berserk.
How come their ballots/votes always get counted ?

Christo-Wacko,..
Religious Nazi,..

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland R-Ga.
loves the Ten Commandments,.. thinks they should be in
every courthouse,.. town-hall,.. and public building coast to coast. But when asked,.. Westmoreland could name only three of the Ten Commandments,.. then he was totally stumped.

Steve Colbert interviews Westmoreland : Link

This guy is no Mensa candidate.

"...no Mensa candidate."

Tonight as I was leaving a Kansas concert at a local 4th of July celebration, with my eardrums and brain totaly rattled by way too high bass amplifiers, I walked past a booth with Democrat banners all over it.
As I was perusing the literature they had laid out I was approched by a man who asked if I had any questions or concerns.
Bear with me here, my ears were shot and I was caught off gaurd when he introduced himself as my congressman - damn it I didn't catch his name! I feel fairly stupid in that regard.

Anyways I told him I was deeply concerned about the voting machines and the total lack of any kind of effort from the Democrats to delve into the issue.
He was aware of Diebold and agreed it was a problem.
He stated he wished someone could come up with some hard evidence of the fraud in Ohio, and was suprised when I told him of Robert Kennedy Jr's articles in Rolling Stone and his pending law suits. He also had never heard of Bradblog and I highly recomended he check it out.
He said he would check into Bradblog and also the Rolling Stone articles.
If only my ears and brain had been functioning well enough to get his name!

Dear Mr. Congressman, if you check in here I'm sorry I missed your name, Let us know you came and what you think about all of this.
Sincerely Bluebear2

Oh one other thing - the event was not in my own district and attempts to figure out what district the event was in, prior to my last post, were fruitless due to the weird boundries - it fell in an area which didn't show up on any map that I found. I was hoping to find his name that way.

Even if he was not a Congressman it would have been, it was, very good thinking to get him on THE subject, and how many gold stars do you get for doing it while deafened by a rock concert? Something like thirty, thirty-five?

#14 BlueBear2 - Cool Story . . . . . Sounds Like ya edjamacated him some . . .

Hopefully he will keep his promise and come around checking us out. He seemed sincere and interested. But then he is a politician. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed! I don't know why I didn't ask for a business card or something - only thought of it after I was back at my car.

Well Duh!

The rining in my ears stopped long enough for a thought to enter. A quick check of the Sacramento Democratic party brought up a calender of events including the one I was at. The person I met, Bill Durston, is running to replace a lock-step Bush incumbent. Bill has even written a song, War Is Not a Game, which is performed by local musicians Paul Kamm and Eleanore MacDonald (two of my favorites). I have heard them do the song before but didn't know its history.

I just sent him an email with links to Bradblog and the Rolling Stone Robert Kennedy Jr. article.

Hey Brad ?, Whos idea was it ultimately that it ended up so that you guys only had one day to turn in your papers ?
I mean, was it the State or Local Government and who was (the person(s) that set up this (funky) date ?
Who is responsible for trying to subvert the will of the people?
These are the kind of rocks we have to look under to find out who is responsible for this mess in the first place, and who is coaching them
We can't just assume that the Government did this to a final conclusion... SOMEBODY IS RESPONSIBLE

Old Turk,
That link in your #10 comment..."Coulter"?? It sure reads like satire to me! (or were you pullin' our leg there?) Plus, Tom Tomorrow, Crooks & Liars & other progressive blogs are listed on that site.

Bluebear...nice work!! I'm impressed that you got him onto the voting issue & pointed him to Bradblog. It's appalling, though probably not all that unusual with pols, that he had not heard of RFK Jr's article.

Floridiot,
I agree. Actually, I don't get the "only one day to file" thing: if there are 5 "business days" within which to file, even though it was announced just before the holiday weekend wouldn't Saturday & Sunday be excluded from the 5 days? They're not business days. What am I missing?

Was it Old Turk (or maybe Bluebear2?) I was talking to about putting an ITMFA 'flag' up on my flagpole?

It's made, but I discovered that the cord-thingee on the flagpole is not attached properly, so it's gonna be a challenge to get it up there! If I succeed I'll post a picture. Wish me luck.

Good Luck Joan! ITMFA!

OT

Space Shuttle Discovery 8 minutes 46 seconds into flight seperating external fuel tank and inserting into orbit!

One More OT

Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Nicholas D. Kristof has written a scorching attack on Fox News, the media--and his own paper.

"In retrospect, the real victims of Fox News weren't the liberals it attacked but the conservatives who believed it."

Joan - (C) # 22

Yes (C) # 10 was extreme satire,..
What the right-wing gestapo swat-team American Flag
protection squad had in mind once unleashed across
the USA. Whip up hatred/fear/extreme nationalism
to get the Nazi storm-troopers to the polls,.. come this fall.

-------------

The ITMFA flag,.. won't the Obscenity Police bypass the doorbell and be kicking down your front door ? If not already,.. your name will certainly be added to the "subversives" list.

Thanks, Laura!
I did manage to attach it, but it & the wind were not cooperating...so I put it on one of my front awnings. I will TRY to remember how to post a picture here...if it turns out to be massive (I hope not), I hope it can be deleted. Is that possible? (I know nothing)

More on the $260,000.00 replica of the "Christian" - Statue of Liberty recently installed at a church
in Memphis, Tennessee.

One can only hope that not one dollar of US taxpayer
"faith based federal funding" was expended or doled
out to enable that this Christo-Fascist Statue of Liberty be brought to this public display.

Will we see more of these christian-fundamentalists
religious displays,... prior to the November 2006
elections ? In order to whip up the Nazi storm troopers in the War on Liberalism and Progressive thought,.. thus increasing the level of religo-fascists at the polls to vote.

Video/Media Link
Details of "Christian" Statue of Liberty
Left side,.. blue box
Click red video cam
"Church Erects Huge Statue" - Ben Watson
(allow time to load)

Video Link

OLDTURK #29

The video link wouldn't work for me - I'll have to use my imagination!

I know what they can do next! - A cross member on the Washington monument and presto - you have a giant cross right there in Washington!

It occurs to me that all this about my ITMFA banner is very o.t....so I'm going to post the picture (hopefully) on the Declaration of Independence thread. See ya over there!

BB-2

It takes a while to download,.. longer than most.
Third down on this list is the source. Link
The first on the list is the unveiling,.. no video yet.

Here's another one,..
Link - quick they may change it.

-----------

It is like this cross on public land in California. Many in America do not worship a Christian faith. That should be respected,.. you don't shove Jesus Christ
down someones throat. This California cross,.. Rep.
Duncan Hunter R-Ca is at the forefront of this issue.
I think he is exploiting this cross issue to deflect
attention from his MZM,.. Brent Wilkes corruption difficulties.

Christian cross on public land
at Mt. Soledad, California.
Photo link

California christian cross on public land,.. Link

More details court action Mt. Soledad cross. Link

In answer to the questions about CT's voting machines, my local DEM registrar told me that we would still be using the lever machines in the primary, but that we might have some e-voting by November. She made a few disquieting comments when I expressed my concern about e-voting, such as that she has a good friend who works for Diebold and that I shouldn't believe all that stuff I read online. She also claimed that absentee ballots were the easiest way to cheat on an election, and that would be her greatest concern.

Having read about the magically appearing 10,000 absentee ballots in CA-50, she may have a point. But she is dead wrong on e-voting and I have to wonder how much money Diebold spends on shmoozing our elections people into becoming de-facto company cheerleaders. Her unwillingness to hear arguments about the dangers of e-voting was astounding to me.

Note that when e-voting does come to CoNEDicut, we already have laws passed requiring a voter verified paper trail, though I think those laws failed to include a requirement for mandatory audit. In other words, it aint much, but it's better than what they have in CA.

Old Turk

Thanks, that "-quick they may change it." link worked for me. The earlier one just kept crashing my winamp player.

Lets see - $260,000 that could feed about 150 people at the local "soup kitchen" for one whole year!

Also they said they plan on moving it around to other sites - well that crane goes for about $295 per hour with a 4 hour minimum and $165 per hour standby time to complete an 8 hour day plus another $250 for the truck to bring the counterweights! That's $2,210 minimum to move it out of a location and another $2,210 to set it at the new location. Not including the trucking!
$4,420 per move - another 3 people fed for a year!

Seems I remember something about False Idols.

Onward Christian Solders!

For CTPatriot: As a fellow Nutmegger, I have a few questions for your friend who has a friend at Diebold, and asks us not to believe what we read about the company online:

1) Should we believe that Diebold's C.E.O., Wally O'Dell, who had promised to deliver the 2004 election to Bush, resigned in disgrace in Dec. 2005? (HE DID)

2) Should we believe that O'Dell's departure followed the filing of three class-action suits against Diebold alleging false statements concerning election machinery going back to 2003? (IT DID)

3) Should we believe that in that same week a test in Florida proved these machines are easily hackable? (IT DID)

4) Should we believe that many local election boards have decertified these machines as untrustworthy? (THEY HAVE)

5) Should we believe the Diebold spokesman who said that their machines are in fact vulnerable to hacking, but only if someone were willing to commit a felony, and there's nobody out there who would do that? (DON'T BE RIDICULOUS)

6) Should we believe the Conyers report, the GAO report, the reports from Bev Harris, and the RFK, Jr. article in Rolling Stone? (YEP)

Please don't take offense, CTPatriot, but your friend who has a friend at Diebold is a blooming idiot who should not be involved in election work, anywhere. And you can tell him or her that I said so.

CTPatriot asked:

I have to wonder how much money Diebold spends on shmoozing our elections people into becoming de-facto company cheerleaders.

Answer: MILLIONS.

As to California, we have both paper "trail" and audit laws. Problem is, the trails are shit, can't be counted or counted on, and the audit laws have no remedy written into them.

Just have to do the audit. Can be off by 80% and it doesn't actually matter. Audit done. Certify the election with the original machine-reported numbers.

I think I was in the first batch of eighteen-year-old voters. My very first time to the voting booth, I felt very iffy about which punch to punch for my candidate. I thought I had it straight, but when I went to cast my ballot, I felt funny about it, and asked a poll worker for some help discerning the proper punch hole, and for a do-over. She wouldn't let me. She laughed at me. Told me it was not as if my erroneous vote was going to throw the election. I fretted about that for years. That was back when election fraud was really small potatoes compared to the apocalyptic scale it is on now. I don't think I'm going to get over it now.

I think the problem facing CTPatriot, and so many who wonder if we should "trust the system," is that most people who work for Diebold, and most people who work on elections, are honest and decent. So when we on Bradblog say the system is broken and can't be trusted, it seems to reflect on their friends...most of whom can be trusted. They resent us for casting aspersions. We're "conspiracy theorists."

But most of the people who worked for Enron were honest and decent. Most people at Arthur Andersen (their accounting firm) were the same. Virtually everyone who works for a bank is above reproach. Does this mean we shouldn't believe what we read about Enron? Does it mean Arthur Andersen (now out of business) conducted its corporate work honestly? Does it mean banks should abandon their auditing procedures and just let "the system work?"

The reason we have auditors, and bank examiners, is that throughout history a minority of mendacious individuals has tried to game the system. Who would remove whatever safeguards we have against accounting fraud and bank fraud? Would CTPatriot's friend, who has a friend at Diebold, ever do such a thing?

If Enron proved anything, it's that it only takes a handful of corrupt people to destroy a large organization. Enron's corruption knew no boundaries. It involved participation in Cheney's top-secret energy conference, personal consultation with Bush (Lay stayed overnight at the White House after the scandal broke), it brought down the state government in California, and it ruined the retirement plans of almost every employee...all honest and decent people who had no idea what Lay, Skilling, and Fastow were up to.

Why would anyone assume that our election system, left in the hands of executives with criminal records at voting-machine companies (all of which have close ties to the Republican party) would be honest? Is it because most employees of these companies are honest?

If all voters thought of themselves as Enron employees, the entire dynamic of this debate would shift. Instead of hearing, "Prove that the 2004 election was stolen," we'd hear, "Prove it wasn't."

Brad!

Take down post #30 before the Religious Republicans get any ideas!!!!

Besides passing out my notices of media negligence at a polling station here last week, I also got authorization to poll watch inside and took this picture of "the good book" sitting on the table where they find out if you're registered.

My partner said the lady was also talking to people about how the religious folks are being censored these days. I was wondering if I could have my copy of "Earth In The Balance" sitting on table too.

Since we're pasting crosses everywhere, take a look at this picture of The Hammer if you want a laugh.