Just finished a rather remarkable hour on our good friend Peter B. Collins' radio show on KRXA out of Monterey, CA.

Peter was able to bring Nghia Nguyen Demovic, a spokesperson from the CA Sec. of State's office, on air the last few minutes of the hour to try and clarify some of the last minute tomfoolery that seems to be going on concerning the impending decision about whether or not to re-certify Diebold Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines in the state of California.

Demovic dodged and danced, and generally evaded such probing questions as what the response from the community was at a public hearing held last week in Sacramento where input was sought concerning the decision about whether or not to allow Diebold back into the state after a major test over the summer revealed that some 20% of Diebold's AccuVote TSx voting machines failed to operate properly.

As previously reported on BRAD BLOG, the Republican SoS Bruce McPherson --- remarkably, and nearly inexplicably --- seems to be leaning towards allowing their faulty machines back into the state as the Help America Vote Act's January 1, 2006 deadline for such acquisitions rapidly approaches.

Though Demovic admitted on-air that she was at the meeting in question, and though it's been reported publicly that the Anti-Diebold folks far outnumbered the Pro-Diebold forces, she wouldn't even admit that much! Here's the The Stockton Record on the meeting last Monday, for example:

Nonetheless, Demovic refused to confirm that information for some reason.

So it was a public meeting, on the public record, that she attended in her capacity as a tax-payer salaried "Communications Director" for our own Secretary of State, yet she refused to give the audience of a California radio station accurate information about what is occurring in our own state capital concerning our own electoral system.

Is "What the fuck?" appropriate to ask here? Or might it be more appropriate to wonder why she hasn't yet been hired to take Scottie McClellan's place in the Bush Administration?

Listen to the segment yourself [MP3]. The clip linked here is just the short 8 minute phonecall with Peter and myself questioning Demovic.

Once again we'll remind you that SoS McPherson's office has asked for public comment about all of this and whether or not you feel they should recertify Diebold Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines in California. (Whether they give a damn about such comments is another question). To submit a comment, visit http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_vs.htm, call (916) 653-6814 or email votingsystemcomment@ss.ca.gov.

And remember, as California goes...so goes the rest of the country!

UPDATE: Demovic also stated during the interview that a full list of those who were invited to participate in the conference was on the SoS website and in response to my question of whether Voting Rights and Election Reform groups were invited she said that yes, they were invited, and yes, they were all listed on the SoS website. Well, here's the website for the event, and unless I'm missing it, I don't see either the list of invited groups (other than speakers, who all seem to be largely from the Electronic Voting companies or Secretaries of State), nor do I see any Voting Rights or Election Reform organizations on the agenda.

UPDATE: The complete text transcript of the coversation now follows...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today a judge found that Diebold has no right to not follow North Carolina state elections laws. If they are going to sell their systems in the state they must comply with the software escrow requirements. Diebold says they can't meet those requirements because they use some third-party software and they cannot allow others to see that software; it's not theirs legally. Diebold may now decide to pull out of the state. Does your state require source code escrow and is that requirement being fully enforced?...

"Breaking" news report videos here...

From Reuters...

While many of you were off enjoying Thanksgiving, the BRAD BLOG folks were (all too hard) at work fighting to save the world! Below you'll find just a few of just the most notable items from over the past several days...With many more to be found for those wise enough to scroll down.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to remind readers that BRAD BLOG is still largely reader supported! So before the holiday crush hits you and your pocketbook too hard, please feel free to Donate Online to our efforts so that we may continue to bring you such important material!

You can click here to make a one time donation, or --- by popular demand --- you may now finally create your own monthly subscription for any amount you like! Just use the simple blue form on the right side of the page! (There is also a snail mail address on that form at right if you prefer.)

Thanks for your tremendous support and we hope you continue to enjoy, The BRAD BLOG! We'll keep fighting to save the world as long as you continue to help join us in the effort!

And now...just a few of the great items you may have missed from over the holiday weekend...

Death Is Sexier Than Sex (to Ann Coulter) Wherein Actress, Author and now BRAD BLOG Guest Blogger Lydia Lydia Cornell Attempts to Hold Alachua, FL Republicans' Feet to the Fire for Supporting and Profiting off the 'Political Porn' of One of America's Top Hate-Speakers...

Confusion, Misreporting Surround Reports on CA Sec. of State Diebold Voting Machine 'Hack' Test! Mainstream Media Reports Indicating Scheduled Attempt to 'Hack' Voting Machines Are Wrong State, Activists Still Negotiating Paramaters, Scheduling of Test as State and Federal Deadlines Draw Near?

VIDEO: Sunday Talk Show Round-Up on the GOP's Growing Corruption Scandal... Scandal could bring down at least a dozen in Congress A video compilation of the weekend's discussion on the matter

VIDEO: White House Pushed UK to Kill al-Jazeera Bombing Story Bush wanted to bomb Arab news network to prevent reports on Falluja attack BRAD BLOG has the full British Channel 4 Investigative Report

VIDEO: Pat Buchanan Predicts More CIA Leak Indictments BUCHANAN: "Scooter will not be the last indictee" And Another Time magazine reporter agrees to testify

America Turns Blue And finally...While you were away enjoying the Holiday, something remarkable has happened in America!

Thanks again for your support of The BRAD BLOG! On the job 24/7/365...Whether we like it or not!

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Last week, über-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's former partner Michael Scanlon pleaded guilty. As part of the plea deal, Scanlon admitted that he conspired to bribe public officials and defrauded several Indian casinos of millions of dollars. Scanlon has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution and pay restitution in the amount of $19 million.

Yesterday, on the Sunday talk shows, they were abuzz about the spectre of a scandal which threatens to overwhelm Washington. We've got a video compilation below.

U.S. News & World Report has learned that Scanlon is now the star witness "in a probe that threatens to ensnare officials throughout the nation's capital." A source reports that the scandal could take out a least a dozen in Congress.

John McCain is leading the senate investigation into Abramoff which has been also linked to the anti-government crusader Grover Norquist. According to an article in the Boston Globe, Norquist is now attacking McCain.

We've put together clips of discussions on the GOP's Abramoff scandal from this Sunday's editions of ABC's This Week and Fox News Sunday. All the pundits seem to agree that this investigation could become a big problem for Republicans.

Video in Windows Media format...
Video in QuickTime format...
Audio in MP3 format...

(If anyone feels like typing up a partial transcript, let me know, and I'll post it here.)

Guest blogged by David Edwards

We aren't suggesting that this is a sign from God {note from Brad: I am!} but there may be, at the very least, some irony involved.

A part of the Supreme Court's marble facade located underneath the words "equal justice" have broken off and fallen to the steps below. We are pleased to report that no one was hurt by the falling debris. {another note from Brad: no one was hurt literally, but thousands have been hurt, maimed and killed by the metaphorical collapse of "equal justice" from the Supreme Court. But most of you all knew that.}

Video in Windows Media format
Video in QuickTime format

UPDATE: Chunk that collapsed was just above a statue representing "Order". Photo here...

With Additional Reporting by John Gideon

On Friday, November 25, a news story appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle by political writer John Wildermuth reporting that the California Secretary of State's office would be allowing Election Reform activists to perform an attempted hack of voting machines on Wednesday, November 30th. That report was soon picked up by the Associated Press and other outlets where it was repeated, in part, in newspapers, radio and television across the nation. Headlines along the line of "Hacker to try to attack state voting machines" were blared across the media throughout the holiday weekend.

While the story seems to be based in some reality, reporting by The BRAD BLOG over the last several days has revealed that the matter seems to be a far cry from the way it has been reported by the Mainstream Media. In fact, while negotiations for such a test are ongoing, the parameters to be used are still being hashed out, no definite schedule has yet to be determined, and Finnish computer scientist Harry Hursti, who created this particular method for hacking into Diebold voting machines has made no plans at this time to travel to the United States to perform the hack attempt.

Such a test, if performed, could be crucial to a decision soon to be made by CA Sec. of State Bruce McPherson about whether to allow various Diebold voting systems in the state. That decision, in turn, will likely effect decisions by other states and counties around the U.S., all of whom are facing a January 1, 2006 deadline set by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to be met if jurisdictions are to receive millions of dollars in Federal money to help pay for "upgraded" Electoral Systems.

California's Republican Sec. of State McPherson had famously refused to re-certified Diebold's AccuVote TSx touch-screen voting machines over the summer after a major test in the state had found that some 20% of the machines had failed to perform as promised with printers jamming and screens freezing at an unacceptable rate. Diebold's machines had previously been de-certified by former Democratic Sec. of State Kevin Shelley. McPherson's sudden about-face concerning Diebold has caught many by surprise. The potential change of position towards Diebold was discovered recently and sent a shockwave through the Election Reform activist community who then converged on Sacramento to complain about the apparent flip-flop by the Sec. of State.

The Mainstream Media --- Apparently Misled by the Sec. of State --- Gets It All Wrong?

Guest Blogged by John Gideon, of VotersUnite and VoteTrustUSA

As an introduction, the "DVN Top 5" is a feature that I have been providing in the weekly voting newsletter of VoteTrustUSA. The November 21 edition can be found here. The selection of what will be the "Top 5" for each week and where it goes on the list is all mine. The fact that you may disagree with my choices is great because it shows that you have been reading the DVN articles that I've posted throughout the week here on BRAD BLOG!...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Just 4 weeks ago the Athens Banner-Herald in Georgia editorialized in favor of the repressive new Georgia Voter ID law. This law had, just 3 days prior to the editorial, been found by a federal judge to be an example of a "Jim Crow-era Poll Tax" and thus the law was suspended. Critics have charged that the requirement for Photo ID at the polls will disenfranchise millions of mostly Democratic-leaning minorities, elderly, poor and urban-dwellers who don't own driver's licenses.

But things have changed since the Banner-Herald's original Op/Ed. One of the Georgia bill's sponsors, Rep. Sue Burmeister (R-Augusta), got caught with her sheet down when she made statements to the U.S. Department of Justice who had been tasked with determining the legality of the new law under the Federal Voting Rights Act. Her statements were released along with a story revealing that 4 of the 5 career staff members in the DoJ who were advising on the matter had recommended against giving approval to Georgia's new law. That advice was then overruled by the Bush-appointed Attorney General and the law was given DoJ approval just prior to be ruled as unconstitutional by two Federal courts.

In her statements, Burmeister is said to have told DoJ officials looking into the law that blacks in her district only vote when they are paid to do so. Those remarks are contained in the 51-page report from the DoJ's analysis recommending against approval of Georgia's law. Burmeister reportedly told officials that "when blacks in her precinct are not paid to vote, they do not go to the polls."

Perhaps it is not so strange then that on November 22, after the release of the statements from Burmeister, the Athens Banner-Herald has admitted that perhaps there are changes that need to be made to Georgia's voter ID law. Perhaps it is not right, the paper now admits, to force all voters to have a state-issued voter ID card that costs the voter between $20 and $35. Perhaps it is not right to force a voter who cannot afford to pay for the card to sign a "Pauper's Affidavit" as the original law required.

So today, in a remarkable reversal, the Athens Banner-Herald's Executive Editor, Jason Winders, editorialized in a scathing article against Burmeister...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

In New York it seems like a majority of voices, including the MSM, have come out in favor of optical-scan voting machines. Unfortunately the vendors working the state have all made the decision that they will not sell optical-scan machines no matter who, including the county officials, wants to buy them. In New Jersey we have another case of stupidity as elections officials conduct a recount on DRE voting machines....

Guest blogged by David Edwards

by Steve Bell
The Guardian

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

It seems that the reports from California are less than accurate. They say that the test machine will be chosen from among machines used in 17 counties. That has never been agreed to by the state or Diebold. In fact, Hari Hursti has never been invited to fly over from Finland and no details have been set-up with BBV, according to Bev Harris. For some reason either the state or Diebold, or both, are misrepresenting the facts. A call to the California Elections Division found that everyone seems to be taking the day off....

Took a short break from taking a short break for Thanksgiving to appear on the Ed Schultz Show today. It was guest-hosted by our old pal, Tony Trupiano who has left his own show to run for Congress. So it was nice to both chat with him again, and hear him back on the air, if only briefly. We spoke about the latest electoral shenanigans in Ohio, California and across the country.

(BTW, concerning California's sudden flip-flop to consider re-allowing Diebold touch-screen machines back into the state after they'd previously de-certified them, please call CA Sec. of State Bruce McPhereson at 916-653-6814 ASAP and from the main menu press 6, then 3, to register your displeasure! As California goes, so goes the rest of the country!)

Anyway, my appearance on the Ed Schultz Show is here [MP3] for your listening pleasure.

As well, I've been remiss in getting archives up for various radio appearances of late. So for good measure, I'll toss in my latest appearance on Peter B. Collins Show [MP3] on KRXA discussing Murtha, Schmidt, the boil on Rush Limbaugh's ass and, of course, the crappy media coverage of important Election Reform issues (the other boil on Rush Limbaugh's ass).