Guest blogged by David Edwards

Bush promises to do what he is best at doing...

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Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Project Censored has presented its annual compilation of the most important stories ignored by the mainstream media over the past year... and the rigged presidential election of 2004 came in at number three!

In normal times, the theft of a presidential election, and the virtual media blackout that followed it, would be an easy choice for the top spot. But then again these times are far from normal.

Here, according to Project Censored, are the top ten censored stories of the year:

(Hat tip BRAD BLOG commenter, DaveK!)

Finally admitting what honest Americans who give a damn (and who have paid attention!) already know, former President Jimmy Carter admitted on Monday that Al Gore won the 2000 Election.

"There's no doubt in my mind that Al Gore was elected president," Carter told an audience at American University last Monday. RAW STORY has the scoop and the audio of Carter at Monday's event.

We have plenty else to be irritated about of late concerning Jimmy Carter as BRAD BLOG readers know. Nonetheless, it's notable that a former President of the United States has finally come out and said publicly what so many of us --- including the major media who confirmed it in the wake of 9/11 while nobody was noticing --- have known for years!

Al Gore won. George W. Bush lost. Period.

Bush is an illegimate "President" of the United States. Accept it. Get over it.

He is an abrogation of American democracy. If one hates America and democracy, then we see no reason why one wouldn't support the "Presidency" of George W. Bush.

Turning off Comments on this item, just to let ya know I'm staying on with Jack Blood for another to take calls on Diebold, Election Reform, Blogging and anything else you like.

Listen to the show here. CALL-IN# 800-259-9231 if you've got any questions or comments for either me or Jack...

Our still-anonymous Diebold Insider --- who we call DIEB-THROAT --- has some thoughts on Wednesday's sudden and stunning 15.5% one-day plunge in Diebold, Inc. share prices as reported earlier today by The BRAD BLOG.

"What a difference a few months makes," DIEB-THROAT wrote after the market close on Wednesday. "Back in July, Diebold told investors during its conference call the election revenues were sound and expected to grow." Yes, DIEB-THROAT was on that conference call. "Now all of a sudden Diebold's [CEO Walden] O'Dell tells investors of $10 million in lower revenues from election systems alone. Perhaps what Diebold isn't talking about is the $500,000 a month in legal fees they were spending in California, or the current rash of problems with touch screen systems that freeze up when votes are cast. Using Hurricane Katrina is a poor excuse for bad products - the last time this kind of deception occurred it was called Enron."

The blistering comments about Hurricane Katrina were in regard to Diebold's press release early Wednesday morning attributing much of their lowered forecasts for 3rd quarter and full-year earnings to the hurricane. The "freeze up" on Diebold's touch-screen voting machines has long plagued the North Canton, Ohio-based company, and a recent massive test of the equipment by California's Republican Sec. of State Bruce McPhereson confirmed that a full 20% of Diebold's machines either froze up or had printer jams.

When The BRAD BLOG spoke last week with Diebold spokesperson, David Bear about the California tests, Bear repeated several times times that "there were a total of 10 printer-jams after 11,000 votes were cast." When asked several times about similar statistics concerning the number of screen freeze-ups, Bear was unable to give us any information or numbers whatsoever.

The Tri-Valley Herald, however, had some numbers in their report on the massive California tests:

Those tests, the largest of their kind, led to Sec. McPhereson's banning of the Diebold TSx touch-screen voting machines in the State of California, the largest voting "market" in the country.

Amongst other problems the company blamed on the hurricane in this morning's release, they claimed, "the impact of Hurricane Katrina is negatively affecting scheduled election systems deliveries in the Gulf region, resulting in approximately $10 million in lower elections systems revenue during the quarter."

As well, O'Dell himself is quoted in the release as suggesting "operational inefficiencies" as one of the factors contributing to lowered earnings expectations:

However, O'Dell --- who took over today as President and Chief Operational Officer for Eric C. Evans who announced his resignation this morning --- didn't mention if correcting "operational inefficiencies" would include any changes to the $3,058,650 paycheck that O'Dell himself took from the company in 2004.

As well, DIEB-THROAT believes there's more bad news ahead for Diebold stockholders, pointing to the failure of stock prices to bounce back quickly today after the early morning plummet. "Typically the stock would bounce back after such a dip. This is a sure sign of a troubled company," says the source who continues to request anonymity based on a continuing sensitive relationship with the company.

More trouble in the days and weeks ahead was also predicted by DIEB-THROAT, who feels the trouble isn't as much the weather, as it is a poorly run company.

"If Hurricane Katrina was at fault this stock should go through the floor when Hurricane Rita hits. The fact of the matter is Diebold is mismanaged and unethical. The revolving door in top management we've seen in the last few months is perhaps the sprint for cover. After all who wants to be around when the feds pull back the curtain on the Homeland Security issue," said DIEB-THROAT in regard to the Cyber Alert issued last year, prior to November's election, by the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) --- an arm of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security --- as reported in a BRAD BLOG Exclusive late last week.

That "Cyber Security Bulletin", little-noticed by the media, and apparently wholly ignored by Diebold when it was originally posted in late August of 2004 is still available on the US-CERT website. It warns of an "undocumented backdoor" in Diebold's GEM Central Tabulator software used with its electronic voting machine systems. The security vulnerability could allow a local or remote user to modify vote tallies stored in the system according to the warning and corroborated by several different sources.

"This backdoor means that one malicious person can change the outcome of any Diebold election," DIEB-THROAT said in our previous article. "Diebold's election system," the source added, "is one of the greatest threats our democracy has ever known."

Share prices of Diebold, Inc. (DBD) continued to fall sharply in early trading today, dipping 7% right off the bat as reported by AP. Minor recovery has begun to occur over the last few hours in continued heavy trading. Hit REFRESH for the latest prices in the chart below which shows today's trading only...

See yesterday's report on Diebold's 15.5% plunge here, and DIEB-THROAT (the Diebold insider) comments on the company's woes after the plummet, comparing them to Enron, here.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Phil Donahue had O'Reilly's number tonight. Bill gets backed into a corner over his support of the Iraq war.

Shaking and nearly beyond the point of "personal accountability", O'Reilly threatens to have Donahue thrown off the set.

Crooks and Liars has the video

ADDED NOTE FROM BRAD: This is Must See TV! Watch the clip! And yes, I do believe that poor Billy was damn near tears! Thanks for getting this up, David!

Shares of Diebold, Inc. (DBD) continued to fall in heavy trading today after hitting a 52-week low at Tuesday's close as reported here last night.

As of today's, shares had dropped 15.5% in very heavy trading, along with news that their President and Chief Operating Officer, Eric C. Evans has resigned effective today. Diebold, Inc. CEO Walden O'Dell has announced he will take over for the moment...O'Dell is well known for his Republican fundraising letter of 2003 announcing that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President."...Diebold Elections Systems, Inc. and competitor ES&S count more than 80% of America's votes each election and have come underfire for inadequate security on their voting machines, as well as a lack of transparency for their proprietary source code, and a lack of accountability and verifiability in their election results.

Real-Time Chart, Slight Delay, Hit Refresh for Updates...

UPDATE: Diebold insider, "DIEB-THROAT" weighs in on today's stock plunge! Compares company to Enron! Points to CEO O'Dell's $3m Salary and more! Read it here...

Shares of Diebold, Inc. hit a 52-week low today, for some reason, falling to $44.37/share at Tuesday's close. Perhaps it has something to do with this, but whaddu we know?

In other tales from the last vestiges of American democracy...I was working the media circuit big time today (e.g. here's me on the Stephanie Miller Show [MP3] at the crack o' dawn --- wherein the lovely Steph declared The BRAD BLOG her "favorite blog to steal from!" --- and we couldn't be prouder!). As well, I was busy carrying on other super-secret missions which we hope you'll hear about in the future...So I wasn't able to get done all I had hoped to here today. Then again, haven't I done enough damage already?

Instead, here's a few quick items and links of note that I believe you'll enjoy...

RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna adds to the drumbeat by helping to tear the Baker/Carter Recommendations yet another new one, as she reviews the sordid genesis of the entire fetid Baker/Carter "Blue-Ribbon Commission" in her latest HuffPo blog item, entitled "Baked-Cooked Election Reform". Lots of good research, and lots of very good dirt on the very bad guys.

Speaking of the sordid genesis' of Baker/Carter and the man at the middle of the entire ill-concieved folly, BRAD BLOG regular, Valley Girl gives us a blast from the past, reminding us of our remarkable first-hand encounter with the Commission's own Executive Director Dr. Robert Pastor and the moment when we directly challenged him on the Commission's sorry/scammy make-up. Right at the get-go. He shoulda listened. No real Voting Rights groups invited to participate. Just fake ones. It's all recorded for posterity in an item called "Executive Director of National Election Reform Commission Goes Ballistic at BRAD BLOG!" (Reading that link will also give newer-comers here an idea of where the many "BRAD BLOG 6 or 7" references that you may have seen here come from).

Speaking of the sordid geneses of Robert Pastor and "The BRAD BLOG 6 or 7", we're told, by several birdies who were in attendance, that Dr. Pastor's invitation-only "get together" in D.C. with Voting Rights groups to discuss the Commission's roundly criticized Recommendations today went...um...less than good. The report was...um...less than well-received. By...um...every single group present. Every. Single. One. And the "get together" had to be...um...called to a premature end. So the birdies tell us. We'll try to have more details on that disaster of a meeting tomorrow if time allows. But for now, suffice to say...um...we tried to warn ya, Bob. (See link in the above item.)

Oh...Washington Post's editorial board didn't care much for Dr. Pastor's Disaster either, pointing, in an Op/Ed today to the sage point made by dissenting commissioner Spencer Overton who was forced to set up his own website to dissent when he was just shut down by Dr. Pastor. WaPo wonders why the Commission is attempting to impose Photo ID restrictions on voters who show up to the polls (which would disproportionately disenfranchise elderly and minority Democratic-leaning voters), while allowing absentee voters (largely White and Republican) to skate by with just a signature:

Indeed, election administrators agree that absentee ballots pose a bigger risk of fraud, and in that case the commission would guard against fraud by having election officials match a signature on file. As commission member Spencer Overton, an election law expert at George Washington University, asks, why wouldn't the same be sufficient for those who turn up at the polls without ID? Allowing voters to show alternative forms of identification or to sign a sworn affidavit of eligibility could go a significant way toward deterring fraud without imposing the burden of an inflexible photo ID requirement.

Meanwhile, we're pointed to Steven Carbó's must-read from mid-August pointing out "The Hype Over Voter Fraud" wherein we're reminded yet again how the entire "Voter Fraud" brouhaha is nothing more than a cynical and well-coordinated Rightwing scam on the American Voting populace. Definitely worth both reading and BOOK MARKING that article for use later! Have a feeling we're gonna need to keep hauling it out for the wingnut zombies!

We came across the above link, via a blog item by Democrats.com's Bob Fertik who responded to the Baker/Carter Photo ID fiasco by wondering why Americans aren't simply registered to vote automatically when they receive their Social Security numbers. We haven't yet figured out the potential pitfalls of Fertik's notion (if there are any), so it seems worth pondering.

And then Kathy Dopp, one of the first folks to ask questions and compile data about the election results mess last November, and organizer at USCountVotes.org and ElectionArchive.org, has an entirely different reason to hate the Baker/Carter report: Namely, their recommendations to hide Exit Poll Results from Americans!

Lastly, Fitrakis & Wasserman over at FreePress.org, the investigative guys on the ground from the get-go in Ohio, blast Baker/Carter to smithereens in their latest, with a splash of cold water which includes "unless the public is ready to face the reality that we no longer live in a nation with credible elections, the 2008 balloting is all but over."

Does the phrase "like a turd in a swimming pool" come to anyone else's mind yet? Not that we enjoy being vulgar, but we gotta call 'em like we see 'em.

So many things to hate about Pastor's Disaster...so little time to cover them all. But I have a feeling...there will be much more to come...Stay tuned Democracy Fans! And be sure to tell a few friends!

The death toll for U.S. Troops in George W. Bush's ridiculous war "Noble Cause" topped 1,900 as 5 soldiers were killed in 3 different incidents over the last 24 hours...Do you feel safer yet?

Washington Post's Dan Froomkin has the story (overlooked by most of the media, even though it would have been a top banner headline had it been the Clinton White House, of course):

And in the expected (by now) bit of further troubling irony from this bunch:

Of course, had you read RAW STORY at the beginning of September, you would have known all about Mr. Safavian and his dirty links to Abramoff and Friends.

Landing with a mighty thud today in the Nation's Capitol, the so-called Baker-Carter "National Commission on Election Reform" delivered precisely what true voting rights advocates in America had been warning about for months.

Most notably, the privately-funded, secretly-convened commission, which held just two hearings and refused to invite any real voting rights groups to participate, failed to even reach consensus amongst its hand-picked commissioners in it's final 113 page report.

One of those Commissioners, former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD), criticized the Commission's number one recommendation --- the use of mandatory restrictive photo ID requirements at the polls --- as a "modern day poll tax." (As reported previously, Daschle's quote appeared in a Washinton Post article this morning by Dan Balz who also concluded, with no quotes or sourcing that "there has been no credible evidence of partisan manipulation of the election in Ohio." That despite the mountain of credible evidence of partisan manipulation of the 2004 election in Ohio. For a start, here is the recent indictment of two Ohio elections officials for gaming the recount, and here is another one who admits to receiving a $10,000 check from a Diebold rep and passing it to the RNC, and of course here's 102-pages of such evidence as published by a U.S. House Judiciary Committee Minority Report and another 700+ pages of such evidence found in a book recently published by FreePress.org...Just to give the tip of the iceberg.)

Another one of the Commissioners, Spencer Overton, a specialist in Election Law has gone so far as to set up a CarterBakerDissent.com website which decries both the procedures and the recommendations of the privately run "blue-ribbon" Commission.

The scathing dissent posted on Overton's site begins:

...And devolves from there in a crushing condemnation of Baker/Carter's Photo ID recommendations. As well, Overton pulls the curtain on the Commission's shoddy partisan procedures and lack of real input from experts, charging:

...and that the Commission "impose[d] rules that stifle[d] opposing views to give the false impression of consensus or to mask the substantive flaws in the commission's proposals." Overton goes on to add:

And that's from someone on the commission!

Overton promises a full analysis of the report on his site soon.

The report, so far, has faired no better on Capitol Hill. Congressmen John Conyers (D-MI) and John Lewis (D-GA), a long-time voting rights advocate who was beaten during the Bloody Sunday Marches --- which led to the landmark Voting Rights Act 40 years ago in Selma, Alabama --- where he marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King have roundly condemned the Baker/Carter Commission's report. They describe the Voter ID recommendations as "discriminatory" and allege that these cynical recommendations would "make it harder for tens of millions of citizens to vote."

The Congressmen have written a letter to colleagues inviting them to join in introducing a resolution in the U.S. House stating opposition to new restrictive voting ID requirements and have announced that a Senate counterpart to the resolution will be forthcoming from Senator Barak Obama along with Minority Leader Reid, Senator Dodd, Clinton and Corzine.

A blog item this morning by Conyers expresses more details and outrage at Bush Family Crony James Baker's attempts to once again keep Americans from having their votes counted, as he so successfully accomplished on behalf of the Bush's during the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida. Conyers also announced he has set up the main page of his website as an action center to counter this latest assault on voters rights in America.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean released a statement late this afternoon echoing those sentiments and saying that "The DNC is concerned and disappointed that the Baker-Carter Commission on Federal Election Reform, over the strong dissent of some of its most distinguished members, has seen fit to support a 'national ID card' that threatens to deny the right to vote to millions of citizens who are lawfully registered and eligible to do so."

The statement from Dean goes on to add, referring to a recent study by the League of Women's Voters that found just 4 cases of voter fraud out of 9 million votes cast in the last two national elections in Ohio!:

Longtime Voting Rights Activist groups and citizen coalitions were similar appalled by the Baker/Carter recommendation. Here are just a handful of them and the reports they issued today:

At this time, the only unapologetically positive review of the report's recommendations that we've seen comes, unsurprisingly, from a press release given to the wires by the anti-American, anti-Democratic group of high-level GOP operatives calling themselves (cynically) the "non-partisan" American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR).

Mark F. "Thor" Hearne, general counsel for the ACVR (and also, coincidentally, for Bush/Cheney '04 Inc.) says in his predictably fawing statement:

The Press Contact listed on the report is Jim Dyke, the former Communications Director for the RNC. If you have any questions, the release says you may contact him at: 843-722-9670.

The phony group, which was instrumental in the creation of the Baker/Carter Commission, and --- unlike any real voting rights groups --- enjoyed the privilege of sitting on its "Advisory Panel." The ACVR has been revealed by The BRAD BLOG over a series of reports since the group's inception to be little more than a small band of partisan operatives attempting to smoke-screen the evidence of what really went wrong in Election '04. In the bargain, they've issued propoganda in the form of "reports" in an attempt to further disenfranchise American voters by giving the false impression that there is some sort of "voter fraud" epidemic in this country. Their scam website is here where you can follow the "joke" for yourselves.

The same shameful group of democracy hating opportunists were also exposed in a recent report by RAW STORY to have been instrumental in the creation of the Baker/Carter Commission expressly for the purposes of seeing Photo ID requirements mandated in order to disenfranchise millions of more Democratic-leaning voters.

More, no doubt, to come on Baker/Carter Report soon. The report can be read --- should you be able to stomach it --- along with its executive summary, here.

(Thanks to VotersUnite.org's John Gideon for help in compiling this report.)

For more information on the "non-partisan" tax-exempt ACVR scam and the snakeoil salesmen who invented it, Bush/Cheney '04 National General Counsel Mark F. "Thor" Hearne and RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke, please see BRAD BLOG's full Special Coverage of the "American Center for Voting Rights" at https://BradBlog.com/ACVR.

Reports from eye-witnesses are now emerging on the net here, here and here...that a "Camp Casey" Peace Rally in NYC was broken up earlier today by police just as Cindy Sheehan was beginning to speak. Unclear whether she was arrested or not at this time...

Photos of the rally, the aftermath and police posted here...

The Village Voice now has the full story described as "City's Finest pulls move even Bush wouldn't have tried."

The rally in NYC was "one of 200 hundred in 28 states over 21 days," according to Reuters. Sheehan is working her way with other anti-war activists towards Washington, D.C. where a massive anti-war rally is scheduled to be held this weekend in front of the White House and on the mall.

The site of her original stand in Crawford, Texas, where she requested a meeting with George W. Bush to inquire about the "noble cause" he says that her son Casey died for in Iraq, was recently plundered and all remaining memorial crosses --- and Casey Sheehan's boots, which sat next to his cross --- were stolen in the middle of the night.

UPDATE 9/20/05: AP covers to the story to report that NYC police stopped Sheehan's speech and arrested the organizer of the event on the charge of "using a loudspeaker without a permit." Yup.

Guest Blogged by Congressman John Conyers, Cross-Posted at ConyersBlog

I have spent my more than 40 years in public service fighting for voting rights and a better democracy. Today, I am sad to say, there are proposals being made that would set us back in that struggle. A privately funded, unaccountable Commission organized by former Bush-Cheney campaign lawyer James Baker, III, and former President Jimmy Carter issued a report today that includes policy proposals that will disenfranchise over ten percent of eligible voters --- a national ID requirement to vote. I need your help to fight this 21st Century poll tax today.

The simple fact is that many minority and poor voters do not have the time, money or need to purchase a drivers license. In fact, over ten percent of eligible voters in the last election did not have a photo ID. They vote by presenting other means of identification (a voter registration card, utility bill, or affidavit). This Commission is now asking Congress to deny the franchise to those voters unless they get a national ID card. The Commission makes the implausible claim that, in these times of a multibillion dollar war in Iraq and multibillion dollar restoration of the Gulf Coast, the Congress will pay for ID cards for those who cannot afford to buy them. We know this is not going to happen.

Even if you are not among these vulnerable populations, this affects you. The institution of a National ID card has throughout our history been the tool of every despotic regime the world has known. This recommendation, coupled with the Commission's recommendation of interoperable data bases of voters, is the first step toward data bases of American citizens.

Make no mistake about it, this national ID voting card is more of the same old Ken Blackwell-style Republican electoral dirty tricks, where Democratic voters are deliberately disenfranchised so that Republicans can win elections. Remember the lack of voting machines in Ohio for Democratic voters? Remember the machines that broke down or registered strange numbers of votes for George Bush or unknown third party candidates? Remember Ken Blackwell's paper weight requirements for voter registration cards?

Imagine if the Republican party can, in one fell swoop, legally prohibit more than ten percent of voters, most of them poor, minority and elderly voters, most of them Democratic voters, from being able to vote.

Please help me today. I have made the front page of my website into an action center on this issue. It will be constantly updated with actions you can take to help and up to the minute news on this issue. Thanks for your help and your continued stand for a better democracy.