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Corporations 'Taking a Bazooka' to NLRB, Hoping to Declare it 'Unconstitutional': 'BradCast' 3/18/24
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Guest: Brady Center's Kelly Sampson; Also: Biden, Trump clinch; GA judge nixes 6 counts...
How to Media Better and Other Smart Ideas:
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Press quietly resets weeks of misreporting on Biden; Suggestions for NYT; Stephanopoulos v. Mace; Also: Buck quits; RNC 'bloodbath'; WI's MAGA Speaker Recall...
'Green News Report' 3/12/24
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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...

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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
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The belated and begrudging coverage by Fox' Eric Shawn includes two different video reports featuring an interview with The BRAD BLOG's Brad Friedman...

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The Secret Koch Brothers Tapes...

Climbing Every Mountain.
By Brad Friedman on 5/16/2005 12:25pm PT  

It's our first full day back in the homeland trenches today after being on the road for the last month and a half. It's good to be back, especially as there have been so many things we've wanted to be able to work on over the past several weeks which have been nearly impossible to accomplish from the road. We look forward to getting back to the hardcore investigative grind very soon!

Along with the month and a half on the road doing various speaking engagements, important meetings and accomplishing other super-secret missions (fruits of which will appear later), someone decided to drop an opportunity to do a weekly radio show on us during that same period. All of which make a difficult job (keeping up with BRAD BLOG and Velvet Revolution duties on the fly) all the much more difficult.

So it's been both a fruitful period, and an extremely difficult --- and frequently frustrating --- one all at the same time.

It'll likely take some time to get caught up and fully back to speed here. (Even the month and a half worth of accumulated snail mail is a carbon-based mountain that needs climbing! Including a number of snail-mail donations --- thanks! --- which have yet to be processed!)

There are a number of items that we haven't been able to post over the last several days (at least) which are worthy of your attention. Some have been pointed to by the eagle-eyed BRAD BLOG commenters already, but several deserve a higher profile as full-fledged blog items in and of themselves. Several others we had hoped to discuss on the radio show last Saturday but had to dump due to lost time caused by technical problems. So we'll be posting some of those "catch-up" items shortly even if they are not quite as timely as we like to be here.

As well, there are several tasks at Velvet Revolution that need our immediate attention to boot. Concerning the "Divestiture for Democracy" campaign and other notable projects which haven't been able to receive the attention they require due to lack of both time and resources. So watch for some new information over there as we work to get caught up over there as well.

Oh, and it looks like Microsoft has made some internal changes to IE that has caused for some odd formatting to the blog in some cases. We'll need time to figure out how they messed things up, and what, if anything, we can do about it! Just what we needed right about now!

Thanks for your continuing support and patience as we crank back up to full speed over the next week or two. Slowly, but surely, we'll get there. So much corruption, so much progress made fighting it, but so little time, "staff" and resources to get it all out here into the sunlight where it needs to be. Nonetheless, onward and upward...as best and as quickly as we can.

And thanks again, as well, to Winter Patriot for his diligence in keeping things rolling here when we were not able to! We're glad to hear that he is just fine and was simply unavailable to run Saturday's Night's BRAD SHOW Open Thread. Apparently he told us in advance, but that news seemingly was one of too many things which dropped through the cracks. The BRAD BLOG "staff" has been fully reprimanded for their failure do note that in advance, and a top-to-bottom review of such policies here will be conducted shortly by the FBI's former-director Robert Mueller, Jeff Gannon, Judith Miller and the entire NEWSWEEK Editorial Board to ensure such failures never occur again.




By Brad Friedman on 5/14/2005 4:56pm PT  

Looks like we made it! Winter Patriot? Where are you?




The House of Cards Begins to Teeter...
By Brad Friedman on 5/13/2005 4:30pm PT  

RAW STORY has the complete letter signed by 51 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. It begins like this:

Dear Mr. Attorney General:

We are writing to request that you appoint a special counsel to investigate whether high-ranking officials within the Bush Administration violated the War Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. 2441, or the Anti-Torture Act, 18 U.S.C. 2340 by allowing the use of torture techniques banned by domestic and international law at recognized and secret detention sites in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.

We don't care what the MSM does (or doesn't) report. The drumbeat will not stop. The truth is on our side. Truth always wins out over lies. Eventually. Stay tuned...




Numbers on E-Vote Machines Cannot Be Checked or Verified!
By Brad Friedman on 5/13/2005 12:07pm PT  

Just one of several stories from the past week that we're only now getting time to link up (having been furiously driving across country over the past week).

This one from Miami-Herald:

Discrepancies found in votes, signatures

A study on the November general election shows thousands of discrepancies between the number of votes cast and signatures collected by poll workers at the end of the day.

A study by a member of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition found frequent discrepancies between the number of votes cast and signatures collected by poll workers in the November general election.

The study, expected to be released next week, found that workers at dozens of polling places submitted counts of signatures to elections officials that did not match the number of votes recorded on the touch-screen machines.
...
[b]ecause the iVotronic touch-screen machines do not use paper ballots, elections officials may never know for sure --- highlighting a continuing issue with the machines.

''I think it's significant that we can't be sure that things can't be counted, compared and investigated all the time,'' said the study's author and University fo Miami Professor Martha Mahoney, who also is a member of the coalition.

The news comes weeks after Elections Supervisor Constance Kaplan resigned amid revelations that human error led to the county's iVotronic touch-screen machines tossing out hundreds of votes. The $24.5 million machines have become such an issue that the county manager has asked the elections department to advise him on whether to keep them.

The study's findings were a surprise for the elections department, which had considered the November election a success.
...
The study found that there were 5,917 cases where there were more votes than signatures.
...
In at least one case, the problem appears to have been the machine. At precinct 816, the Church of the Ascension, the number of signatures was 945, a figure verified on the machine. But the number of reported votes that day was 1,116.

After testing the machine, its maker, Election Systems & Software, told the state Division of Elections that an internal memory bank failed but the votes were recorded.

ES&S and their "computer glitches" strike again.

Any of you political and MSM ostriches out there realize this is a story yet?




LIVE from the Left Coast!
By Brad Friedman on 5/13/2005 11:39am PT  

Made it back (finally!) to the Left Coast! Safe and sound! And it looks like we've found a studio for this weekend's show! So, barring any surprises between now and Saturday 7pm ET (4pm PT), we'll be up and on the air with another exciting LIVE episode of The BRAD SHOW via RAW RADIO!

GUESTS CURRENTLY TO INCLUDE:

  • HBO/NBC's JIM LAMPLEY on his Huffington Post firefight after blogging that Election 2004 was "the biggest crime in the history of the nation"!
  • Judicial Watch's CHRIS FARRELL on the Cheney Energy Task Force lawsuit!
  • Two OHIO RECOUNT WHISTLEBLOWERS from Clermont County!
  • Marine Sgt. RICHARD MEEHAN on tour of duty in Iraq where he lost three fingers in an unarmored humvee
  • BOB FERTIK of Democrats.com reporting in from the National Media Reform Conference in St. Louis!
  • As always, subject to change as events warrant...

    Please plan on tuning in LIVE Saturday Evening! And tell a few friends while you're at it! We need you all to spread the word high and low!




    BRAD SENDS HIS THANKS, GOOD NEWS,
    AND A REQUEST...
    By Jaime on 5/11/2005 10:36pm PT  

    {Guest Blogged by Jaime}

    Brad is cooling his jets in the ever famous undisclosed location. He is currently incapable of access to the "internets" so I am transcribing a message from him directly to you.

    Thanks to the "6 or 7" the Bradblog has been added to The Huffington Post's Blog Roll!!!!

    Even better news, we have booked HBO Sports commentator Jim Lampley for this week's BRAD SHOW lineup!!! (See this item and this followup for why that's very cool news if you don't know already!)

    Now all we have to do is find a broadcast studio in Southern California.

    If there's anyone who can help, please email me ASAP. Thanks.




    By Brad Friedman on 5/11/2005 10:08am PT  

    John Conyers will appear on our good friend, Don Grady's Louisiana Live today at 3pm CT. You can listen online here.

    As I'll be on the road at that time and won't be able to listen, if anyone can grab and record to .MP3 it'd be appreciated!




    Lampley Answers With Powerful Right Hook, Conyers Weighs in from Ringside!
    Huffington Post's First Battle Royale Off To Rollicking Start! (With BRAD BLOG's Pro-Bono Sponsorship!)
    By Brad Friedman on 5/10/2005 11:02pm PT  

    This morning's explosive item at the new Huffington Post by NBC/HBO's Jim Lampley stating that the November Election was the "biggest crime in the history of the nation" has apparently touched a nerve.

    The Sports Announcer cum Political Commentator's deftly on-target blog item (covered by BRAD BLOG earlier today) --- in which he aptly suggested that what happened last November was bigger than Watergate --- was met with a limp-wristed rejoinder from Rightwinger Byron York also at the Post. York attacked Lampley's sports book metaphor as weak by using a silly comparison to the oddsmakers' take on last weekend's Kentucky Derby.

    York then went on to attempt a futher rebuttal to Lampley with powerful statements such as...

    There is ample evidence that the exit polls on November 2 were terribly screwed up --- for one thing, speaking from memory, I believe they grossly oversampled women in the early results, leading to the (mistaken) impression that Kerry was leading.

    Good stuff. Very persuasive. I don't know much about York other than he writes for National Review and appears on Fox News all the time, but there is ample evidence that he is also a small gray-haired poodle --- for one thing, speaking from memory, I believe that I remember seeing him take a leak at a fire hydrant near our house. One time. Somewhere.

    As to the Kentucky Derby silliness, Lampley himself pushed back with another post later in the day to embarrass York on that point, prove that he's no featherweight on this Election 2004 business and to demonstrate clearly that York is in way over his head on this matter.

    We hope at least that Lampley tossed York a nice chew toy and gave him a warm pat on the head when he was done.

    Not one to miss out on a good Election Irregularity Brouhaha wherever it may rear its ugly head, Celebrity Congressman John Conyers' showed up ringside at Huffington Post today as well to offer his well-experienced two-cents on today's main event!

    We welcome this new spat and apologize for the bad boxing metaphors! But if that's what it takes to get folks to take notice, especially during May Sweeps, then we're happy to ring the bell for ROUND 3!

    On a related note, we are attempting to reach Lampley to discuss it all on this weekend's BRAD SHOW presuming we make it back to the Left Coast in time, and can find a homebase broadcast studio! If Lampley himself reads this item before we are able to track him down, please let it be known he may contact us at our Email Address to discuss it!

    We'd also be keenly interested in discussing another thought or two with him concerning this statement in his latest answer to York...

    What is needed is for legitimate news media, whether old style or new age, to commit to the investigative process of getting to the bottom of what happened in November.

    The BRAD BLOG has been hot on the trail and committed to that very "investigative process" he speaks of since the early morning hours of November 3rd. We'd like very much to discuss an idea or two with Lampley if he is able to contact us. Or vice versa.

    And finally...while we've given so much coverage (and free links) to the well-funded start-up Huffington Post today...We'll add that this well-underfunded blog does not appear on her Blogroll! But certainly should! (As should RAW STORY for that matter who has similarly been a key player in that same "investigative process" for months!) Please feel free to let Arianna know via the only address we've so far been able to find to contact her: Scoop@HuffingtonPost.com.

    This is a difficult story to follow blow-by-blow as we're currently on the road for 10 or so hours per day for the next few as we head back Westward across the fruited plains...So our thanks to those readers who have sent us links to help follow the day's action as we're otherwise putting pedal to metal!

    UPDATE 5/11/05: Robert A. George pours some fuel on the "Lampley-York Smackdown", though --- unsurprisingly, by now --- takes shots at the good guys tactics/character as opposed to his argument. And Arianna features the entire brouhaha from her front page teaser column. Keep making noise...

    UPDATE AGAIN 5/11/05: This morning, York tries to get out of the corner he's backed himself into by playing the already long-discredited "Even the Exit Pollsters admit they were wrong" card. Apparently, he hasn't been told that the Exit Pollsters own report has been entirely rebuked and debunked some time ago [PDF]. Get with it, York! You're losing big time on points as ROUND 3 begins, you're gonna need to punch harder than that!




    NBC/HBO Sports' Jim Lampley Unleashes on 2004 Election as 'Bigger' than 'Watergate'!
    Says 'Media silence...is greatest fourth-estate failure ever on our soil'!
    By Brad Friedman on 5/10/2005 9:48am PT  

    Arianna's new Huffington Post looks to be making news right out of the gate!

    In a stunning blog item this morning headlined "The Biggest Story of Our Lives" from ABC NBC/HBO Sports' Jim Lampley --- one which would almost certainly make front page headlines were we not all currently living in Bizzarro World --- the sportscaster cum blogger speaks of the word on the 2004 Election from the Vegas books on November 2nd:

    Oddsmakers consulted exit polling and knew what it meant and acknowledged in their oddsmaking at that moment that John Kerry was winning the election.

    And he most certainly was, at least if the votes had been fairly and legally counted. What happened instead was the biggest crime in the history of the nation, and the collective media silence which has followed is the greatest fourth-estate failure ever on our soil.

    Wow. Lampley continues in no uncertain terms about what went on, urging his Huffington Post colleagues to end the media blackout on this once and for all!

    NEVER have exit polls varied by beyond-error margins in a single state, not since 1948 when this kind of polling began. In this past election it happened in ten states, all of them swing states, all of them in Bush's favor. Coincidence? Of course not.

    Karl Rove isn't capable of conceiving and executing such a grandiose crime? Wake up. They did it. The silence of traditional media on this subject is enough to establish their newfound bankruptcy. The revolution will have to start here. I challenge every other thinker at the Huffington Post: is there any greater imperative than to reverse this crime and reestablish democracy in America? Why the mass silence? Let's go to work with the circumstantial evidence, begin to narrow from the outside in, and find some witnesses who will turn. That's how they cracked Watergate. This is bigger, and I never dreamed I would say that in my baby boomer lifetime.

    Holy smokes..."Developing"...we'd guess!...

    Interestingly enough, however, Huffington Post itself doesn't even bother to feature this post from its front page...

    CORRECTION: The original version of this post identified Lampley as being with ABC Sports. He is now with NBC and HBO if we understand his impressive bio correctly. We regret the error, and as well are attempting to contact Lampley to appear on this weekend's BRAD SHOW if we can figure out how to reach him. He may contact us at our email address if he reads this before we find him.

    UPDATE: Round 2, featuring Byron York of the National Review, John Conyers of the U.S. Congress, and, of course, Lampley, is right here.




    Ohio Republican Who Ought to Recognize Phony 'Front Groups' Claims to have Been Duped by Phony 'Front Group'
    Blames Abramoff, Indian Tribes and Democrat Christopher Dodd. Another Republican in favor of personal responsibility we guess.
    By Brad Friedman on 5/10/2005 9:37am PT  

    An excellent article just out from June's The American Prospect suggests that Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH), one of the sponsors of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) is now under Dept. of Justice investigation for his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the money received from the Tigua Indian tribe to finance a golf trip, like Tom Delays, to Scotland.

    Our good friend, Tom Feeney, by the way, was also on one of those Scotland Golf Trips. Just thought it worth mentioning.

    The Prospect article outlines in detail in how Ney had used Christopher Dodd (D-CT), without Dodd's knowledge, to suggest that the two of them would be able to add a rider to HAVA which would be favorable to the Tigua Indian tribe. Of course, Dodd never seems to have been a party to any of this.

    Ney, who chairs the House Administration Committee, recently held hearings on the Ohio Election 2004 mess during which --- as originally reported by BRAD BLOG --- he invited friends from the phony GOP front group calling themselves the American Center for Voting Rights to testify, and yet the Prospect article reports that he claims to have been fooled by an Abramoff front group in relation to the trips he was purchased:

    Ney first tested his "innocent victim" line after the Senate hearings on the Tigua fraud. Attacking Abramoff and Scanlon as "nefarious individuals," he proclaimed, "I, like these Indian tribes and other members of Congress, was duped by Jack Abramoff." He explained that the lobbyist had invited him "to go on a trip to Scotland, which Mr. Abramoff said would help support a charitable organization, that he founded, through meetings with Scottish Parliament officials."

    That charitable outfit was the Capital Athletic Foundation, an Abramoff front. Why Ney would have to go golfing in Scotland or visit the Parliament there to assist an American-based charity remains an unsolved mystery --- as does his interest in sponsoring legislation for a Texas tribe far from his rural Ohio district.

    But Abramoff and his associates had raised money for Ney from 2000 through 2003, providing the use of a luxury skybox at Washington's MCI Center to host a fund-raising event. The helpful congressman had also supported Abramoff and Adam Kidan, the lobbyist's business partner, in their effort to buy a Florida gambling cruise line. The sale went through, but the cruise line's original owner was killed gangland-style after fighting with Kidan, who has alleged ties to organized crime. Ney has since claimed that he was misled about Kidan's background, too.

    That "Florida gambling cruise line" which led to an apparent "gangland-style" hit was Suncruz, as reported in excrutiating detail in a Washington Post piece last week.

    As is the norm these days, Ney is attempting to deny knowing who actually paid for the trip, yet the Prospect reports:

    In June, Abramoff wrote to Schwartz again: "Our friend [Ney] asked if we could ? cover a Scotland golf trip for him and some staff ? and members in August," just like the trip DeLay had taken two years earlier.

    And finally --- even after Ney knew full well that Dodd wanted nothing to do with the Indian Tribe legislation --- he invited members of the tribe to the Capitol for a meeting to thank them for the trip, and to act as if he was still hoping to pass their dead-in-the-water legislation:

    Ney went on and on for well over an hour, schmoozing with his guests and praising free enterprise. At the end, he even walked them out so they could use the reserved members' elevator. "That last act sealed the deal," recalls Schwartz. "He was very friendly and won us over." Today, Schwartz says, "To raise the hopes of a tribal people when he knew the deal was dead leaves me no doubt that he is a heartless individual devoid of integrity."

    The hopes of the Tigua evaporated in October 2002, when Abramoff called to say that Dodd had purportedly decided to renege on his support of the tribe's legislation, supposedly out of anger that his own bill to reform Connecticut tribal recognition was defeated in the Senate.

    The Dodd bill provided a perfect cover story --- and in his best David Mamet tough-guy style, Abramoff called Schwartz on his cell phone to complain. "Dodd fucked us!" he said. "Ney is fuming that the bastard went back on his word. We were fucked by a Democrat!"

    Using Dodd as a scapegoat for the legislation would was never to have been placed in HAVA, Ney then claims to have been willing to "let election reform die" in retaliation:

    Dodd's supposed support was always a phony pipe dream that Ney and Abramoff sold to the Indians. At the Senate hearing last year on the Tigua mess, Dodd released a statement explaining that he hadn't even learned about the Tigua proposal until very late in the process. "Congressman Ney's staff," said the senator, "did approach my office during the waning hours of negotiations over the HAVA legislation to inquire whether recognition provisions for the Tigua tribe could be included in the bill. The suggestion was summarily rejected."

    Nevertheless, a few days after the crushing October defeat for the tribe, Abramoff arranged for Ney to speak to the tribal council by conference call to offer his condolences for the legislative failure. Schwartz says that Ney told the council about a supposed conversation with Dodd. "I begged him to put it back in," said Ney. "I'm apologizing for us in Congress, but he went back on his word. I was so disappointed. ? I almost decided to let election reform die."

    How filthy can these guys get? Stay tuned...

    (Hat tip Jesse over at Stakeholder for the link tip!)




    By Brad Friedman on 5/9/2005 11:50pm PT  

    Scurrying across this great land of ours. Homeward bound. Finally. Will pop in here as time allows throughout the week, though that may not be much. We'll see...

    The great BRAD BLOG Guest Bloggers will fill gaps as needed here, and we'll look forward to getting back to business in full by next week.

    If the Democracy/Radio Gods are with us (and we can find our new Left Coast Homebase!) we'll be back on the air this Saturday with another LIVE show! Guest list, etc. to come as the week rolls on. Hopefully we'll find our new broadcast home, because we've already got some amazing guests pencilled in! Details soon!

    The archives from last week's show are now online at BradShow.com - including the original unaired first half of the fourth hour (during which some strange technical glitch pre-empted us with a rerun of ourselves! Go figure!) So go hear what you missed there, which includes the awesome Bright Eyes tune from the Leno show. Justice Through Music has also posted a higher quality version of that video as well!

    Also...if you missed the second hour with John Conyer's General Counsel, Ted Kalo [MP3], you may wish to give that one a listen as well...I think he may actually have made a bit of news around the :36 minute mark. Give it a listen and let us know what you think...I believe it was a great hour in any case!

    UPDATE: Fixed the incorrect link to the Ted Kalo interview above. Had it as "third hour" and then pointed to the first! Should have been second, and so it has been corrected! Thanks CoreyK for pointing out my error!




    By Brad Friedman on 5/8/2005 1:39pm PT  

    Not much time to take this one apart properly, but New York Times' Adam Cohen today holds bloggers up to ethical standards which, he argues, ought to equal the high standards of those in the MSM.

    While we agree with much of his thesis in general, one wonders if he ought to be throwing such stones from inside the Times' own fragile glass house.

    This finger-wagging quote --- "Information should be verified before it is printed" --- amongst others, strikes one as more than just a tad ironic coming from the paper who allowed buckets of front page ink for Judith Miller to post un-verified information which helped march the world directly into a (so far) endless war.

    Ms. Miller still works at --- and presumably collects a handsome salary from --- New York Times in the bargain. As she doesn't seem to have been held up to any particular set of ethics in the bargain, wouldn't Cohen's criticism be better directed homeward right about now?

    Blogs, it seems, in Cohen's article are all tossed into the same ethically-challenged, non-journalistic barrel. All of us, apparently, require an "ethical upgrade" in Cohen's condescending opinion. True, we suppose, in as much as it would be appropriate for us to criticize the Times themselves for "reporting" done by super-market tabloids such as Weekly World News.

    By way of example, here's just one graf from Cohen's piece:

    [T]he real reason for an ethical upgrade is that it is the right way to do journalism, online or offline. As blogs grow in readers and influence, bloggers should realize that if they want to reform the American media, that is going to have to include reforming themselves.

    Message to Mr. Cohen and the other MSM'ers apparently now beginning to defend their turf by entering into the "then they fight you" phase of Gandhi's famous quote: "Physician, heal thyself!"




    By Brad Friedman on 5/8/2005 12:46pm PT  

    ...of The BRAD SHOW --- well, the lost half-hour, anyway --- will be available during tomorrow's rebroadcast, beginning at 12noon ET.

    The half-hour lost was at the top of the fourth hour, so that would be 3pm ET (2pm CT, 1pm MT, 12noon PT - got it?). Including the Bright Eyes tune from NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

    The glitch, we are told by the network, was due to some kind of "automatic language filter" that kicked in for unknown reasons, and the backup came (another hour from a previous show) automagically kicked in.

    Hear what you missed tomorrow! And thanks all for the support in every respect! Thanks WP for keeping things rolling here when I can't!




    Being the Media...Cuz Someone's Got to!
    Open Show Thread...
    By Winter Patriot on 5/7/2005 3:46pm PT  

    Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

    The Brad Show goes LIVE! again this week after last week's unfortunate interruption. This week's guests include:

    * Raw Story's John Byrne and Larisa Alexandrovna
    * Carol Towarnicky of the Philadelphia News
    * Nationally Syndicated Columnist Robert Kohler
    * Attorney Ted Kalo, who represents the House Democrats and John Conyers

    Listen LIVE via the Web! Saturday from 7p-11p ET (4p-8p PT)!
    Repeating Sunday 12noon-4p ET (9a-1p PT)
    Quick and easy access to LIVE listening links, archives, upcoming guests,
    donation links and ad info (it's not to late to advertise!)
    and more via www.BradShow.com!

    More links...
    Direct streaming links via RAW STORY!
    Donate here to help defray costs!

    URGENT REMINDER: The Brad Show is supported by your donations. This week we need more listeners and more donations! So get on the phone, or send some e-mail, and tell a few friends about The Brad Show. You (and they) will be glad you did.

    And this MESSAGE FROM LARISA reposted from another thread:

    Please go to DU and keep this post kicked for the show.

    Please click the "comments" button to discuss this week's show and our guests.

    UPDATED: with links to tonight's Brad Show guests and their work...

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




    (Bang, Bang Maxwell's Silver Hammer Came Down Upon His Head!)
    By Brad Friedman on 5/6/2005 12:06pm PT  

    Every now and again we're pleasantly reminded that there are still good folks out there littered amongst the debris that is the American Corporate Media 2005. Or as Murrow presciently predicted, the "vast wasteland".

    We found one of those good folks in Carol Towarnicky of the Philadelphia Daily News (she'll be a guest on this weekend's BRAD SHOW who blasted the MSM for ignoring the Gannon/Guckert scandal. This week, it's kudos to Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel for his piece yesterday on your friend and ours, Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL).

    You didn't think we forgot about you...did ya, Tom?

    It looks like Tom is up to his enchanting old tricks this week as he tries to disentangle himself from the scandals that he's in nearly as deep as Tom DeLay --- he just doesn't happen to be the House Majority Leader (yet), so you may not have heard. (You will in the future...no worries).

    Maxwell tears old Tom (Feeney, that is) a new one in his column, headlined "So sorry --- it's the media's fault" from yesterday:

    Feeney's chief of staff recently penned an apology to North Carolina's Rotterman and Associates, a consulting and lobbying firm that Feeney's office once listed as having paid for one of his many free trips. (Feeney now says that the influential consultants didn't pay for his trip to West Palm Beach. An influential conservative group did.)

    In the letter to Karen Rotterman, Chief of Staff Jason Roe wrote: "I cannot tell you how sorry I am that you were mentioned in the story. As you know, the current environment in Washington is such that reporters are in such a frenzy to write anything about Members' of Congress travel that anything not done absolutely correctly seems newsworthy to them."

    The things that Feeney didn't do absolutely correctly were:

    Take a $5,600 trip to Scotland, which included golfing at the Royal & Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews that Feeney has said was paid for by another lobbyist, which would violate ethics rules.

    Mistakenly report that lobbyists (the Rottermans) paid for another trip, which would have been another violation.

    Still, Roe believes this is all much ado about nothing. "All this is, is media hysteria," he said. "The media think people care about this. They don't."

    We wish the media would become "hysterical"! They look fairly sound asleep on most of this to us. What with Runaway Brides and all to worry with.

    Maxwell closes smartly with this:

    Still, the public scrutiny likely will continue. And to add insult to Feeney's terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad week, Feeney got bumped off a show on Fox News last weekend for another media hot topic: the runaway bride.

    Sounds like somebody needs a vacation.

    :-) We like Maxwell.

    Good to know someone else besides yours truly is on the Feeney beat!

    ...CONTACT...
    Scott Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel

    (Thanks to BRAD BLOG commenter, American Woman --- a big Tom Feeney fan she! --- for the link!)

    For more info on The BRAD BLOG's continuing investigative series on
    The Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney/Yang Enterprises Vote-Rigging Scandal series, please see:
    - A Quick Summary of the story so far. -
    - An Index of all the Key Articles & Evidence in the series so far.



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