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

The big news for the day is the announcement that California's SoS McPherson has conditionally certified Diebold AccuVote OS and TSx voting machines for use in the state. This announcement has many people puzzled and mad. Has McPherson bowed to pressure from the counties and, in actuality, set them up for legal problems? It seems that may be the case. Meanwhile in Maryland ES&S steps forward and says they have no idea what Linda Lamone is saying when she says no one can provide a paper based system to the state before November. They say they can do it no problem. Could it be that Linda Lamone has been caught in another lie?...

Guest Blogged by Kevin Zeese

EDITOR'S NOTE: Kevin Zeese is an independent candidate running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. His following "Open Letter to the Maryland Media" comes on the heels of Thursday's news of Republican MD Governor Robert Ehrlich's letter announcing, amongst other things, that he "no longer [has] confidence in the State Board of Elections' ability to conduct fair and accurate elections in 2006." In the letter, Ehrlich expressly singles out Democratic Election Administrator Linda Lamone, charging that she and the SBE have been "working primarily on behalf of partisan legislators and their interests" and questions her claims that Diebold's paperless touch-screen voting machines --- deployed across the state in 2002 as part of Diebold's "showcase" roll-out of their new system --- could not be replaced by voting devices with voter-verified paper trails in time for the 2006 election. Ehrlich called for paper ballots in his letter.

Given the national implications of this matter and the media's general lack of coverage of these important matters, we're happy to honor Zeese's request to run the letter in full here at BRAD BLOG.

LETTER CONT'D BELOW...

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

In California, SoS Bruce McPherson reached down and deep and certified Diebold for use in the state with some conditions. Note that there has still been no report from the federal ITA that was asked to reinspect the Diebold memory card. At the same time, in Maryland, Diebold and Linda Lamone have taken to ignoring the truth, or misrepresenting it as they ignore proof of lost votes in elections and try to assure voters that there are no problems. And good news from New Mexico where the state legislature has passed a voter verified paper ballot bill....

I'm guest hosting The Young Turks radio program again tonight from 6p-9p ET (3p-6p PT), this time along with Michael Shure for a Campaign '06 Preview Special!

Rest assured, we'll be talking plenty about Impeachment, Election Reform issues and the Battle Royale in the Dem party about direction along with it!

Please tune in via Sirius Satellite Channel 146 or watch/listen to the video webcast at www.TheYoungTurks.com. Call in to say hey, if you like, at 866-99SIRIUS!

Special Guests to include: Political Analyst Larry Sabato, Jon Solz from Iraq/Afghanistan Vets of America PAC (IAVAPAC), and Congressional Candidates Francine Busby (running for Duke Cunningham's seat in CA's 50th), Chris Murphy (CT's 5th), Ed Perlmutter (CO's 7th) and our old friend Tony Trupiano (MI's 11th)!

Please join us! And Open Thread right here throughout the show as you like!

It got pushed way down today with a lot of other breaking news and video, so this is a reminder to check out our story on what happened yesterday in Maryland. It's huge. And there is much more to come out of that state and that story soon. So be sure to get up to speed on it!

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

The news today is full of news from Maryland in regards to the letter from Gov. Ehrlich to the State Elections Board. Is this another nail in Diebold's coffin? The fact that they have raised their maintenance charges 1000% over four years is astonishing. Also, counties in Pennsylvania are still trying to decide what they can do in the aftermath of the court decision of earlier in the week. And, the DoJ has given their opinion to Connecticut and they have promised to work with them to meet HAVA mandates....

Guest blogged by David Edwards

WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES AND NUDITY THAT SOME MAY FIND OFFENSIVE OR DISTRESSING

On Wednesday night, Australia's SBS Dateline aired the following report containing new graphic images and videos of abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The report, which contains full motion video documenting mistreatment of prisoners, is more disturbing even than the various still photographs which have been posted elsewhere on the web.

Video in Streaming Flash format...

Since the announcement of Dick Cheney's shooting of Harry Whittington during a hunting outing over the weekend, the White House has failed to post the video of its daily Press Briefings on their website, The BRAD BLOG can report.

The video of briefings given by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan in the James S. Brady Briefing room are usually posted along with the written transcript of those briefings. So far, despite daily promises on the front page of the White House website that the video will be posted "shortly", none of the posted text transcript pages since the shooting have included the promised video from the recent contentious briefings.

"Today's Press Briefing with White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has concluded. Video from the Press Briefing will be available on the web site shortly," says the front page each day (see screenshot below), and yet as of today, 2/16/05, the video of the briefings from both 2/13, 2/14 and 2/16 have not been made available on the White House website. We wonder why

Video from briefings held for the White House Press Corps in the main James S. Brady Briefing Room, as opposed to teleconferenced briefings or "Press Gaggles" aboard Air Force One, are routinely posted along with the text transcript.

In October of 2004 --- just prior to the November Presidential Election --- The BRAD BLOG discovered that the White House had been removing or "scrubbing" various embarrassing information from their website. The information surreptitiously removed, in apparent violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, included a web page listing countries described as part of the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq. A massive amount of audio and video, such as George W. Bush's press conference in which he said he was "not that concerned" about Osama bin Laden, was subsequently discovered to have been removed as well.

The Washington Post picked up on our reporting at the time, and eventually, after pressure from the MSM, the White House restored all of that audio and video in the week just prior to the election. Though they never restored their list of "Coalition Member" countries reportedly fighting with the United States in Iraq.

When we contacted the White House for comment at approximately 6:15pm ET, the switchboard operator informed us that there was nobody available to give comment on the matter since "office hours are 9 to 5pm Eastern time" and that we'd have to call back tomorrow. We were told she could not take a message for us, "since nobody is in the office."

When the operator asked where we were from, and we told her BradBlog.com we were immediately put through to a woman in the Media Affairs office.

When we asked about the reason for the missing video, we were put briefly on hold before she returned to report that a "spokesperson" in the Media Affairs office said, "They're actually working on getting that video up right now," but she was able to receive no explanation for the delay. The woman identified herself as "an intern" in the office.

UPDATE: Within an hour of our contact with the White House, they have now added the video from Monday and Tuesday's (2/13 & 2/14) briefings to the transcript pages. Presumably video from today's briefing (2/16) will be added as well, though we didn't catch the front page of the website this morning to see if it had been promised as the previous ones had been.

A United Nations report on the Guantánamo Bay detention center found that evidence of detainee abuse "amounts to torture". The report also said that the United States is violating international law and said that the prison should be closed "without further delay."

Compare the quality and content of these video reports from BBC and NBC News. Why does the NBC report spend a large portion of the time discrediting the findings while BBC digs deeper by interviewing U.N. officials and human rights advocates?

Maryland was the "model state" for Diebold. It was amongst the first to roll out a near state-wide adoption of the new paperless Diebold DRE (touch-screen) voting machines after the 2000 election.

Diebold plowed millions into advertising campaigns across the state in order to declare the dawn of their new electronic voting age. "It's Here!" screamed billboards on buses, billboards, mall kiosks and television commercials --- "Maryland's Better Way to Vote".

Diebold's dream has become a nightmare for the once-great company.

As of yesterday, and a letter from the Governor [PDF] of the state obtained by The BRAD BLOG, indications are that the dream may soon be on the way towards a crashing and fitting end.

In the letter sent by Maryland's Republican governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. to the State Board of Elections on Wednesday, he declares that he "no longer [has] confidence in the State Board of Elections' ability to conduct fair and accurate elections in 2006."

Citing the "widespread national concern about the reliability and security of electronic voting systems," the decertification and denial of certification of Diebold around the country, and the need to "get aggressive in responding to citizens' concerns over public confidence in the elections system," Ehrlich says it's time to demand paper ballots once again in the State of Maryland.

"It is my personal belief," writes Ehrlich in a letter to BoE Chairman, Gilles Burger, "that the voters of Maryland should be allowed to vote a paper ballot or have a voter verification paper-trail to electronic voting as reassurance to voters that their votes are being accurately cast."

In his excoriating letter to Burger, the Governor goes on to cite the 78% increase in base cost for the system over original estimates and the --- sit down for this --- "1000% increase for estimates of the annual maintenance costs for this system."

"The cost of Maryland's Diebold voting machines has skyrocketed as our confidence in the system has plummeted," wrote the Governor.

Finally, the letter concludes with a brutal condemnation of the MD Elections Administrator, Linda Lamone, charging that her work and that of her staff, has been "primarily on behalf of partisan legislators and their interests and not on the interests of the citizens of Maryland."

Lamone, who is currently President of the National Association of State Elections Directors (NASED) has been a champion of Diebold's paperless touch-screen machines in the state. She recently testified to the state Senate that there was not enough time or money to add "voter-vefied paper trails" to Maryland's touch-screen machines prior to the 2006 election. As well, she has maintained for years that the system is safe, reliable and secure. Those claims are not well-founded.

An internal review by the state Elections Board after the 2004 election titled "Lessons Learned" [PDF] reveals that "189 voting units (7%) of units deployed failed on Election Day. An additional 122 voting units (or 5%) were suspect based on number of votes captured."

Those documented failures, of course, are just the ones we know about. In Leon County, Florida, when Diebold machines were hacked last December, it was done without a trace being left behind.

Washinton Post's Thursday coverage of Ehrlich's letter quotes him as telling reporters, "Maryland is not prepared to conduct an election."

Some Democrats in the Maryland Senate, however, are critical of Ehrlich who, they point out, had previously blocked efforts to include "voter-verified paper trails" on Maryland's paperless touch-screen machines.

That, however, was several months, and many "Diebold hacks" ago. Despite Diebold spokesman David "Baghdad" Bear's predictable response that there is still nothing to worry about and these machines work just great! --- there is most definitely something to worry about and the machines are terrible. Democrats in Maryland would be wise to recognize that, and be wary of getting lost in partisan politics, even if they were the ones responsible for deploying these crappy systems across the state in the first place.

The BRAD BLOG cannot overstate the devastating impact of Ehrlich's letter on the future of Diebold's Electronic Voting Machine hopes for this country. And it comes not a moment too soon.

[UPDATE: RAW STORY reports Maryland used Diebold machines in 2002 Gubernatorial Election and 2002 primary without certification, in violation of the law! And more...]

The entire 4-page letter from Ehrlich is here [PDF]. Extended "must read" selections follow...

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

Today has been another busy day. There has been a lot of fallout from the court decision in Pennsylvania and that has caused a lot of counties to question what they can or cannot do as far as buying new machines. Some are just ignoring everything and they plan on continuing to sign contracts. There is also talk of an appeal to the courts ruling by the state. In Alaska the state is delaying releasing any election records to the state Democrat party. In New Mexico a paper ballot bill has passed the House and is near to going for a signature and to becoming state law. And Utah has turned their back on 'Early Voting'. And late breaking from Maryland is news that the Governor has joined Reps and Dems in the state legislature who are all asking for a voter verified paper ballot....

I'll be sitting in to Guest Host with The Young Turks radio program tonight from 6p-10p ET (3p-7p PT) with a show so big they had to add an extra hour! (Usually, it's a three hour program). Listen in on Sirius Satellite Channel 146 and/or watch the Video WebCast at www.TheYoungTurks.com --- Tonight's Guests to include: Sibel Edmonds, Clint Curtis, John Conyers, a Live Feed from Dead-Eye Dick, and much more! Call in to the show at: 866-99SIRIUS

Otherwise consider this an Open Thread for discussion during the show and/or on any of the other Breaking News items you wish to blog about!

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Video in Streaming Flash format...

The GAO has release a report that details how the Bush Administration has spent over $1.6 billion on "advertising campaigns" in the last 30 months alone.

The report was requested by Congressional Democrats about a year ago after press reports indicated that the Bush Administration was engaged in using "covert propaganda" on the American people.

The GAO report list the following among a long list of abuses:

• Spending on contracts with public relations firms increased 128% between 2000 and 2004
• More than $1.1 billion PR was spent by the Department of Defense. This included $35 to promote golf courses and $10k to promote recreational cruises.
• $179 million for Air Force recruiting. In all, about $1 billion was spend by the DOD to in an attempt to bolster military recruiting
• The Army spent $2.5 million to promote its' global war on terrorism.
• $86 million to promote the failed Medicare prescription drug benefit

The RAW STORY has some comments from House Democrats:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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