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Latest Featured Reports | Monday, December 23, 2024
Sunday 'Happyish Holidays' Toons
THIS WEEK: Lots of Santa ... Lots of Naughty ... (And a Little of Bit Nice) ... Hark! The tooning angels sing! Glory to this year's collection of the best Hanuchristmaka toons!...
Trump Gets Trumped in Our Musky Year-End Roundtable: 'BradCast' 12/19/24
Guests: Heather Digby Parton of Salon, 'Driftglass' of 'Pro Left Podcast'...
'Green News Report' 12/17/24
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Biden EPA grants CA waiver to phase out all-gasoline cars; Microplastics linked to cancer; PLUS: GOP plan to expand natural gas exports would drive up prices for Americans...
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About Some of Trump's 'Day One' Threats: 'BradCast' 12/18/24
Guest: Joshua A. Douglas on voting laws, Presidential powers; Also: House panel to release Gaetz report; Trump plans for reversing Biden climate, energy initiatives...
Trump Family Corruption Cometh...So Does Our Opposition: 'BradCast' 12/17/24
Immunity denied to felon Trump in NY; The Family's crypto-corruption on display in UAE; On overcoming 'militant pessimism'...
'Green News Report' 12/17/24
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Mistallied Contests Found in OH County, as Oligarchy Rises in D.C.: 'BradCast' 12/16
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THIS WEEK: Kashing In ... Billionaire Broligarchy ... Slow Learners ... Exiting Autocrats ... and more! In our latest collection of the week's best toons...
Trump Admits He Can't Lower Grocery Prices (Biden Just Did): 'BradCast' 12/12/24
Also: 1,500 commutations; I.G. on FBI & 1/6; NC GOP power grab; Dick Van Dyke sends us home smiling...
'Green News Report' 12/12/24
Firefighters struggle to contain Malibu wildfire; Planet getting drier, new study finds; PLUS: Arctic has shifted to a source of climate pollution, NOAA reports...
BARCODED BALLOTS AND BALLOT MARKING DEVICES
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GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal 2012...
VA GOP VOTER REG FRAUDSTER OFF HOOK
Felony charges dropped against VA Republican caught trashing voter registrations before last year's election. Did GOP AG, Prosecutor conflicts of interest play role?...

Criminal GOP Voter Registration Fraud Probe Expanding in VA
State investigators widening criminal probe of man arrested destroying registration forms, said now looking at violations of law by Nathan Sproul's RNC-hired firm...

DOJ PROBE SOUGHT AFTER VA ARREST
Arrest of RNC/Sproul man caught destroying registration forms brings official calls for wider criminal probe from compromised VA AG Cuccinelli and U.S. AG Holder...

Arrest in VA: GOP Voter Reg Scandal Widens
'RNC official' charged on 13 counts, for allegely trashing voter registration forms in a dumpster, worked for Romney consultant, 'fired' GOP operative Nathan Sproul...

ALL TOGETHER: ROVE, SPROUL, KOCHS, RNC
His Super-PAC, his voter registration (fraud) firm & their 'Americans for Prosperity' are all based out of same top RNC legal office in Virginia...

LATimes: RNC's 'Fired' Sproul Working for Repubs in 'as Many as 30 States'
So much for the RNC's 'zero tolerance' policy, as discredited Republican registration fraud operative still hiring for dozens of GOP 'Get Out The Vote' campaigns...

'Fired' Sproul Group 'Cloned', Still Working for Republicans in At Least 10 States
The other companies of Romney's GOP operative Nathan Sproul, at center of Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, still at it; Congressional Dems seek answers...

FINALLY: FOX ON GOP REG FRAUD SCANDAL
The belated and begrudging coverage by Fox' Eric Shawn includes two different video reports featuring an interview with The BRAD BLOG's Brad Friedman...

COLORADO FOLLOWS FLORIDA WITH GOP CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Repub Sec. of State Gessler ignores expanding GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, rants about evidence-free 'Dem Voter Fraud' at Tea Party event...

CRIMINAL PROBE LAUNCHED INTO GOP VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD SCANDAL IN FL
FL Dept. of Law Enforcement confirms 'enough evidence to warrant full-blown investigation'; Election officials told fraudulent forms 'may become evidence in court'...

Brad Breaks PA Photo ID & GOP Registration Fraud Scandal News on Hartmann TV
Another visit on Thom Hartmann's Big Picture with new news on several developing Election Integrity stories...

CAUGHT ON TAPE: COORDINATED NATIONWIDE GOP VOTER REG SCAM
The GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal reveals insidious nationwide registration scheme to keep Obama supporters from even registering to vote...

CRIMINAL ELECTION FRAUD COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST GOP 'FRAUD' FIRM
Scandal spreads to 11 FL counties, other states; RNC, Romney try to contain damage, split from GOP operative...

RICK SCOTT GETS ROLLED IN GOP REGISTRATION FRAUD SCANDAL
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) sends blistering letter to Gov. Rick Scott (R) demanding bi-partisan reg fraud probe in FL; Slams 'shocking and hypocritical' silence, lack of action...

VIDEO: Brad Breaks GOP Reg Fraud Scandal on Hartmann TV
Breaking coverage as the RNC fires their Romney-tied voter registration firm, Strategic Allied Consulting...

RNC FIRES NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION FIRM FOR FRAUD
After FL & NC GOP fire Romney-tied group, RNC does same; Dead people found reg'd as new voters; RNC paid firm over $3m over 2 months in 5 battleground states...

EXCLUSIVE: Intvw w/ FL Official Who First Discovered GOP Reg Fraud
After fraudulent registration forms from Romney-tied GOP firm found in Palm Beach, Election Supe says state's 'fraud'-obsessed top election official failed to return call...

GOP REGISTRATION FRAUD FOUND IN FL
State GOP fires Romney-tied registration firm after fraudulent forms found in Palm Beach; Firm hired 'at request of RNC' in FL, NC, VA, NV & CO...
The Secret Koch Brothers Tapes...

Diebold Gets Desperate, Sends a Pro to Work the Corner of BRAD Street and Democracy Blvd.
By Brad Friedman on 3/6/2006 2:34am PT  

With the constant buzz of helicopters and blimps overhead since dawn this morning (No, not "Black Helicopters"...I'm about two blocks from the Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards were tonight) and two old schoolmates of mine nominated (Hoffman and Huffman - nice going guys!), granted I may have a touch of the Oscar Fever.

But the winner of the best song tonight, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp", couldn't help but remind me, to remind you --- in case you missed it --- of our new Special Guest Diebold Comment Troll/Pimp calling himself "Wally O'Diebold".

While he may be too cowardly to give his real name publicly --- even while sliming folks like myself, Bev Harris, Jim March, Avi Rubin, Sen. Debra Bowen and others who are not afraid to put our real names on our work and behind our beliefs --- he's a Diebold insider with a lot of knowledge of the systems, and (WARNING) a lot of mis/disinformation he's suddenly very eager to spread.

He also seems to be, as he referred to Rubin, "a self-serving tool". And I don't mean that in the pejorative sense in which he meant it.

Interestingly, while the Diebold "company line" has always reportedly been to dismiss Election Integrity Advocates like myself, and March and Harris et al as "conspiracy theorists," it's the faceless "Wally O'Diebold" who now cowers in the shadows of anonymity because BRAD BLOG readers, according to "Wally" in comment #56, "would not hesitate to stalk me to my home and possibly try to kill me."

Watch out for them Black Helicopters, "Wally"! Unless you're also near the Kodak Theater, eh?

But forthrightness, honesty and openness has never been much of a hallmark for the Diebold corporation. At least during their Voting Machine Years of Shame. Their latest spokesperson/mac daddy/anonymous slimer is no exception. Secrecy, disinformation and cowardly scurrilous attacks on those who have nothing to gain but the free and fair democracy their country once promised...ah, yes, that's Diebold all over. They never rest.

The desperation displayed by "Mr. O'Diebold" is entertaining sure, but not particularly becoming...especially when it's accompanied by ad hominem attacks and knowing disinformation --- lots of it, very cleverly drawn, I might add --- all launched from behind the veil of secrecy. But that's his company's business model after all, so who are we to quibble now that he's willing to offer us a reminder.

If they would only call me back when I call them for comment, they'd be able to actually put such comments on the record under their own names for a bit of credibility. But I guess it's easier to talk to journalists who don't ask follow-up questions, and who are easily fooled by the company spin. Which is to say, most of the non-BRAD BLOG media out there.

So if you're in the mood and have the stomach for it (and before I lose my patience, and remove this guy's feeding tube all together) pull up a chair, grab some popcorn and enjoy the BRAD BLOG nominee for Best Original Comment Thread Hijacked by a Diebold Pimp Based on Stuff That Sounds Like Fact, But Actually Isn't.

And the Oscar goes to...

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By John Gideon on 3/5/2006 5:25pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon, of VotersUnite and VoteTrustUSA

The "DVN Top 5" is a feature in the weekly voting newsletter of VoteTrustUSA. The February 28 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 The BRAD BLOG!...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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By Brad Friedman on 3/5/2006 1:06pm PT  

(P.S. - Don't tell anyone this was in today's Sunday comics page.)

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By David Edwards on 3/5/2006 6:21am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

Ex-CIA Officer Paul Pillar was in charge of providing intelligence about Iraq to the White House prior to the beginning of the war.

In a recently released paper, Pillar wrote,

... intelligence was misused to justify decisions already made...

In short, the Bush team misrepresented, misused, mislead and completely lied to the American people about the reasons for going to war in Iraq. Pillar provides more evidence of what most of us already know...


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Offers New 'Recommendations and Guidelines' for Election Directors in Light of Recent Diebold Voting Machine Hack
Friday 4pm Memorandum Release Fails to Mention Diebold or Recent Leon County, FL Election Hack
By Brad Friedman on 3/3/2006 6:51pm PT  

Picking up in the tradition of California's Sec. of State Bruce McPherson, who seems to have a fondness for Friday night releases of important information which he hopes nobody will notice, Florida's Division of Elections Director, Dawn K. Roberts, issued a "Technical Advisory" memorandum calling for "enhancements to voting system security procedures that each supervisor of elections must address immediately." The memo was issued late this evening at the end of the work week.

Roberts' memo (posted in full below) would be the first official acknowledgment, to our awareness, by the state of Florida of the security concerns raised by the recent Leon County, FL "hack test" conducted by Election Supervisor Ion Sancho. That now-infamous test --- in which computer security professional Harri Hursti had managed to access and change information on the Diebold optical-scan voting machine memory cards --- resulted in the results of the test election being completely flipped, without a trace being left behind.

In her "Technical Advisory", Roberts fails to mention that "hack test" or the equipment it occurred on --- or even Diebold themselves --- by name. Rather, the alert alludes to McPherson's recent --- and stunning --- "conditional re-certification" of Diebold voting equipment in the state, in light of confirmation of the newly discovered "interpreted code" used by the machines. That type of software source code is specifically banned by the federal Help America Vote Act guidelines. During his re-certification of Diebold --- after the company's equipment had previously been de-certified in the state for use of illegal software patches, and subsequently found to have failed atleast 20% of the time in a massive test held last summer --- McPherson mandated specific security procedures to be used with Diebold equipment in the state of California.

"This technical advisory therefore applies to all voting systems deployed in Florida," writes Roberts in the memo issued this evening...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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'Gag Ordered' Former Translator Seeks to Tell Congress and the American People What She Knows
Online Petition Launched Calling on Congress to Hold Joint Public Hearings by the Senate and House Judiciary Committees to Finally Allow the Truth of Her Allegations to be Told...
By Brad Friedman on 3/3/2006 11:04am PT  

She's fought her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It was the very same day that the facade cracked on the front of the building and a chunk of marble --- just above an allegorical statue representing "Order" and just below the words "Equal Justice" --- came crashing to the ground. The highest court in the land refused to hear her case.

Along the way, the Dept. of Justice has done everything in their power (and then some) to keep her quiet. They invoked the rarely used "State Secrets Privilege" to shut her up --- going so far as to use it, without explanation, to remove her and her own attorneys from the courtroom when arguing their case against her.

In at least two unclassified Senate briefings, FBI officials confirmed the validity of her reports, but the information from those briefings was then retroactively classified by the DoJ --- which served to gag the Congress from further investigation on the matter. The DoJ even retroactively classified a 60 Minutes profile on her --- after it had already aired!

All of that, even after the DoJ's own Inspector General's report found Sibel Edmonds' allegations to be "credible" and "serious" and "warrant[ing] a thorough and careful review by the FBI." The unclassified version of that report was only released by the DoJ after prodding from Congressional members and the 9/11 Commission.

Ranking Senate Judiciary Committee Members Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Pat Leahy (D-VT) both publicly support her case and would like to allow the Congress and the American public to hear more.

Want to know what it is that she knows? What it is that she feels we the people ought to know about? And what it is that has led her to form the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition to support other patriots like herself who are trying to expose crimes and corruption from within our own government? We do. And we hope you do too.

Therefore, The BRAD BLOG is pleased to support a new petition calling on Congress to hold a joint Senate and House Judiciary Committee investigation, with open hearings into all of these matters.

Government of the people, by the people, and for the people. You all remember that, right? Let's make this happen. Please sign her petition right now.

And please spread the word to other blogs and bloggers (and perhaps even the MSM may want to get in on the act --- it is their country too, after all), and ask them to do the same. This one's important.

We've reported over the last few months about various aspects of Edmonds' case. However, for those unfamiliar with the larger pictures of Edmonds' allegations and what she would like to testify about before the Congress and the American people --- all based on what she heard and saw first-hand while working as an FBI translator just after 9/11 --- please see the following bullet point summary of just a few of her explosive whistleblowing allegations...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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By David Edwards on 3/3/2006 10:18am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

Known for her role in the 2000 Presidential debacle, Katherine Harris has been linked to illegal campaign contributions funneled from a defense contractor who has also been convicted for bribing former Representative Cunningham.

As a member of the House of Representatives, Harris tried to secure a $10-million Federal deal for the convicted defense contractor. At about the same time, one of Harris' aides, Mona Yost, was hired by the same contractor.

Katherine Harris denies knowledge of the illegal campaign contributions. Randy "Duke" Cunningham is being sentenced today for accepting bribes in exchange for securing Federal contracts and other favors.


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Libby Knew of Novak's Article Before It Was Published
By David Edwards on 3/3/2006 7:47am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

Recent court filings by Patrick Fitzgerald indicate that Bob Woodward may have audio tapes that of who leaked information about CIA operative Valerie Plame to him. Woodward's source may also be Novak's second source. Novak's first source is already known to be Karl Rove.

Novak's second source has always been a matter of great speculation. Up to this time, Novak described his second source as "no partisan gunslinger". Jeralyn at TalkLeft guesses that Novak's second source may be Stephen Hadley or Richard Armitage.


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He's Bad...He's Nationwide...
(And so is the Republican Congress)
By Brad Friedman on 3/2/2006 11:02pm PT  

Yesterday, Brit Hume and the "Fox All-Stars" were in denial about Bush's dreadful poll numbers from the CBS survey. Now that Fox is out with their own poll, what excuse will poor Brit have to dream up now? (Aside from not even posting a link to their own brand-new poll on the front of their own website?)

By the way, one good point that Chris Matthews made yesterday (yeah, it can happen) is that he likes to check the internals of such polls to see how the Independents are polling. Thus, avoiding the over-weighting of Dems vs Reps or vice versa in any particular poll (as the Bush dead-enders had been complaining about the CBS survey which was weighted heavier with Dems).

Well, a very quick look at the internals of the following three polls, revealed that Independents are now even less enamored with Bush than are Dems! Go figure...

Because of a grave lack of time, we post Think Progress' coverage of the three polls in its entirety here:

Following up on a dismal CBS News survey earlier this week, two new polls by Fox News and CNN/USA Today/Gallup bring more bad news for President Bush. From the Fox News poll:

- 39 percent of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing, only the second time Bush has fallen below 40 percent in Fox polling

- 81 percent believe Iraq is likely to end up in a civil war.

- 69 percent oppose allowing Dubai Ports World to manage U.S. ports.

From CNN/USA Today/Gallup:

- 38 percent approve of the job Bush is doing, a rating "mired near its record low" of 37 percent.

- 47 percent approve how he is handling terrorism, "down 7 points since early February and a record low."

- 64 percent disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq, a record high.

- 52 percent do not find Bush "honest and trustworthy," tying November's worst-ever mark.

UPDATE: Quinnipac:

Only 36 percent of voters approve of the job President Bush is doing, while 58 percent disapprove, his worst approval rating in a Quinnipiac University national poll and down 9 points from his 45 - 48 percent approval rating one year ago.

A few additional numbers of note (we suggest you click through each poll to get still more)...

From Quinnipiac's poll: Even the reddest of "red states" believe a warrant should be obtained before wiretapping, by a 51 to 46 margin. Overall, the numbers are 55 to 42 percent that the government should get court orders for this type of surveillance. And here the media has been repeating the BushCo line that the NSA eavesdropping is "a winning issue for the President". What a shock. They're both wrong again.

As to who should take Congress this November...

Quinnipiac: "By a 49 - 37 percent margin, voters want the Democrats to win control of Congress in this year's House and Senate elections."

CNN/USA Today/Gallup: "By 53% to 39%, registered voters say they lean toward supporting an unnamed Democratic candidate over an unnamed Republican in their district."

FOX: "by a 14-percentage point margin voters think it would be better for the country if Democrats win control of Congress in this year's election"

Oh, poor Brit...What will he do now?

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Help Political Blogs Like BRAD BLOG Keep Blogging!
By Brad Friedman on 3/2/2006 5:14pm PT  

I'm working on a number of important articles, of late, so have been a bit quieter here than usual. (Thanks to David E. and John G. for ably picking up the slack during my distraction!) Stay tuned for noise soon, of course.

In the meantime, please take a moment to fill out this BlogAds survey if you could. Should only take a few minutes, and it'll better help blogs like this one raise money and stay in business through the help of the folks at BlogAds.com.

The more of you who fill it out, the better! It takes just a few minutes.

Please enter "BradBlog.com" in the "Referring Blog" question on the last page so we can get some idea who the BRAD BLOG readers are...so I can spy on you for a change! ;-)

UPDATE: The poll is now completed. Thanks to those who were able to fill it out before it came down!

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Lied About Aluminum Tubes, Lied About Threat of Saddam...
By Brad Friedman on 3/2/2006 12:10pm PT  

Yeah, we realize that new evidence showing Bush is a liar is not really a "News Flash" to anyone who hasn't been living in a cave (or listening to Rush, Sean and O'Reilly) for the past five years.

But this just in from Murray Waas of National Journal (who deserves a Pulitzer, in our opinion, for his tremendous investigative reporting in recent months!)...

[T]he one-page summary, several senior government officials said in interviews, was written specifically for Bush, was handed to the president by then-CIA Director George Tenet, and was read in Tenet's presence.
...
Bush personally read the one-page summary in Tenet's presence during the morning intelligence briefing, and the two spoke about it at some length.
...
Cheney received virtually the same intelligence information, according to the same records and interviews. The president's summaries have been shared with the vice president as a matter of course during the Bush presidency.

And what did that one-page summary, which even George W. Bush could read, say? That the "aluminum tubes" he and Cheney (and Rice and others) touted as proof of Saddam's nuclear program were not actually to be used in a nuclear program. Oh, and also that Saddam would use WMD, and/or share them with terrorists, only if attacked first by the United States.

In other words, add this to the file of things they knew and later claimed to not know. Like terrorists interested in flying planes into buildings, and the possibility that the levees might be breached in New Orleans.

Read Waas' excellent and brilliantly documented report. In our opinion, it's the most damning and direct evidence to date that Bush out-and-out lied this country into war.

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Police Break Up Incident, Fire Indiscriminently and Beat the Film Crew as Taliban Escape
All as Bush Rolls Into Town Touting 'Success' of Afghanistan Campaign
By David Edwards on 3/2/2006 8:16am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


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This is truly amazing reporting from a very dangerous situation. A film crew from UK's Channel Four was threatened with execution while filming the Taliban burning a school accused of teaching Western ideology.

It seems that the camera man is on his knees as members of the Taliban threaten the lives of the film crew. Before the matter is resolved, machine gun fire is heard and the Taliban men scramble for cover. Pakistani special police are seen running into the frame shooting wildly into the air.

As the Taliban disappear, the Pakistani police begin beating the film crew. The producer falls to the ground and he is repeatedly hit with an assault riffle. The police are clearly not trained well. Apparently, all of the Taliban were able to escape this encounter.

President Bush visited Afghanistan earlier this week and trumpeted success of the war. Facts on the ground call Mr. Bush's claims into question.

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The AG Attempts to Cover His Ass After Previous Lies Congressional Testimony
(Good thing they didn't swear him in, huh?!)
By Brad Friedman on 3/1/2006 10:25pm PT  

Is there anything these guys won't lie about? Good thing they didn't swear him in.

From today's WaPo...

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales appeared to suggest yesterday that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance operations may extend beyond the outlines that the president acknowledged in mid-December.

In a letter yesterday to senators in which he asked to clarify his Feb. 6 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales also seemed to imply that the administration's original legal justification for the program was not as clear-cut as he indicated three weeks ago.
...
At least one constitutional scholar who testified before the committee yesterday said in an interview that Gonzales appeared to be hinting that the operation disclosed by the New York Times in mid-December is not the full extent of eavesdropping on U.S. residents conducted without court warrants.

"It seems to me he is conceding that there are other NSA surveillance programs ongoing that the president hasn't told anyone about," said Bruce Fein, a government lawyer in the Nixon, Carter and Reagan administrations.

Of course there are other programs they're not talking about. David Edwards has blogged about it repeatedly here on The BRAD BLOG. We reported (each time with video) on NSA whistleblower Russel Tice trying to sound the alarm that the warrantless surveillance programs were much bigger than the White House was admitting. One report is here from mid-January, then again here from mid-Februrary, and finally yet again last Monday.

Just one more wave yet to fully breach the Bush Administration's crumbling levee, we suppose.

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PLUS: Freeway Blogging in YOUR Hometown!
By Brad Friedman on 3/1/2006 9:28pm PT  

Our good friend, the mysterious and legendary Freeway Blogger posted the above yesterday, one prophetic day before Bush's latest nonsense about "hunting down bin Laden." Bush was just kidding, of course. FB wasn't.

On that note, FB is now organizing nationwide. Won't you join him?

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Governor's Open Letter: 'One person, one vote is in jeopardy if we do not act boldly and immediately'
But How Long Will the Bill Take To Come Into Effect?
By John Gideon on 3/1/2006 6:40pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon

"American citizens once took for granted that every vote mattered, but no longer. It is time that we, the elected state officials, work to restore American's confidence in our electoral systems and undertake reform that moves to eliminate skepticism and uncertainty." --- NM Governor Bill Richardson's 3/1/06 Letter "To the State Officials of the 50 United States of America" (Posted in full below)

Today Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico made a powerful statement to officials in all states (see full letter below) as he announced that tomorrow he would be signing legislation that would require the state of New Mexico to go to a paper ballot based voting system. No longer will the state use Sequoia DRE (touch-screen) voting machines...the machines that reported large numbers of undervotes in previous elections...The same machines that disenfranchised minority voters...The technology Richardson describes as "simply fail[ing] to pass the test of reliability" in his open letter published today.

The Governor has also announced that the bill's signing ceremony will be webcast. The announcement says:

We hope you will join the Governor, concerned citizens and legislators as the Governor's signature moves New Mexico forward by ensuring that our democracy continues to flourish. The live webcast will begin Thursday at 11:00am MST (1:00pm Eastern) and can be viewed at:

www.billrichardson2006.com/reform/paperballots

Please watch the webcast, take a moment to look at the Governor's proposals, and sign the petition to get your state, and the rest of America, to make every vote count

This all sounds wonderful, except???opponents of the legislation managed to get the legislation amended so that voting systems "owned or used" as of 1 May 2006 that do not use paper ballots can continue to be used until, among other things, debt on purchases of those machines are paid by the state. Then, the bill that appropriated funds to pay off the debt died in committee. Now the state needs to find the money to pay off the debt.

UPDATE 3/3/06: Signing ceremony video and petition calling on all states to join NM now here.

The complete letter from Gov. Richardson of New Mexico follows...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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