Or maybe it depends on whay you mean by "is" ...

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Here's a chilling story from Salt Lake City, which one of our friends noticed at The Salt Lake Tribune. It's the kind of tale that Brad eats for breakfast, but for me it's the sort of thing I gag on.

I don't mean "gag" in the way you might think, that the overwhelming nature of the sleaze takes away my appetite. Instead, I mean: Brad would be able to understand all this --- and explain it to you --- a lot better than I can. But he's away --- the slacker! --- and so it falls to this lowly and nearly frozen blogger...

I've read the article, Lobbyist challenged on voting machines: Legal. But ethical? S.L. County's lobbying firm also works for the devices' manufacturer, several times, and the words of Derek P. Jensen are finally starting to seep into my very thick skull. I'm even starting to get a handle on the cast of characters! Listen:

Peter Corroon is the Mayor of Salt Lake County.

Blaze Wharton, Dan Hartman and Paul Rogers are principals in The Tetris Group, a lobbying firm which is paid to lobby for the Salt Lake County Mayor's Office.

The Tetris Group also has other clients, one of whom just happens to be Diebold Election Systems, a manufacturer of touch-screen voting machines, on which The BRAD BLOG has reported many times --- often in less than glowing terms.

Last month, as part of their bid for the lucrative statewide election machine contract, Diebold made a presentation at the Salt Lake County Government Center. They were escorted to this presentation by their lobbyists --- the Tetris team --- who also just happen to work for the county Mayor's Office. One slight problem: the Mayor's Office never asked Tetris to do this for to them.

Peter Corroon: "We never asked Tetris to go out and lobby the state to get the Diebold systems. They came in with Diebold..."

As regular readers of this space already know [all too well], Diebold's machines are crap not always reliable, and as Jensen writes, Salt Lake County "leaders continue to unleash a litany of complaints."

For their part, Tetris has set up what apears to be a classic runaround: Wharton is referring all questions to Hartman, who isn't returning any phone calls. And Rogers cannot even be reached. So that end of the trail is set up just about the way we'd expect it.

Gavin Anderson is Deputy District Attorney of Salt Lake County and he says the push "to determine an economic conflict must come from the mayor's office", according to Jensen, who quotes Anderson as saying:

Maybe I'm nearly frozen but I'm still functional enough to realize that this sounds like a good idea!! Is there anybody home over at the Mayor's Office?

And what does Diebold say? According to Jensen:

Wow! That's mighty reassuring, is it not?

Well ... don't take my word for it. I'm too cold to make any sense anyway. You should read Derek P. Jensen's Lobbyist challenged on voting machines and enjoy the full reassuring story in its original context.

Thanks, as always. I'll be back. But I gotta go try and thaw out for a while. Brrrr! What a cold story!

P.S. I heard from Brad last night, albeit briefly. He is doing fine, getting some R&R, and heading back to the wild lands. He sends you his best regards. He also says "Watch for some heavy Cannon Fire, coming to a blog near you, on Monday".

I can't imagine what he means. But we shall see...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

No! We are not making this up! We have it via Lex18 in Lexington, KY and the headline reads: Republican Party shells out money to defend voter suppression case

That's a zero-tolerance policy on what, exactly? Could it be a zero-tolerance policy on democracy, by any chance?

A tip of the BRAD BLOG hat to a loyal BRAD BLOG reader for that great catch. No names, please: You know who you are, don't you, John?

Wow...These BRAD BLOG Guest Bloggers got it covered! So my brief foray back into civilization won't be long, and I'm back out into the wilds momentarily.

Looks like there's much going on in my absence, but my ragged brain continues to need some downtime, and it looks like David Edwards, Joseph Cannon, Winter Patriot (and apparently even Chris Floyd) have got things well covered, so I can rest easy.

Looks like there have been a few ACVR shenanigans while I've geen gone, but I've tipped off Joseph C. and hopefully he'll have a report on some of it in the next day or two in my stead.

See ya in a week or so! Until then...once again...and in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan and all the folks who give a damn about Truth, Justice and the American Way...Peace!

Guest blogged by David Edwards

cartoon by Mike Thompson

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

According to Joselyn King of the Wheeling News Register, West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland has said:

... and much more! Ireland talks about her office prosecuting people in connection with buying votes:

But somehow she manages to spin the story so that the real responsibility for "voter fraud" falls to the poor folks who are afraid they'll lose their jobs if they vote for a candidate who supports their interests. Or at least that's what I seem to read here

I've been quoting out of context again. I really hate it when the warmongers do that. Especially when they hide their original sources. So please read the whole piece and decide for yourself whether I'm cherry-picking here, or whether what I'm hearing is what Ireland is actually saying.

Thanks again to special agent Kat L'Estrange for bringing this article to my attention. She made a comment via e-mail which was at least as cogent as the article itself, so I post it here in full.

Your comments as always are invited.

Also invited: a little help for Brad. He works his [ahem] off ... and I can tell because I cover for him while he's away and it's like you don't have time to eat or sleep or anything... not complaining but I do understand how hard it must be for him to do what he does every week ... at the end of which he has to come up with another $500 for studio time so he can do his radio show. So if you enjoy the blog and/or the show, please consider doing one or more of the following:

Visit The BRAD STORE and/or Donate via Credit Card or PayPal and/or Donate via Snail Mail.

Every bit helps and as always we thank you for your support!

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Yes, our Tracy, the soon-to-be "midwife" of Clint Curtis' soon-to-be puppy. The lady in the orange shirt in the photo.

She's been blogging at Booman Tribune. Here's her diary: Militarytracy. Her most recent entry was a beauty: My God It Is Good To Be Alive.

Now that she's away from home, she's been reporting via her friend Brinnainne's account. That happens here. And good things are happening, too. Consider this story: BooTrib Regular with Sheehan in Time Mag.

Also at Booman Tribune, Supersoling has written to say he's flying down tomorrow.

UPDATE:
The Lone Star Iconoclast has some online coverage of today's activities here.

ANOTHER UPDATE:
Crooks And Liars has a nice bit about her here. John Amato Rocks! Anyone can post comments at his site, no registration needed, and I think it would be cool if 6 or 7 people wandered over and told John what we think of Tracy! and his blog!! But that's just my opinion.

I'll update this again when and if I find more good links. And of course, we'll try to keep up-to-date on our BRAD BLOG friends while they're in Texas.

Thanks to Tracy for making the trip, and for bringing a friend, and for making noise, and in general for representing The BRAD BLOG so well in Crawford, Texas, home of some vicious fire ants from Hades, and palatial vacation spot for some vicious neocons who are surely on their way to where the ants came from.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

A great old BRAD SHOW is almost ready to hit the airwaves. Again. It was a great lineup and a fantastic show. And if the folks at the network pull up the right files, you can hear it again via the Web! Saturday from 7p-11p ET (4p-8p PT) and Sunday 12noon-4p ET (9a-1p PT)

Here's the guest list:

It's free speech at its best, but it's not free! Brad pays for the studio rental --- out of his own pocket --- at $500 per week! He doesn't need to rent a studio this weekend but he still needs donations, so please donate here to help defray costs! Every little bit helps, friends.

Guest blogged by Chris Floyd

INTRODUCTION {by Winter Patriot} Once again I have the pleasure of introducing one of my favorite writers for a spot of guest blogging. An American journalist living in London [England], whose column on world affairs, "Global Eye", is published weekly in The Moscow Times, proprietor of the excellent blog Empire Burlesque, and a good friend of both The BRAD BLOG and The Whispering Campaign, the redoubtable Chris Floyd joins us for a second time. Back in July, his excellent essay, "The Dream Of Unlimited Swag", inspired a truly excellent thread.

The following essay is a slightly expanded version of the column published earlier today, August 12, in The Moscow Times. And here's the best part: Chris has offered to stop by from time to time, to answer your questions or respond to your comments. Please welcome a truth-teller of exceptional passion and skill, a journalist whom we are very proud to call our friend. Here's Chris Floyd:

One of the grubby little secrets of the Great Potomac Grease Pit --- otherwise known as the government of the United States - is that the massive amount of bribes given and taken there often has little effect on the final outcome of policy decisions and legislation.

Cynics --- and you know you who are --- tend to believe that Washington is overrun with sleazy bagmen prowling the halls of Congress and slithering down White House corridors, proffering baubles, trinkets, sweetmeats and other enticements to plucky public servants, drawing them away from the straight and narrow to do the bidding of rapacious elites. But like so many of the hateful canards issuing from the foul stithy of the liberal imagination these days, this fantasy contains scarcely a shred of truth.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Brad Friedman, creator of BRAD BLOG, appeared this week on I.N.N. World Report in a segment titled "the ACVR another GOP scam?".

Host, Lenny Charles, interviewed Brad about his series of articles reporting on the phony voting rights group, American Center for Voting Right (ACVR). Brad explained how ACVR was created by high-level GOP operatives and then appeared only days later to testify at a Republican hearing designed to cover up election fraud at the hands of Republicans in Ohio.

In his closing remarks, Brad focused on protecting citizen's voting rights and repairing faults in our election systems...

Watch the video report from the INN World Report main page or launch it directly from here. (or download directly if needed)

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.

The Republicans have attempted to put a favorable spin on the Curt Weldon charges. Weldon claims that a DIA "data mining" operation named ABLE DANGER had identified Mohammed Atta and other 9/11 terrorists at least a year before the September 11 attacks.

Originally, we were told that an unnamed DIA lawyer directed the team not to notify the FBI and not to pursue Atta further. We were even told that the data miners literally placed tape over Atta's picture in their organizational charts of the terror cell within the United States.

After the initial account made the news, rightist pundits used Weldon's story as a cudgel against the Clinton administration. The revised version of the story (as gleaned from Hannity, NewsMax, and similarly "trusty" sources) maintains that the White House was the ultimate power behind the DIA's decision to keep mum about the extraordinary find. According to the egregious NewsMax, the Clinton administration caused the problem by erecting a "wall" between the FBI and the rest of the intelligence community.

So far, the public has seen no documentary evidence proving the existence of ABLE DANGER. In my view, the Weldon account nevertheless rests on a credible foundation --- not least because it inconveniences the official version of Atta's doings.

According to the standard version, Atta did not enter the United States until June of 2000 --- a chronology which conflicted with strong eyewitness testimony, such as the story told here of Johnelle Bryant, the loan officer for the Department of Agriculture who swore that she had encountered Atta earlier.

The spokesman for the independent 9/11 commission, Al Felzenberg, now claims that the commission did learn about ABLE DANGER and did know that the DIA team had identified Atta, but did not include this information in the final report because the data conflicted with the Authorized Standard Version of his pre-attack whereabouts. (Previously, commission members said: 1. They knew nothing about ABLE DANGER, and 2. They did know that such an operation existed but were never told of the Atta connection.) According to Felzenberg, the DIA team had told them that Atta entered the country in 1999.

Despite the frustrating contradictions, it now seems fairly safe to stipulate that ABLE DANGER did exist and did uncover Atta's ring. Even so, the right-wing spin on this matter amounts to pure bullshit...

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Here's an important message from our ever-faithful behind-the-scenes news-gatherer, radio-show-producer, and all-around great-big-help, Kat L'Estrange:

Thanks, Kat. We'll be watching.

UPDATE:
Things are happening ... but we are still not sure what. We've changed the headline, which formerly said "Troops Coming To Crawford", and we're trying to find out now what happened. Did someone deliberately mislead us? [probably not] Were we informed about plans which subsequently changed? [could be] Were our sources misled? [maybe] And if so was it done intentionally? [who knows?] ... We'll get answers to zero or more of these questions along with some other good Texas dirt, and I will post the best of it, starting soon.

You can click on this photo to read a report on the events of the day, from The Lone Star Iconoclast.

SECOND UPDATE:
Here's the newest from Kat, who has been on the phone with Leon Smith of The Lone Star Iconoclast.

THIRD UPDATE:
The Waco Tribune Herald, which is probably the closest large newspaper, has a story online now: Bush supporters arrive in Crawford as anti-war protestors continue vigil. Here's a quick sample:

Yeah, right. Sure, Mike. You may be saying what you're saying because of what you believe, but you're standing where you're standing because of Cindy Sheehan.

Ha ha! Another right-wing liar caught in the act. And you read it first right here, at The BRAD BLOG.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Last night on MSNBC's Countdown, Keith Olbermann interviewed Cindy Sheehan. He asked her about all of the attacks from the right-wingers like Bill O'Reilly, Drudge and numerous other chicken-hawk conservative blogs.

Cindy explained why each of the attacks are baseless. She also reiterated why she continues to hold a vigil outside Bush's 1600 acre palatial estate ranch in Crawford, Texas.

We encourage you to take a few minutes to watch the video over at CrooksandLiars. For those that have problems with the Windows Media format posted at CrooksandLiars, we have provided a lower quality version of the video in QuickTime format here.

After watching Cindy's responses to the right-wing attacks, leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

The very lovely and extremely talented Larisa Alexandrovna has a blockbuster at The Raw Story and you should read it right away, sez me!

Here's the link: Senate Intelligence chairman quietly 'fixed' intelligence, and diverted blame from White House over Iraq and here's the introduction:

Please read the whole thing. Don't forget to click on this link: Timeline: How Roberts helped fix pre-war intelligence.

And please leave a comment for Larisa if you feel so inclined.

Then come back here and tell us all: What do you think now?

Thanks to Jen for the tip!

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In an article published at the Huffington Post this afternoon, Cindy Sheehan reiterated her position and clearly stated the purpose for her vigil in Crawford.

President Bush held a press conference this afternoon. As he denied "rumors" about possible troop withdrawals, a reporter asked if he was referring to Cindy Sheehan. Bush refused to respond to Mrs. Sheehan's concerns directly and did not indicate if he intended to meet with her during his 5 week vacation.

Sheehan has been camping outside of the Bush palatial estate ranch hoping for an explanation for why he sent her son, Casey, to die in Iraq. She has been very clear in statements that she no longer wants Bush to use her son's death as an excuse for continuing the war.

In responding to a direct question about Sheehan, Bush, once again, said that to "honor the fallen" he would continue sending troops to Iraq to "lay the foundation for peace"...

We have a short video clip of the Bush press conference (in Windows Media format).

Even as we are only four days away from the deadline for the Iraqi constitution, Bush refuses to even consider a plan for withdrawing troops. He considers comments about possible troop withdrawal from the pentagon "speculation and rumors".