Blogged an item over at HuffPo over the weekend and they just got to posting it today.

It's called, "Pssst....Mainstream Media...The Government May Collapse at any Moment...Don't Tell Anybody!"

Enjoy!

Click the photo for more info, but as an aside, as we pass this horrible milestone, we were honored recently to witness the work of the brilliant and prolific Freeway Blogger firsthand along the 101 Freeway as we made our way back to Los Angeles from Portland, OR. We caught several of the above signs as well as "The War is a Lie".

Be an American Hero in your home town and join the good FB in his campaign to inform millions of citizens on the highways and byways of America! And have fun doing it!

I just finished a radio appearance a couple of hours ago with our friend Peter B. Collins on KXRA 540AM up in Monterey, CA. Peter was joined, in studio, by Tony Anchundo, the Registrar of Voters in Monterey County, CA for a demonstration of a brand-spankin' new Sequoia DRE (touch-screen) voting machine that Achundo was very proud to announce would be in use for the first time in the special State Election coming up out here on November 8th.

Achundo walked Peter through the use of the machine, which prints out a "paper record" (as Achundo referred to it) that voters are to "verify" before leaving the voting booth. That "paper record" is printed on a small thermal-ink roll of paper, akin to what you get with a credit card purchase, and stays behind plexiglass, never to be touched by the voter.

The votes, however, are counted on a "memory cartridge" in the machine, not on the "paper record." This raises the question (which I attempted to ask many times, in many different ways) as to what good that "paper record" actually is in the first place...beyond giving the voter a completely false sense of security and confidence.

I was able to get Anchundo to confirm that the entire technology used to count votes in Monterey County, California will have to be "faith-based". We'll just have to "trust" him, and his 30 years of experience as Registrar, that everything is fine and that votes will be counted accurately.

Peter has asked me to to join him by phone for the hour to help ask questions of Anchundo. I was happy and honored to do so. The results of the hour, I believe, are astounding.

The audio of the full hour is here in MP3 format. I think BRAD BLOG readers will find it as enlightening --- and troubling --- as I did.

[UPDATE] Here is a full transcript of the hour! It should be very useful to have a "paper record" of the conversation for the future. Perhaps for November 9th.

As the front page of Monterey County's website says, "The most serious threat to our democracy is the notion that it has already been achieved. The quality of our leaders and the direction of our Country depends on the participation of our people." I've therefore include Contact info for the Registrar's office at the end of this post, so you folks can participate as you see fit.

Amongst the many highlights (based on my short-term memory) of the hour just spent with Peter trying to get direct answers from Anchundo on a variety of related issues (and you'll likely come across many more yourself)...

Rosa Parks, 1913 - 2005

Last Thursday was a record day here at BRAD BLOG, exceeded only by the following day, Friday, when we had nearly 70,000 unique readers. Saturday, which is usually way off because it's the weekend, beat Thursday's total.

In all, we saw well over 200,000 unique readers stop by here since Thursday.

And, in all those days, we received one single donation for $10.

The BRAD BLOG is, and always will be free to all readers. But we sure could use some help in the form of DONATIONS to allow me, and those Guest Bloggers and helpers who give so generously of their time and hard work (and in the case of David Edwards, his bandwidth for videos!) to keep up the tireless work and investigative reporting that more than 200,000 of you have come to enjoy over the last few days alone.

If you can DONATE ONLINE with Credit Card or PayPal we'd certainly appreciate the support!

If you'd prefer a snail-mail donation, those can be sent to: Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594, Los Angeles, CA 90028.

I hate asking at all, but I have no choice. The support would also make it just a bit easier to keep doing what we're doing, while being able to eat and have a place to sleep at the same time --- Thanks for whatever you can do, at least until those evil billionaire funders we hear so much about show up with an enormous grant to save the day!

Guest blogged by David Edwards

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Guest blogged by David Edwards

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This report from tonight's episode of MSNBC's Hardball suggests that Fitzgerald has expanded the 'traitorgate' investigation to include the forged documents that the Bush Administration used to mislead Americans into thinking that Iraq was trying to purchase uranium from Niger to build a nuclear weapon.

The report also says that Judy Miller's source, Ahmad Chalabi, was responsible for the forged documents.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

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Just as he did for his mugshot yesterday, Rep. Tom DeLay continued to smile throughout his first day of court today.

In a statement to the media, DeLay said, "You may be surprised to hear this from me today but I find this is a very good day." We are pleased that DeLay appreciates spending time in court and sincerely hope that he continues to enjoy much more of the same.

Today's court appearance was little more than an opportunity for DeLay's legal team to spin the charges against him as partisan. What is most striking is the lack of voices in the media to balance DeLay's spin. Even so, it was a day long anticipated and every moment of the process may be worth savoring.

We have put together some video highlights from CNN, MSNBC and FOX News as they were broadcast live this morning. How do you rate the media's coverage of this event?

Republican talking head, author and gadfly, Ann Coulter spoke to an audience of supporters in Gainseville, Florida last night at a fundraiser for the Alachua County Republican Party, who paid $30,000 to have Coulter speak.

According to an article in today's Independent Florida Alligator, Coulter --- who makes her living, in no small part, by enjoying her Free Speech rights under the First Amendment --- pleased the rabid attendees by denigrating the U.S. Constitution...

And they accuse the Left of hating American Values???

Can we serve you some more hypocrisy with that helping of hatred, Ann?

(In case you missed it, please see BRAD BLOG's exclusive report from yesterday concerning the Conservative group which is denouncing Ann Coulter and creating an Anti-Ann documentary.)

Guest blogged by David Edwards

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On Sept. 20 2005, the military revoked the security clearance of Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, who was scheduled to testify in Congress the following day. Shaffer was to testify about a cover-up by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He alleged that the DIA withheld information about one or more of the 9/11 hijackers from the FBI and the 9/11 Commission.

Yesterday, Representative Curt Weldon appeared on CNN where he alleged that the DIA was smearing the whistleblower (Lt. Col. Shaffer) and continuing a cover-up of the 'Able Danger' program. Rory O'Connor of Media is Plural seems to have firsthand information about Representative Weldon's grievances:

Is Rep. Weldon pursuing the 'Able Danger' cover-up for political reasons or is he simply trying to expose the truth about corruption within the Pentagon and the DIA?

"[C]oncerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes."

That's just one of the chilling revelations from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office's (GAO) 107-page report on the security of Election Voting Machines in America as just released moments ago. The report confirms many of the greatest concerns expressed by those who have called for Election Reform since the deeply flawed 2004 Presidential Election.

The report "analyzed over 80 recent and relevant reports related to the security and reliability of electronic voting systems." The results confirm a range of security vulnerabilities and violations in Electronic Voting Machines in recent elections and the accompanying systems used to administer elections in the United States of America. It goes on to say that the issues brought to the attention of the GAO by elected representatives, activists and other concerned citizens, "merit the focused attention of federal state and local authorities responsible for election administration."

The GAO report (download the complete report here [PDF]) was created in response to a request by several members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

A joint bi-partisan press release touting the findings of the report has just been issued by three Republican and three Democratic Congressmen including Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) and Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Judiciary Committee Chair F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), and Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and Ranking Member Bart Gordon (D-TN).

While The BRAD BLOG is still perusing the details of the extensive report, some of the key findings are listed right on the front page:

Examples of Voting System Problems and Vulnerabilities.

Speaking about the GAO report in the joint press release, one congressman described it as "a wake up call."

Republican Rep. Boehlert said, "I wholeheartedly endorse the GAO recommendations, which underscore the need for the Election Assistance Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to continue their work to establish standards and testing procedures for voting equipment. This work must move ahead on an ambitious schedule."

Democratic Rep. Gordon added, "The foundation of democracy rests upon the accuracy, integrity and security of our voting system"

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, a tireless champion for election reform and leading force behind the landmark report "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio 2004", has just blogged about the report.

He says the report "lends important credibility to the cause of election reform generally, and more specifically to requiring that every machine have a voter verified paper ballot that is used in election days audits and, if discrepancies are found in those audits, becomes the official record for the election."

"Despite the many official assurances that the problems of the past elections were isolated and few," Conyers writes, "the election system is indeed riddled with problems and flaws."

The "bottom line," says Conyers, is that until these matters are seriously addressed, and "significant security and controls" are put in place with our voting machines, "American citizens have no reason to have complete confidence in our democracy."

Conyers further enumerates a list of notable and troubling security shorcomings identified by the GAO:

The complete joint bi-partisan press release, issued by six U.S. House of Representative members, follows...

While the recent nomination of Hariet Miers for the Supreme Court by George W. Bush may have revealed more than a few cracks in the usually lockstepped Conservative Movement in America, Daniel Borchers has been calling out "fake Conservativism" --- as we refer here at The BRAD BLOG to those who use the tenets of the true Conservative Movement merely for cynical, opportunistic political gain --- for years.

Borchers' organization, Citizens for Principled Conservatism (CPC) is currently in-production of a documentary named The Truth About Ann which aims squarely at political and religious hypocrisy of Rightwing commentator and author, Ann Coulter.

As well, Borchers has created and released exclusively to BRAD BLOG, a PowerPoint presentation entitled "The Gospel of Ann".

The presentation, which we've converted into downloadable streaming video, excoriates the controversial Coulter's religious opportunism. It was inspired, according to Borchers, "by Ann Coulter's 'jaw-dropping' expression of faith in God, a faith which otherwise seems so empty in everything Coulter does."

Indeed, Coulter's "faith" may be as empty and phony as her self-proclaimed "conservative" beliefs. The presentation points out the recent TIME Magazine profile of Coulter which implies that she is a member of Redeemer Presbyterian, an evangelical Christian church in New York, and yet the ministry at the church never seems to have heard of her!

The Redeemer church, "whose non-political stance is well-known, disavows all hateful and hostile speech," according to Borchers' presentation, had to "Google" her name to figure out who she was! Apparently Coulter is not a member of that church at all!

The complete "Gospel of Ann" video, along with selected excerpts and screenshots is available at the end of this article.

The Truth About Ann, the documentary DVD currently in-production promises to "expose the extremist nature of Conservatism's preeminent diva and reigning political icon," according to a press release given to The BRAD BLOG by CPC. The film is said to examine "Coulter's worldview, and the extremist polemics used to promote it."

"Ann Coulter is mainstreaming extremism within the Conservative Movement," warns Borchers. "Coulter has hijacked a substantial segment of the Conservative Movement and is re-creating it in her image. Her 'New McCarthyism' is poisoning millions of minds."

The explosive "truth" about Coulter revealed in the documentary, according to the release, is that while she may be a "conservative icon," in actuality she is "not really a conservative!"

The Truth About Ann is currently scheduled for release in June of 2006 to coincide with the release of Coulter's next book.

Borchers is a lifelong conservative, and a Vietnam-era veteran with intelligence analyst experience, according to his bio. In the fall of 2001 he became "disenchanted by the hypocrisy and corruption which invaded the Conservative Movement." That disenchantment led to his founding of CPC after having founded the conservative newsletter Brother Watch back in 1996.

In 2002, while attending a Conservative Political Action Conference, Borchers was stunned when the organizers attempted to confiscate the press kits he was distributing --- with prior permission --- to conference attendees. The materials denounced Coulter's extremism.

His "clarion call for character in the Conservative Movement", as he describes the incident in "The Gospel of Ann", was "inconvenient...because Ann Coulter is their most notorious speaker."

Following the conference, Borchers wrote an essay on Coulter entitled "Columnist does conservatives a disservice." [PDF] It's posted along with others on CoulterWatch.com, a site he created that "promotes the proposition that Conservatism can only endure as a viable and vibrant movement if it maintains a commitment to the core character traits of honor and integrity, honesty and virtue."

He describes the essay as "calling upon conservatives to seek the higher ground and renounce the hypocritical excesses of Conservatism's reigning diva." From the essay:

His call seems to have fallen on deaf ears, as he regretfully adds in the presentation: "The conscience of the Conservative Movement still sleeps."

We were contacted by Borchers not long after a recent radio debate we participated in with Coulter (who, for one reason or another, decided to leave half way through the program). He asked if we'd mind being interviewed for his documentary. Always happy to learn that there is yet another intellectually honest conservative left in America --- a vanishing breed, as Borchers is working hard to point out --- we were more than pleased to oblige his request.

In exchange for our interview, completed last weekend, he shared information about the documentary, along with the exclusive look at his PowerPoint presentation with us.

In reviewing the presentation, Borchers wishes he'd gone back still further in exposing Coulter's assertions about Christianity. "From as early as 1998 to the present - that there are no liberal Christians. None. According to Coutler, all Christians - that is to say, all true Christians - are conservatives. I guess exit polls from the last election, showing a fairly even split among Christians, don't count," Borchers wrote to us via Email as we finished the conversion of the presentation to video format.

Indeed, exit polls don't count, as regular BRAD BLOG readers know all too well, at least in America. But we digress...

While Borcher's presentation, which asks "Is Ann Coulter a Heroine or a Heretic?" can be somewhat on the dry side, the hypocrisy of the "polemical rants" of Coulter the "hate monger" are priceless and build as the presentation gets rolling.

By way of example of just one of Coulter's rather Anti-Christian hate mongering, here she is from 1999: "If you don't hate Clinton and the people who labored to keep him in office, you don't love your country."

Or this from 2002: "We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals by making them realize that they can be killed too."

Or this loving and very Christian chestnut from an appearance on Fox & Friends in 2004 prior to the election:

More than a few classic Coulter "flip-flops" are revealed in the presentation as well. In 2000, for example, Coulter denounced the Christian Right for "fascism", the next year vociferously proclaimed there is no Christian Right in America and then finally announced herself a member of the Christian Right the next.

Or decrying the slaughter of innocent civilians on 9/11, followed shortly thereafter with her defense of the "War on Terror" by declaiming: "We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities: we killed civiliians. That's war. And this is war."

Then there are her "flip-flops" concerning her moral pronouncements about sex and Bill Clinton, versus her very own personal sex life which would seem to betray her denouncement of that of others who don't happen to agree with her political point of view.

But it's her use, or rather misuse, of "faith" for apparent political expediency that seems to get under the skin of Borchers. He appropriately winces at Coulter's statement in January of this year: "Oh, it was so much fun this year, because saying 'Merry Christmas' is like saying 'Fuck you!' I've said it to everyone. You know, cab drivers, passing people on the street, whatever."

"Speaking the truth in love is a Christian imperative," says Borchers, "But both truth and love --- core Christian concepts --- are foreign to Ann Coulter."

The final credit slide in "The Gospel of Ann" says that the work is "dedicated to Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and the One who commands that we should be nice to people (as well as loving them as He loves)." And finally, a special thanks "to Ms. Ann Hart Coulter, whose words and conduct have necessitated" it.

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Here is the entire "Gospel of Ann" presentation, converted to Windows Media Player Video.

Selected excerpts and screenshots from the presentation follow...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

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Mugshot and more at The Smoking Gun.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

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NBC Today reports that Rove and Libby were "comparing notes about what they were hearing from reporters" before Novak first exposed CIA officer Valerie Plame's cover in an article on July 14, 2003.

Sources close to the investigation say Rove told Libby that he learned about Plame from Novak and Libby told Rove that he learned about Plame from Tim Russert. By process of elimination, we believe that this "source" is probably Rove's lawyer who is known to have leaked other information to the media.

The Associate Press reports that Libby's lawyer would not comment but fails to mention Rove's lawyer which probably means that he is the source for this leak:

Think Progress comes to a similar conclusion about leaks coming from Rove's lawyer noting that the White House official policy is not to comment on ongoing investigations.

So, why would Rove's lawyer leak information that contradicts testimony given by Judith Miller and Tim Russert?

We are also pleased to see that NBC is now being forced to report on Tim Russert's role. As Arianna Huffington notes, Russert has previously downplayed or neglected to report on his involvement in the scandal. A new article at the Booman Tribune closely examines the mystery behind Russert's silence and his connection with Libby.

UPDATE: AP is reporting that a GOP/White House effort to "blame the media" in the CIA leak case is not working. As new "leaks" reveal more details of the investigation, the White House's "unofficial" talking points become inoperative.

Details Coming Thursday...DEVELOPING...