Guest Blogged by John Gideon, of VotersUnite and VoteTrustUSA

The "DVN Top 5" is a feature in the weekly voting newsletter of VoteTrustUSA. The January 23 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!...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Chris Wallace interviewed Howard Dean on Fox News Sunday earlier today.

Dean sticks to his guns on illegal wiretaps and calls for the President to release all Abramoff records from the White House.

Chris Wallace, once again, asserted that Democrats are largely tainted with Abramoff money. Of course, Wallace ignores this non-partisan study that the great majority of contributions from Abramoff clients largely went to Republicans

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

There is not much news on the web today. The big news may be the filing of legislation in Maryland to require a voter verified paper record. This after the news that the State Election Director is beginning to question Diebold regarding their software security problems. Note: 'Daily Voting News' will be on hiatus Sunday and Monday. We will be back on Tuesday evening....

The Young Turks, a daily radio program which broadcasts nationally from out here in Los Angeles, has been on the air "filibustering" since last Thursday evening. They have vowed to do so until they get 41 votes needed to keep a filibuster going in Congress over Sam Alito. They are now webcasting a video stream of the show.

I learned about it this morning (via host Cenk Uyger's Huff Po item), and gave them a call to see if they could use a break. It turns out they could. So I'm gonna head over there in a few hours and sit in as Guest Host for them for a number of hours.

Looks I'll be sitting in over there beginning at 5pm PT (8pm ET) and will go through at least 8pm PT (11pm PT).

Currently, Thom Hartmann has just come on to guest, he'll be followed by Peter B. Collins, and I'll follow at 5pm PT.

You can follow all the action at their website at TheYoungTurks.com and click on the video monitor graphic to WATCH their video stream. (NOTE: The link on the site to their audio stream is, apparently, not the live stream, but rather the video stream is).

More later...Hope all of you BRAD SHOW fans who have been missing it lately, will help spread the word!

UPDATE: Thanks for all the support guys. Had much fun! I'll be back on sitting in for the turks tomorrow on the late-shift! Sunday 9p-12a PT (Midnight to 3am on the East Coast!) Keep making noise! Details now here.

...And...Thanks to my guests for jumping in at the last minutes today! Pam Leavey of The Democratic Daily (audio from of our interview now posted here), Pokey Anderson of KPFT in Houston, the legendary Freeway Blogger (MP3 audio from our interview tonight is already up on his cyber-based blog!), Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake, and author of Fooled Again, Mark Crispin Miller!

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

Does AccuPoll have problems? They had a sure contract with Lebanon Co., PA but notified the county that they could not supply the machines required in the contract which forced the county to turn to their second choice in ES&S iVotronic. Are some of these companies over extended and might they all get to a point where none of them can supply all of the voting machines they are contracting for?...

Oddly enough, John Kerry offers inspiration at the moment (whoddathunkit?):

The Democratic Daily has more, including audio of Kerry's full speech.

The best complete coverage of action resources for the moment comes from Bob Fertik, who's all over it. See his pages here and here for all the numbers and details of who to call and fax, etc. and who to not bother with.

And remember, the burden is on Alito's supporters to get 60 votes to end debate (a Yes vote on Cloture), as opposed to the Dems to come up with 41 to sustain it (filibuster). A Dem who doesn't necessarily support filibuster, but is interested in keeping their job come November, can simply abstain from the vote on Cloture and no harm will be done. Those in favor of an unchecked and unrestrained Executive Rule for George W. Bush must come up with 60 votes...no matter how you hear the GOP and the Mainstream Media frame it otherwise.

Also remember, last week at this time, there was "no chance of a filibuster". So who ya gonna believe? Get busy if you give a damn. You get to decide what will happen to your country! Not the AP, not Wolf Blitzer and certainly not the Democrats who would miscalculate that "playing it safe" now will get them anything in either '06 or '08. For once, John Kerry is right.

UPDATE: One more thought...if there was ever a time that this country could use a "consensus nominee" for the Supreme Court it is now. We hope that Dems and Reps will keep that in mind while they play politics pointing to the Reps support of Ginsberg during Clinton's presidency, but fail to mention that Clinton conferred with Republicans prior to the nomination and received Orin Hatch's approval for her. Hopefully the Dems will find the stones to demand such a nominee from Mr. Uniter-notta-Divider --- at least until Bush himself is run out of town for good.

From the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll out yesterday...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

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

In an expected move today GA Gov. Perdue signed the repressive Voter ID bill completely ignoring real election fraud in favor of minor, and mostly unproven voter fraud. In AZ the ACLU has joined the fray asking for a voter verified paper trail and also asking the SoS for an investigation in the District 20 election mess. And from PA we hear that a Republican Congressman has announced he is filing a bill that will delay some parts of HAVA in order to assist states....

VelvetRevolution.us (an organization co-founded by The BRAD BLOG) has got a huge billboard truck that will begin driving around D.C. beginning next Tuesday.

This will be on one side...

This will be on the other side...

Feel free to leave your thoughts here in comments about any future signs you'd like to see VR make noise with around Capitol Hill.

While VR has the truck, the cost of getting the billboards made is not cheap. Thanks to the good folks at AfterDowningStreet.org/CensureBush.org for supporting the effort and helping VR raise the funds for the costs of the signage.

Your help is needed as well. Please contribute to the effort here. The Velvet Revolution thanks you...

UPDATE: JPentz of ReallyNews.com has made a printable WORD version of the first graphic available if you wish to make your own noise, in your own hometown!

Pam at The Democratic Daily has links to Kennedy's official statement confirming he supports a filibuster:

Previously, CNN reported John Kerry's support of same. Kerry had earlier posted a call for support asking that Americans support his effort to filibuster...

He then asks for folks to sign this letter in support.

AP has more on the GOP pushing back.

UPDATE: Kerry's office makes it official:

FURTHER UPDATE: Pam now has a Guest Blog from Kerry on the matter...

Robert Byrd falls for the old "Handwritten letter from a 'Democrat'" Ploy and announces he'll support Alito. Yes, Senator, we get many of those same "I'm a Democrat, but I can't abide what my party is doing" notes as well. Constantly. One of the most tired tricks in the Troll Playbook. Sorry to see you fall for it.

In the meantime, Pam from The Democratic Daily, is hearing from her inside sources that Kerry will lead a filibuster. We can't confirm anything of the sort, nor can we deny, but Pam seems to feel strongly about it, so we pass on this link to her report with that caveat. Don't know if Byrd's announcement, which we believe was released after her post, will have any effect on that or not.

UPDATE: Pam updates her item to include a link to CNN's report, posted just minutes ago, that Kerry "will attempt a filibuster".

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Prior to the Feb. 6th Senate Judiciary hearing on the NSA's Domestic Spying program, the Bush Administration is rushing to frame the debate. Most of the talk has amounted to little more than political spin.

Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Gen. Michael Hayden lead the PR blitz by taking questions from reporters at The National Press Club on Monday. The General confirmed to NSA expert James Bamford and Jonathan Landay with Knight Ridder that a feature of the NSA program was the lowering of the legal standard from 'probable cause' to 'reasonably believe' (a.k.a. 'reasonable suspicion') --- which would avoid the FISA Law requirements.

Besides showing that he had a limited understanding of the Fourth Amendment, Hayden's assertion of the Constitutionality of lowering the 'probable cause' standard has troubled many. This Kos diary calls the admission "explosive and damning" and goes on to say:

The following video is a compilation of clips from General Hayden's press conference and comments from James Bamford focusing on the 'probable cause' issue.

Democracy Now has a complete transcript of the exchange.

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CORRECTION: A previous update identified Hayden as NSA Deputy Director, instead of Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence. The BRAD BLOG regrets the error.

Whoops...Yesterday (Wednesday, January 24th) was The BRAD BLOG's 2nd Anniversary! And I was too busy to notice.

Oh, well. What a long, strange --- very strange --- trip it's been.

From our very first blog item...to...wherever the hell the world has turned now.

I'd wax more poetically, except that two years in and up since lord knows when this morning and I couldn't be more exhausted. Or could I? Ask me next year around this time if we're still at it.

In the meantime, feel free to leave a Happy Anniversary Gift in the Tip Jar, if you're so inclined. We could still, even after two years, use it! Otherwise, Open Thread here to your heart's content to celebrate! While I sleep.

Thank you all for helping to make this journey possible and so incredibly satisfying day after day, and now year after year. Peace. Soon.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

They're baaaack...

ABC News has obtained a video tape of "open air" jihad recruiting in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The tape claims that all government functions have been taken over by the Taliban. ABC News confirms that foreign aid workers have been forced evacuate the area.

In another part of the video, a top al-Qaeda leader gives a PowerPoint presentation explaining the details one of their attacks.

Quickly after 9/11, the U.S. began its' War on Terror in this part of the world. They told us that the area presented the greatest danger to America at that time. The message to Americans was that al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and the Taliban should be destroyed immediately for the sake of our National Security.

Why are Bin Laden and other key al-Qaeda leaders allowed to roam these tribal regions with impunity? Why has The Taliban been allowed to return and actively recruit for the jihad against America? Why is the a-Qaeda network growing in strength while the Bush Administration declares that they "are on the run"?

More from ABC News...

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