Guest Blogged by Special BRAD BLOG CPAC Correspondent Daniel Borchers


EDITOR'S NOTE: After an unexpected delay due to breaking news over the last three days?We now conclude Dan Borchers reports from the "Conservative Political Action Conference" (CPAC) held last weekend in D.C.

For his efforts we are grateful and proud to bestow upon Dan the coveted and too-rarely-awarded BRAD BLOG "Intellectually Honest Conservative Award!" Well done, sir! And thank you?

Apropos to our weekend coverage of Coulter's "raghead" speech at CPAC, and indeed referencing said speech...I can't recommend this piece by Glen Greenwald (via Kos) enough.

For anyone with any questions about what the words "Liberal" and "Conservative" now actually mean in today's political "discourse", this is a must read. (HINT: Those words no longer mean either Liberal or Conservative...which regular BRAD BLOG readers likely already know. But Greenwald says it better than I've ever heard it said.)

In advance of tomorrow's scheduled U.S. House Judiciary Committee mark-up conference for two Resolutions of Inquiry concerning the NSA's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program, The BRAD BLOG has obtained the statement to be given by the committee's ranking member, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).

The resolutions (H. Res 643 and 644) direct the Attorney General to submit all documents "relating to warrantless electronic surveillance...of persons in the United States conducted by the National Security Agency" to the Judiciary Committee for review.

As we reported exclusively last Saturday, in an unusual weekend email notification the Dept. of Justice announced to the committee they would be holding a last minute briefing on the program for them on Monday --- in advance of tomorrow's session. That briefing occurred yesterday as scheduled.

In his statement for tomorrow's mark-up conference on the resolutions (audio and video to be broadcast live via the Judiciary Committee website beginning at 10am ET on the web), Conyers explains what his resolution --- supported by 44 members so far --- does and doesn't ask for.

While seeking documentation from the Attorney General, Conyers will explain that the information is not sought "in a conclusory fashion."

"We are not saying that the President broke the law or has acted contrary to the Constitution," according to the congressman, "In fact, this resolution may well produce documents that rebut those allegations."

He points out that many of "the Nation's most preeminent legal and intelligence authorities," from both sides of the political aisle, have questioned the constitutionality of the program, and that even the Dept. of Justice, in last Monday's briefing, admitted that "some of the legal questions involved here are close calls."

Conyers goes on to laud the chair of the committee, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), for his recent letter sent to the AG requesting answers to 51 questions about the program. He adds, however, that other committee members have questions they'd like answered as well. Conyers' asks that those other members would also appreciate having their questions forwarded to the Dept. of Justice on behalf of the committee.

The congressman concludes by reaching out to both sides of the aisle:

"It is time that Congress begins to serve as a genuine check and balance on the Administration. This is not a partisan issue, to me it's a constitutional issue, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to help us, before its too late."

John Conyers' complete statement for tomorrow's conference follows in its entirety...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Smartmatic paid up to $35M for Sequoia Voting Systems last year, depending on performance. This year they contracted with Cook County and Chicago, Illinois to sell them voting machines worth $50.2M. For that amount of money the state of Illinois could have bought the whole company. A court in Pennsylvania found that at least one county needed to go to the people and ask them, via referendum, how they want to vote. The Arizona legislature rejected a hand audit. Regular readers of DVN will recall that VoteTrustUSA has been sponsoring an Action Alert to ask voters to notify the EAC and demand that they take action with regards to the use of banned software on some voting systems. You all are responsible for 20,113 Emails and 2220 letters sent so far!...

THANK YOU...To those who have answered the call. You'd be stunned to learn how many read BRAD BLOG, yet how few contribute. It's never to late to help. Click here to contribute online.

To create a monthly subscription for any amount of your choosing, see the blue form on the right side of the page.

Otherwise, snail mail works as well: Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594, Los Angeles, CA 90028

Thanks again to those who've helped. I'll take this down soon!

Just breaking from AP:

Guess the incident --- which includes "birdshot lodged in his heart!" --- wasn't quite so minor as it has been downplayed as for the last three days. By the MSM and their sources from Cheney's group of apologists, anyway.

More if I can get anything additional on this from hospital sources or elsewhere...

MORE... Note the story says the heart attack occurred "early Tuesday". Apparently, it was not notable enough for McClellan to mention that in today's White House Press Briefing!

As well, note the section in the transcript where David Gregory asks about "Two timeline questions" in regard to the issue we discussed last night here. McClellan continues to dodge the sequence of events concerning how and when Bush and his people were notified by Cheney's people.

I'm not a big "cover-up" guy, but I see no reason to dispute that what we are now witnessing is indeed a cover-up in action. What they are covering-up, however, is still largely speculation, but I'd suggest this is exactly what one looks like from all the shifty, inexplicable ducking, dodging and dancing that these guys are displaying.

I am less concerned with why Cheney failed to notify the media or the nation in the 21 hours after the shooting, and more interested in why he seems to have failed to give full disclosure to the White House itself.

Thus, I continue to ask: What didn't the President know, and why didn't he know it?

It seems clear there was a fear that Whittington would die from the get-go, and Cheney's team was deciding whether to cover-up the matter if he did so. "Veep Kills Man" is not a great headline, no matter how one tries to spin it. Thus, it seems they "failed" to inform Bush about Cheney being the shooter in the early hours before they knew if Whittington would survive or not --- and we'll see if he actually does at this point, since his condition has changed from what they thought it was --- so Bush would have "plausible deniability" in the event they decided to literally white wash the entire affair.

Still open to less sinister intepretations. But I still fail to come up with any.

STILL MORE... In yesterday's press briefing (which still does not have the video posted along with it, as I pointed out last night!), the following question was asked, and subsequently dismissed by Scottie:

I don't general do "predictions," but I'll go on record here as predicting that question will be arising more and more in the coming days and weeks.

SUSANHU AT BOOMAN OFFERS MORE... from a Texas attorney, concerning what Cheney may be "looking at" if Whittington dies...

FROM JOSH MARSHALL... The gang that couldn't shoot straight manages the media for the guy who couldn't shoot straight...

THINK PROGRESS CONFIRMS THAT WHITE HOUSE KNEW... about the heart attack prior to McClellan's presser today. But that they said nothing. They've got the video from the Hospital's press conference confirming the Hospital informed the White House of the heart attack "between 9:30 and 10:00 am this morning." The WH Press Briefing didn't begin until 12noon.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

The GOP attacked Howard Dean's Sunday interview on CBS Face the Nation (video here). Dean responded to the attack on CNN's American Morning.

Dean also said that that Vice President Cheney "has to go" if he authorized Scooter Libby to leak the classified National Intelligence Estimate as court documents have indicated.

Video in Streaming Flash format...
Video in Windows Media format...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Video in Streaming Flash format...

I began asking questions about this when the story came to light on Sunday.

The nearly 24 hours between the time Cheney shot Harry Whittington and the time the story was finally disclosed to the media remains unexplained --- and raises many questions.

Now it seems that the information that Cheney was the shooter in the incident was even withheld from Bush at the White House, at least for a time. In other words, the White House was informed that there had been "a hunting accident", but not that Cheney was the shooter.

It's not unusual in this White House, or any these days, that Presidents are only told the things they need to know, and nothing more. Particularly when the information could be damaging and they hope to retain "plausible deniability" should they have to testify or be asked questions about it later.

It is certainly starting to look like such a case where "plausible deniability" was on the table in the early hours, before they knew for certain if Whittington would survive the incident, after being admitted in critical condition to the hospital.

When the shooting was finally disclosed, it was by the property's owner, Katharine Armstrong. Cheney's office never actually announced it to the media, but simply "confirmed" the inquiries that came after the initial story in the Corpus-Christi Caller-Times. But media reports have said that Armstrong spoke with Cheney before doing so. In other words, he gave her the okay to let the news out finally on Sunday morning/afternoon.

In the meantime, back at the White House, as discussed in today's contentious Press Briefing, White House spokesman Scott McLellan makes it clear that though Bush was informed of the shooting Saturday evening, it wasn't until late Saturday Night --- or early Sunday Morning --- that he finally learned that Cheney himself was the shooter...

The timeline here would seem to add some fuel to the question I had asked previously: If Whittington had died, would the incident --- or at least Cheney's involvement in it --- have been disclosed at all to the American people?

Or to twist another infamous question: What didn't the President know and why didn't he know it?

The fact that the officials were able to inform the White House of "a hunting accident" not long after the incident, but it wasn't until 3:00am or so, that they were notified that Cheney was the shooter, would seem to point fairly squarely to the idea that initially they were keeping the idea of "plausible deniability" for the White House on the table for some reason. Perhaps as needed in the event that Whittington didn't make it out alive and they had determined a cover-up of Cheney's involvement was needed to avoid embarrassment. Or criminal charges.

If there's a less sinister explanation for all of this, I'd be more than open to it. But Scottie certainly didn't present one in today's Press Briefing.

Speaking of which... So far, no video of that briefing on the White House website. There is usually a link to it on the same page as the transcript. I wish I had saved the WH site's front page earlier, since --- as I recall --- it had said something along the lines of "Today's Press Briefing has now concluded, we will have a transcript and video posted shortly."

Now it says only, "Today's Press Briefing with White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has concluded." with a link to the text only.

Can't imagine why they wouldn't want to post today's video.

Let's see how long it takes 'em to get it up there. (Crooks and Liars has it in the meantime.)

UPDATE: The White House tacked the following on to the bottom of their Press Briefing transcript. Not certain what time they did so:

I'll let you decide about their credibility here and if they've earned the benefit of the doubt. But even with such benefit, why was Card told about the accident, but not told that Cheney was the shooter when they first notified him? Only after Karl "The Architect" Rove interceded was a decision made, apparently, to let Bush know. We report, you decide.

FURTHER UPDATE: Ron Brynaert looks at some related-ish timeline questions from Cheney's side of things.

TUESDAY UPDATE: Whittington suffers heart attack! McClellan fails to inform press corp! Thread continues now here...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Jefferson Co., Kentucky election officials have told the local media that they will be 'testing' their new accessible voting machines in tomorrow's election. This is the same thing we are going to be seeing from jurisdictions all across the country this year. "Testing"! We, the voters, are going to be asked to test these new machines, which will fail more than they should, in real elections. Training for election workers is scarce. Training for the voter is non-existent. I hope I am wrong but I fear not....

In what could be one of the most interesting campaigns for the U.S. House in 2006, The BRAD BLOG can now reveal that computer programmer turned electronic vote-rigging software whistleblower Clint Curtis is officially planning a run for the U.S. Congressional seat in Florida's 24th District.

The 24th Congressional District seat is currently occupied by Rep. Tom Feeney, the very man who Curtis has alleged once asked him to create a vote-rigging software prototype program back when both men worked for the software firm Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) in Oviedo, Florida.

Curtis' startling allegations that then-State Senator Feeney had sought to have such a program built was first broken nationally by The BRAD BLOG in a story based on his sworn affidavit [PDF] which "rocked the vote from Tallahassee to Capitol Hill" when it was originally published in early December of 2004. Indeed, it was so popular that it took down our blog entirely for four straight days.

Since filing his original allegations, Curtis has given stunning sworn, video-taped testimony about the matter to members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in a public hearing, and later, successfully passed a polygraph test in regard to the charges.

Feeney, who was once Jeb Bush's running-mate during his first ill-fated run for Governor in 1994, was also the Speaker of the Florida Legislature who infamously promised to award Florida's electoral votes to George W. Bush during the 2000 Election Debacle --- no matter what the state Supreme Court would ultimately decide about the matter. He later went on to run for the U.S. Congress in 2002 in Florida's conservative 24th District, which is said to have been carved out expressly by Feeney for himself during his time in the statehouse.

Rep. Feeney now sits on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and continues to face charges of ethical transgressions concerning his conduct during his tenure as a U.S. Congressman where was recently reported to be Tom DeLay's #1 supporter. Said Feeney at a "Salute to Tom DeLay" last May, "Tom DeLay is the most effective leader the House has seen in 50 years."

Curtis, in preparing for a run his against Feeney, (who has been caught by The BRAD BLOG in more than a few "contradictions" over the time we've been covering this story,) has set up a campaign website to support his potential run at www.ClintCurtis.com where he is currently welcoming much-needed contributions and supporters.

In addition to the vote-rigging charges, Curtis also alleged that YEI employed an illegal Chinese alien involved in placing "wire-tapping" modules into software created by the company who had top-secret security contracts with NASA, the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT), amongst other clients. Feeney was both general counsel and registered lobbyist for YEI for years during that time, even while he was Speaker of Florida's Legislature, where he also faced ethics charges during his tenure.

One of the illegal aliens at YEI reported by Curtis to the Florida's Inspector General's office in 2001 as working at the company and said to have been placing the "wire-tapping" modules into software before it shipped, was arrested in 2004 after a four-year sting, and has pled guilty to charges related to espionage in attempting to illegally ship Hellfire anti-tank missile chips to China. Feeney himself just returned from yet another trip to Asia, this time touring China's space facility where he reportedly called for "more balanced relations" with the Communist nation.

Charges that Curtis had made concerning over-billing of YEI contracts with FDOT have also since been confirmed by the Florida Inspector General's office who finally completed their report on Curtis' case in early 2005.

Feeney, who claimed, as late as February of 2005 that he had ended his relationship with YEI once he reached the U.S. House in 2002, was revealed by The BRAD BLOG to have been the honoree at a private party/reception given by company owners --- and continuing large contributors to Feeney's campaign --- Dr. and Mrs. Yang in 2003. As well, Feeney's campaign headquarters for his 2004 campaign, during which he ran unopposed, was housed in YEI's main headquarters building in Oviedo. Feeney's campaign website still lists YEI's address --- 1420 Alafaya Trail --- as the place to contact his campaign.

Unlike Curtis, Feeney has not taken a polygraph test in relation to his denial of Curtis' charges.

Many of those denials have since been debunked by The BRAD BLOG.

As our coverage of the Clint Curtis story has been extensive over the last 14 months, we'll refer you to this Quick Summary of the main points in his extraordinary story, as well as this Index of Key Articles, for more details in the continuing saga. We promise there is more stunning revelations to be found there, including some startling details of the mysterious death of the original Florida Inspector General's investigator assigned to Curtis' case.

Beyond the Curtis-related allegations, Feeney has been described as one of the "13 Most Ethically Challenged Members of Congress" in light of his lobbyist and foreign-agent sponsored trips such as his Tom DeLay/Jack Abramoff golf junket to St. Andrews, Scotland (yes, he was right there along with them) and elsewhere. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo described Feeney just last month as a "bamboozler" for his attempts at playing both sides of the field concerning his vote on new rules which DeLay was pushing through the House Ethics Committee. When asked how he voted on the new rules, as attempted by DeLay, Feeney tried to avoid giving an answer to the media by saying there was no actual vote on the matter. Despite the fact that there was.

Feeney's history as a bamboozler seems to be becoming legendary.

Curtis, formerly a "life-long Republican," became a self-described "Conservative Democrat" after his various disturbing dealings with Feeney and friends. He will be making his first public announcement about his intentions to form an exploratory campaign at a local Democratic party gathering at the Cocoa Civic Center in Brevard County this Wednesday evening.

Before facing Feeney directly, however, Curtis will have to survive a primary race against Dr. Andy Michaud who has reportedly pledged to spend quite a bit of his own money in order to face one of the most effective fundraisers in Congress.

We also imagine Michaud will be seeing a sudden influx of financial support in the days ahead from the many supporters of Feeney who, we have a feeling, would rather not have to face Curtis in the General Election next November.

Therefore fundraising from across the nation, Curtis tells The BRAD BLOG as part of a "Campaign Q&A" with him which we will publish here tomorrow, will be key.

"As with most battles of good vs. evil, good can only win if it receives sufficient help," says Curtis. "If my campaign does not receive both unprecedented financial support as well as huge volunteer efforts, this could be a very difficult quest to fulfill."

Difficult indeed. Curtis who, unlike both Michaud and Feeney, has never participated in a political campaign before, will have his work cut out for him. But he's faced more daunting --- and terrifying --- fights in the past. His tireless years-long effort to hold accountable those who he sees as having committed wrong-doing against this country has not come at a small cost. But that struggle may serve him well in his "good vs. evil battle."

Curtis explains that he feels he has little choice at this point but to enter the battle, and in discussing it, he expresses a sentiment heard all too rarely from Democrats these days: "I am now convinced that fearing a loss is not a valid reason for never entering the fight."

And so the fight begins...

###

BRAD BLOG's exclusive Q&A with Candidate Curtis is now published here. Contributions to Curtis' exploratory campaign may be made via his website at this link.

We reported late last night on the identify of the third hunter in Dick Cheney's ill-fated hunting party. Apparently, word didn't get out to the DC press corps about it however, as they were asking McClellan for the name of that third hunger this morning at an incredible grilling he received on the matter (Must read transcript here, must watch video here courtesy of Crooks & Liars since the WH doesn't have it up for some reason.)

While McClellan was busy with his greatest tap-dance yet today, avoiding questions about how a Vice-President of the United States can shoot somebody and have it go wholly unreported for a full 24 hours, he didn't need to dance around about this one...because the White House Press Corp apparently doesn't read The BRAD BLOG. At least they didn't this morning.

I'll have to review the full transcript of the Press Briefing when it becomes available, but for my money, the top-question is: Had the victim, 78 year-old, Harry Whittington ended up dying, would we have ever heard about the shooting at all?

The way the White House has behaved so far, and apparently avoided properly informing local law-enforcement officials (one such report is here), suggests this all would have simply disappeared had Whittington actually been shot to death by Cheney.

Anyway, here's what we reported late last night at the end of our long Sunday "Live Blogging" on Deadeye Dick:

===

THE THIRD HUNTER IS REVEALED... by Ron Brynaert over at RAW STORY. It seems the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, Pamela Willeford, another Bush Family crony, was also along for the festivities. The revelation by the Cox News Service, has yet to be picked up by any publication. As reported by RAW...

No explanation yet, for the lack of coverage of the Willeford story, despite a couple of lede grafs which seem to us to be too good not to print!...

MORE UPDATES NOW HERE...

This could be fun.

Until it's good to go, if you're not familiar with the Clint Curtis story, see this Quick Summary or this Index of Key BRAD BLOG Articles on the matter from the last 14 months of reporting the amazing saga. It's well worth diving into if you're not familiar with it.

If you're already up to speed on Curtis, distract yourself until we break the new story with Sunday's "Live Blogging" of Deadeye Dick...

...Still rolling on this previous item... Many curious questions exist. See the link for more details.

We're told that tonight's 60 Minutes features a segment with Mike Wallace on "Wounds of War" featuring soldiers injured in Iraq. (60 Minutes' website now has coverage of the segment, with a video link, but it's not the complete segment apparently.)

The segment, third on tonight's broadcast, features an interview with Tomas Young, whose story we first highlighted during our special "Operation Noble Cause" radio broadcasts on The BRAD SHOW from on the ground at "Camp Casey" in Crawford, TX, last summer. Apparently footage of me interviewing Young is a quick part of the segment.

Army Specialist Young was paralyzed from the waist down --- on the same day and in the same city as Cindy Sheehan's son, Casey --- while riding in a canvas-covered truck through Sadr City during the uprising there.

Young is seen in the photo at right at Camp Casey with his new wife, Bree, requesting a meeting with Bush. They had come to Crawford on their honeymoon. Bush had refused a meeting with Sheehan at the time on the grounds that he'd already met with her. As far as we know, Bush has still never met with Young, who wanted to ask him why he was refusing to support Stem Cell research so that he might someday be able to walk again.

-- The initial BRAD BLOG item on Young from Aug. 29, 2005 is right here.
-- My radio interview from Camp Casey on that same day with Young is right here [MP3].

UPDATE: Have now seen the segment, and it was interesting. We'll try to get it up here. One thing I didn't know until tonight was that Tomas' brother is still serving in Iraq. So for those who suggest that what Young is doing --- in speaking out against the war --- is harming our troops...well...he made clear on 60 Minutes that's the last thing he'd want to do with a brother still serving there!

FURTHER UPDATE: Here's the segment! Courtesy of the invaluable David Edwards!

Video in Streaming Flash format...

(Hat-tip Jesse of Stakeholder for the heads-up!)