I guess I must be naive, but I didn't realize this occurred on such a grand scale. When people go into the voting booth, I always figured their vote is between them and God. How does anyone know how someone votes - outside of e-machines with tabulators which can be manipulated.

MORE ON ROUTINE FRAUD

--in our legislature.

See David Sirota's piece at Huggington Blog.

This refers to a remarkable new expose by Matt Tabbai in Rolling Stone magazine. (Its subtitle is "A month inside the house of horrors that is Congress.")

Read both of these articles. (Sirota one is short; Tabbai one is an extraordinary feature piece.) See what else the MSM is not talking about.

It gives a great perspective on how legislation is _really_ made. (And has implications for all of us who hope for legislative solutions to election fraud and other woes in our current "democracy".)

As a fellow citizen said, "If this doesn't make your blood boil . . ."

P.S.

The Vermont Independent Congressman Bernie Sanders should be an invited guest on a future Brad Show.

Re: more routine fraud,

See this piece about Army procurement whistleblower B. Greenhouse who has exposed massive fraud (and was demoted as a result): "Army Whistleblower Draws Fire".

This stsrong woman should be a guest on The Brad Show if her legal situation permits.

And the Brad Blog should feature both of these stories (Rolling Stones/Sanders and Army/Greenhouse). Both are important reflections on the state of our current democracy.

Thanks, Catherine, for mentioning "Bunny" Greenhouse. Another good, courageous woman speaks out.
Somehow I doubt the RNC will be paying HER legal expenses.
Yes, she would be a wonderful guest for the Brad Show!!
(not to nitpick, but re #2, it's the Huffington Post) )

Again, I keep pounding on how the MSM is complicent in ruining our country. The MSM needs to put the spotlight on vote fraud in America. They are not.

The power of the MSM is evident in the missing Aruba teen. They took an obscure missing teen (there are thousands missing each year), and made her name and face familiar to us all. How do you know the name Natalee Holloway and what she looks like?

The MSM power is still there and always will be. What they choose to shed light on is how they're ruining our country. If they choose to shine the spotlight on vote fraud, it would disappear. They are not. Why not? Who's making these decisions to suppress covering vote fraud in the MSM? Bev Harris of blackboxvoting.org says she has some soiurces in the MSM that have told her they have orders to blackout vote fraud stories. Whoever's giving those blackout orders are the culprit.

The all important quote from the Rollingstones Article:

"Given how powerful Lockheed Martin is on Capitol Hill --- the company even has the contract to maintain the server for the computers in Congress --- the Lockheed vote was surprisingly easy"

Vote manipulation is the company's specialty, hence their control over the computer servers of the US Congress.

Another telling quote:

"Um," I say, copying it down. "Sure. Wait --- if the problem is that there's no comprehensive policy for China, why give them $5 billion to build nuclear plants? Why not give them, say, nothing at all?"

So, after we are nuked and Congress goes after China for proliferation of WMD's does Congress also get charged?

Case in point as mentioned above: the Bunnatine Greenhouse story. Not covered by the MSM, and it's a huge story, important to us all.

On the internet, we can request (for example, to Brad) he cover a story that's being suppressed by the MSM, and chances are he'll do it. In the MSM, we're spoonfed what they want us to be seeing, and it's not important news, and we have no say in what's covered, and we don't know who's choosing to run which stories.

On the internet, you can read important news, AND catch links to OTHER important news from links in people's comments. Who's choosing the news on the internet? YOU ARE!

Who's choosing the news you see on TV? No one knows...and it's all the same. Ever click back and forth between ABC/NBC/CBS??? The same exact stories are on at the same time and they have commercial breaks at the same time. Are you telling me this is by accident?

Catherine re #2 #3 #4 and #5: I can't remember what it is but there's a technical term for your condition. My friend Norm has the same thing: it manifests itself in his inability to stop thinking of interesting new things for other people to do.

Just joking of course, ... we're aware of those stories but we're swamped. If you'd like to help us out [fancy a guest blog?], send me e-mail : wp112263@hotmail.com

Thanks!

Joan #6
Thanks for the correction. It's the Huffington Post website, (on which David Sirota has a blog.)

I don't know who Matt Taibbi is (who wrote the Rolling Stones expose) but he deserves a major journalism award. If Rep. Bernie Sanders can't be on The Brad Show maybe Matt Taibbi might appear.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS from Taibbi's expose of Congress "House of Horrors" on Rolling Stone:

See here for an excellent, concise summary of key points from this article (and implications for the election reform movement).

The importance of understanding all of this is crucial for those of us who aspire to impact legislation, amendments or legislators.

The points made on this link also include some important comments (near the end) related to the challenge of making this complex issue easily understandable to those ethical journalists who want to understand the issue but don't have a lot of time.

Catherine A. --- I second the request for (one of my HEROES) Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, to be on the BradShow.

This woman, Betty Ireland, epitomizes the typical reTHUGlican, blame-shifting, Orwellian facet of the neoCONs.

WHO benefits from the fraud?

In Betty Ireland's Orwellian justice system, the victim is charged with a crime instead of the crook. So, if Ms. Ireland is ever mugged in a dark alley (heaven forbid) will she then say, "I ALLOWED someone to INTIMIDATE me - charge me with the crime." ??

I live in West Virginia. Let me tell you a bit about this story.

Ireland is the first Republican Sec. of State in my lifetime. The former SoS was a Dem who is now governor. The SoS office has been, in some cases, a stepping-stone to the governor's office. Even our senator John D. "Jay" Rockefeller was a Sec. of State many years ago.

I don't know whether our current governor "sold" the state to the Repubs (including the SoS office) in order to be governor or if maybe the state has simply swung toward the Repubs. WV voted for Bush and rarely before has it gone Republican. I think it went for Reagan, but then every state did. So, this new SoS talking about vote fraud at this time in the Bush era is rather scary. We don't have much electronic voting in WV, but there is some and plans for much much more.

Maybe part of the Repub plan has been and is to grab all the Sec. of State positions to control the election system.

I suspect they're using this particular SoS to emphasize voter fraud because there's always been voter fraud in Soutern WV. Both Dem and Repub US Attorney's have found it and prosecuted liberally. It's nothing new. Why it continues unabated after so many have been caught is beyond me. It's not new and it's not an indication that Dems are doing something wide-spread to prevent Repubs from running the world, er country.

What surprised me was that our governor, as candidate, received more votes than Kerry. In fact, both the winner and the loser of the Sec. of State race (Ireland and a very popular old geezer who'd been SoS and congressman back to FDR's day) EACH received more votes than Kerry. Yep, even the loser of the state's Sec. of State race received more votes than the candidate for president. I sent our gov. an e-mail congratulating him on his victory and pointing this out. I've received no response.

So, politics in WV is business as usual except that the Repubs have made big inroads and I don't really know why. We've only had one Repub governor since the early '70s (that one went to jail and his daughter is now a congressperson from the 2nd district). Why so many Dem governors and senators and congressmen and yet the public are (supposedly) voting for Bush. It makes no sense.

There are probably a lot of stories all around the country which have this sort of smell about them, but no obvious crime or culprits.

Mugzi re #1:

I had the same thought the moment i read the article. I am not from the U.S. but i guess you still have no DHS personel in the booth...

I would even get further. If someone really would aproach me and offer actual money for my vote i would take it with a smile, salute him and say "Yes, sir, right away, sir!". Then i would vote for whatever i would have voted anyway. That way you fake their stats ("We are sure we will win") and drain their money.

I don't know how this would be viewed from a legal standpoint but etically i can see no problem (maybe it would be best to donate the money anonymously to charity so your hands keep clean...).

Why are people that represent interests of a political party involved in counting the votes for any political election? Why don't we have a transparent (verifyable ballots that can be review in case of a recount) uniform way for all states in the United States? For years we've heard about putting a man on the moon as a great achievement for mankind. This country cannot even manage to put together a way to have a legitimate non-electronic election because the crooks in control distort the facts to the point where no one with any brains and a little keep it simple stupid atitude can put together a way to hold free legitimate elections. The will of the people is the best law. That's why our constitution and government has survived in the collective conscience of Americans and the world. I don't know how many poor folk in BF Egypt were intimidated to select corporate the Bushit paper over Kerry plastic in West Virginia however the answer is this story needs to be investigated for factual evidence to support it like all the others. Yes, it is another form of disgusting humanistic fraud. Is this as bad as the electronic vote rigging fraud performed by the convicted felons at Diebold and Triad voting machines who supported the Bushit administration and had access to changing presidential votes without a paper trail? No way. These corrupt voting companies responsible for counting and altering the voting numbers in secrecy must be stopped. The founding fathers had a lot of problems in the early days however phony organizations such as THE AMERICAN CENTER FOR VOTING RIGHTS lying and spreading inaccurate information to American people was not one of them. Go find the reals out there to stand up and say these people are full of fucking shit and that they need to go to jail with the Bushit administration.

MarkH --- thanks for sharing your knowledge of what's going on in West Virginia. Interesting history.

Such a subtle distinction, election fraud versus voter fraud, but enough to push through measures that will lead to further disenfranchisement of American voters and shift blame away from where it belongs, on partisan elections officials and corporations now in charge of managing public elections. It's called "wholesale election fraud" truthfully (as Bob Fitrakis mentioned to me in a recent conversation).

Winter, might make a good topic for the Whisper Campaign, if you've not already focused on it!

#14
Mark, you wrote
"the Repubs have made big inroads and I don't really know why."
Yeah you do.

Regarding West Virginia,

They don't really have any rigged machines as far as I know in WV, but doesn't this state have central counting tabulators?

If it does, then surely people don't think that just because all the ballots go into the tabulator, they are going to be counted correctly.

Especially if the merchant was Diebold. I'm hoping out of some respose, to see if West Virginia has tried or ever done anything to reform its system. I was thinking of writing the SoS office, but she might be in on the "scam".

So yeah, I might write some non-partisan officials to find out if they have any information. I can't believe they would be using insecure servers to hold the votes. That would though, immediately explain the swings to the Rs and also the vote buying.....

Doug E.

I am from Logan county, WV. I am not sure about the nearby counties, but this routine corruption is definitely true for Logan. In such a small town/county, it is pretty easy to see what is happening, but my father was involved the political system of the county (part-time while he worked)--he ran for and won a position the Board of Education in 1992-1996; then, in 1996, he ran for and won a position on the county commission and stayed in that office until he changed the company for which he worked which would not allow him to hold public office in 1998. He has seen the ever-present political corruption in the county.

Logan has had a long history of political corruption. In the 70s, some office-holders were arrested for election fraud. I believe it was in the early 80s that several Board of Education members were also arrested for election fraud. As you said, some arrests were made for vote-buying in the 90s. Near 2002, a former mayor was arrested for accepting bribes in return for "looking the other way" while drugs were brought into the county. Finally, there have been more arrests for vote-buying during the past several months. The problem is that the only people who have been being arrested are the relatively insignificant "players" in the scandal. In other words, the constant cycle is as follows:

1) the authorities arrest a couple unimportant people
2) the public outcry (however small) ends
3) everything goes back to the way it was.

This has happened over and over in Logan county and the public largely doesn't quite understand the full extent of the corruption (and, of course, a portion are benfiting from it and do not care).

I am from Logan county, WV. I am not sure about the nearby counties, but this routine corruption is definitely true for Logan. In such a small town/county, it is pretty easy to see what is happening, but my father was involved the political system of the county (part-time while he worked)--he ran for and won a position the Board of Education in 1992-1996; then, in 1996, he ran for and won a position on the county commission and stayed in that office until he changed the company for which he worked which would not allow him to hold public office in 1998. He has seen the ever-present political corruption in the county.

Logan has had a long history of political corruption. In the 70s, some office-holders were arrested for election fraud. I believe it was in the early 80s that several Board of Education members were also arrested for election fraud. As you said, some arrests were made for vote-buying in the 90s. Near 2002, a former mayor was arrested for accepting bribes in return for "looking the other way" while drugs were brought into the county. Finally, there have been more arrests for vote-buying during the past several months. The problem is that the only people who have been being arrested are the relatively insignificant "players" in the scandal. In other words, the constant cycle is as follows:

1) the authorities arrest a couple unimportant people
2) the public outcry (however small) ends
3) everything goes back to the way it was.

This has happened over and over in Logan county and the public largely doesn't quite understand the full extent of the corruption (and, of course, a portion are benfiting from it and do not care).

I am from Logan county, WV. I am not sure about the nearby counties, but this routine corruption is definitely true for Logan. In such a small town/county, it is pretty easy to see what is happening, but my father was involved the political system of the county (part-time while he worked)--he ran for and won a position the Board of Education in 1992-1996; then, in 1996, he ran for and won a position on the county commission and stayed in that office until he changed the company for which he worked which would not allow him to hold public office in 1998. He has seen the ever-present political corruption in the county.

Logan has had a long history of political corruption. In the 70s, some office-holders were arrested for election fraud. I believe it was in the early 80s that several Board of Education members were also arrested for election fraud. As you said, some arrests were made for vote-buying in the 90s. Near 2002, a former mayor was arrested for accepting bribes in return for "looking the other way" while drugs were brought into the county. Finally, there have been more arrests for vote-buying during the past several months. The problem is that the only people who have been being arrested are the relatively insignificant "players" in the scandal. In other words, the constant cycle is as follows:

1) the authorities arrest a couple unimportant people
2) the public outcry (however small) ends
3) everything goes back to the way it was.

This has happened over and over in Logan county and the public largely doesn't quite understand the full extent of the corruption (and, of course, a portion are benfiting from it and do not care).

Haha, not sure how I managed posting that three times. It said there was some type of CGI error the first couple of times so I didn't think it worked.

If someone sells their vote to someone then they do loose their right to vote, but of course the person who bought the vote should be procescuted.
as much as the person selling.

Yes there has been alot of voter fraud! In Washinton State the Demoncrats couldnt win untill they recounted the paper 3 times, The first vote the one that Democrats were saying that was needed to prevent fraud was electronic and the Republican won. I guesse thats why the News Stories in the press did the about face on Electronic voteing

Algore was also the one who was cheating, remeber they needed the electonic machines to prevent fraud.

My Sisters Father in Law worked in a small florida county where algore and the DNC sent 4 Lawyers to prevent as many military absentee ballots as possible from counting!! In the mean time they kept recounting the vote to try to get more votes for Algore

O and the county that the disfrachised voters were in was a Democrat county. With Democrats running things.

I guesse the DNC and Moveon were to busy taking the w's off the keyboards, snorting coke, and taking money from George Soris, that they didnt have time to figure out to hack the new machines.

The Democrats seem to be for:
Kilingl babies
Criminals Rights
Normalizeing Transvestites, Putting your ding dong up the poop shoot and letting these people adopt children.
They always aid our enemys..from Vit Nam to now
They divide by race
They stop us from being energy self reliant
They value animal life over human life.
They want to grow goverment and increase Taxes
They think the UN and Europe's laws should Trump the Constitution.
They Hate our Military

If they Democrats became pro american again if they were for less goverment, If they valued the 10 commandments and if they would balance workers right and Corportation right and not just be anti Captialist, and anti American, Anti Normal People, then I would vote for them, but I would never vote for them with the Crop of leaders they have now.

I dont like everything about the Republicans, but where you people think that they are the enemy you should just listen to what the Democrats say and then remember what they said a few months and years ago. If you did you wouldnt be so easly fooled.

You will find if the people you support ever get their way the US will cease to exsist as an independent country

If someone sells their vote to someone then they do loose their right to vote, but of course the person who bought the vote should be procescuted.
as much as the person selling.

Yes there has been alot of voter fraud! In Washinton State the Demoncrats couldnt win untill they recounted the paper 3 times, The first vote the one that Democrats were saying that was needed to prevent fraud was electronic and the Republican won. I guesse thats why the News Stories in the press did the about face on Electronic voteing

Algore was also the one who was cheating, remeber they needed the electonic machines to prevent fraud.

My Sisters Father in Law worked in a small florida county where algore and the DNC sent 4 Lawyers to prevent as many military absentee ballots as possible from counting!! In the mean time they kept recounting the vote to try to get more votes for Algore

O and the county that the disfrachised voters were in was a Democrat county. With Democrats running things.

I guesse the DNC and Moveon were to busy taking the w's off the keyboards, snorting coke, and taking money from George Soris, that they didnt have time to figure out to hack the new machines.

The Democrats seem to be for:
Kilingl babies
Criminals Rights
Normalizeing Transvestites, Putting your ding dong up the poop shoot and letting these people adopt children.
They always aid our enemys..from Vit Nam to now
They divide by race
They stop us from being energy self reliant
They value animal life over human life.
They want to grow goverment and increase Taxes
They think the UN and Europe's laws should Trump the Constitution.
They Hate our Military

If they Democrats became pro american again if they were for less goverment, If they valued the 10 commandments and if they would balance workers right and Corportation right and not just be anti Captialist, and anti American, Anti Normal People, then I would vote for them, but I would never vote for them with the Crop of leaders they have now.

I dont like everything about the Republicans, but where you people think that they are the enemy you should just listen to what the Democrats say and then remember what they said a few months and years ago. If you did you wouldnt be so easly fooled.

You will find if the people you support ever get their way the US will cease to exsist as an independent country

If someone sells their vote to someone then they do loose their right to vote, but of course the person who bought the vote should be procescuted.
as much as the person selling.

Yes there has been alot of voter fraud! In Washinton State the Demoncrats couldnt win untill they recounted the paper 3 times, The first vote the one that Democrats were saying that was needed to prevent fraud was electronic and the Republican won. I guesse thats why the New Stories in the press did the about face on Electronic voteing

Algore was also the one who was cheating, remeber they needed the electonic machines to prevent fraud.

My Sisters Father in Law worked in a small florida county where algore and the DNC sent 4 Lawyers to prevent as many military absentee ballots as possible from counting!! In the mean time they kept recounting the vote to try to get more votes for Algore

O and the county that the disfrachised voters were in was a Democrat county. With Democrats running things.

I guesse the DNC and Moveon were to busy taking the w's off the keyboards, snorting coke, and taking money from George Soris, that they didnt have time to figure out to hack the new machines.

The Democrats seem to be for:
Kilingl babies
Criminals Rights
Normalizeing Transvestites, Putting your ding dong up the poop shoot and letting these people adopt children.
They always aid our enemys..from Vit Nam to now
They divide by race
They stop us from being energy self reliant
They value animal life over human life.
They want to grow goverment and increase Taxes
They think the UN and Europe's laws should Trump the Constitution.
They Hate our Military

If they Democrats became pro american again if they were for less goverment, If they valued the 10 commandments and if they would balance workers right and Corportation right and not just be anti Captialist, and anti American, Anti Normal People, then I would vote for them, but I would never vote for them with the Crop of leaders they have now.

I dont like everything about the Republicans, but where you people think that they are the enemy you should just listen to what the Democrats say and then remember what they said a few months and years ago. If you did you wouldnt be so easly fooled.

You will find if the people you support ever get their way the US will cease to exsist as an independent country

If someone sells their vote to someone then they do loose their right to vote, but of course the person who bought the vote should be procescuted.
as much as the person selling.

Yes there has been alot of voter fraud! In Washinton State the Demoncrats couldnt win untill they recounted the paper 3 times, The first vote the one that Democrats were saying that was needed to prevent fraud was electronic and the Republican won. I guesse thats why the New Stories in the press did the about face on Electronic voteing

Algore was also the one who was cheating, remeber they needed the electonic machines to prevent fraud.

My Sisters Father in Law worked in a small florida county where algore and the DNC sent 4 Lawyers to prevent as many military absentee ballots as possible from counting!! In the mean time they kept recounting the vote to try to get more votes for Algore

O and the county that the disfrachised voters were in was a Democrat county. With Democrats running things.

I guesse the DNC and Moveon were to busy taking the w's off the keyboards, snorting coke, and taking money from George Soris, that they didnt have time to figure out to hack the new machines.

The Democrats seem to be for:
Kilingl babies
Criminals Rights
Normalizeing Transvestites, Putting your ding dong up the poop shoot and letting these people adopt children.
They always aid our enemys..from Vit Nam to now
They divide by race
They stop us from being energy self reliant
They value animal life over human life.
They want to grow goverment and increase Taxes
They think the UN and Europe's laws should Trump the Constitution.
They Hate our Military

If they Democrats became pro american again if they were for less goverment, If they valued the 10 commandments and if they would balance workers right and Corportation right and not just be anti Captialist, and anti American, Anti Normal People, then I would vote for them, but I would never vote for them with the Crop of leaders they have now.

I dont like everything about the Republicans, but where you people think that they are the enemy you should just listen to what the Democrats say and then remember what they said a few months and years ago. If you did you wouldnt be so easly fooled.

You will find if the people you support ever get their way the US will cease to exsist as an independent country