Yesterday, the White House denied a claim made by Arizona's Republican Sen. Jon Kyl that he was told personally by President Obama that he would not work to secure the Mexican border unless it was part of comprehensive immigration legislation.

"The president didn't say that and Senator Kyl knows it," White House Communication Director Dan Pfeiffer told POLITICO yesterday in their story which includes video of Kyl's claims being made to supporters in Phoenix.

Today, Media Matters has a long list detailing Kyl's well-documented history of blatantly false claims.

But we had our own run in with Kyl --- and his proclivity to just pull stuff out of his hind-quarters when speaking to the press --- during the 2008 Democratic Convention, both outside, and then inside the Pepsi Center.

Remember this BRAD BLOG exclusive from August 28, 2008? When we seemed to be the only member of the media willing to press Kyl on his bullshit?...

A bit of comic relief that I was able to enjoy at the polls yesterday, as officials tried to figure out what the hell was causing my own (latest) e-voting disaster...

Many potential captions occur to me for use with the photo above, but I'll leave all of them to your imagination...or comments.

Have been working on a number of items (one rather important new exclusive), and various follow-ups to yesterday's elections. But, to be frank, my own deja vu nightmare yesterday has left me too depressed today to give much of a damn about any of it for the moment.

Will be on the radio with the very-smart-if-often-too-Libertarian-for-his-own-good Jack Blood at 2pm PT and then with the very-smart-and-always-refreshingly-well-informed Nicole Sandler @ 3:15pm PT thereafter. So hopefully one of those two appearances will cheer me up, and I'll feel like getting back to work soon. Or not.

If you're in or near L.A., there will be a FREE screening tomorrow (Saturday, 5/22) at 1pm, of Murder, Spies and Voting Lies: The Clint Curtis Story at the Unurban Cafe, 3301 Pico Blvd in Santa Monica. I'll be there for a Q&A afterwards, and to sign DVDs, and would love to see ya there!

UPDATE 7:28pm PT: I wish they hadn't called me a "Liberal Blogger," which I find grossly inaccurate. I've corrected them for next time. In any case, had fun on RT. You'll let me know how I did!...

BTW, for those who had been paying attention, I predicted all of this Rand Paul fun earlier in the week, when I wrote in my "Super-ish Tuesday Backgrounder" on Monday:

I just didn't think it was gonna happen on the Wednesday after his Tuesday election!

It seems the corporate lobbyist/GOP strategy for opposing everything is now officially to charge: "It's a Government takeover of [fill in the blank]!!!"

No matter what it is. And no matter whether it's actually a "government takeover" of anything or not.

As the rightwing corporatists seem to feel the strategy found some purchase in the healthcare insurance reform debate, it looks like they'll be recycling this line for just about everything. (See our recent coverage of the CA power company's "power play" to use a "government takeover of electricity" scare to trick voters into supporting the outrageous Prop 16.)

The latest corporate scheme/campaign to employ the strategy is the AT&T-funded telecom industry's latest assault on Net Neutrality. Assuring the Internet stays open to all would be a "government takeover" of it, according to the newly launched propaganda campaign (their first deceptive video is posted at the bottom of this article) which kicked off yesterday with the help of, naturally, Grover Norquist.

The new, cynical assault on the public also offers us a good excuse to re-post a pro Net Neutrality campaign video in which your humble host played a small but enjoyable role...

[Now UPDATED with audio archives of tonight's show.]

I'm happy to jump in again to guest host the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show tonight, this time LIVE from San Francisco's Green960 (6p-9p PT)!

Please join me by tuning in, chatting in, Tweeting in and calling in!

Our LIVE chat room will be up and operating here during the show as usual, so jump into the conversation there as well! (We''ll open it a few minutes before airtime, see down below.)

So far scheduled for tonight...

• DAVID ROBERTS, environmental reporter from Grist.org on the oil spill in the Gulf, Obama's "brilliantly" timed plans for more off-shore drilling and Lindsey Graham's climate and clean energy legislation hissy fit and "flustercluck".
• PETER B. COLLINS, our old friend, the great progressive radio talk show host returns to the broadcast airwaves for an hour to join us in studio to discuss his whereabouts, mainstream corporate media failure, this year's elections, and anything else you may wish to ask him about!
• PLUS: Please stop calling them "conservatives"! My rants, your calls at 877-99-MALLOY (877-996-2556), your tweets to @TheBradBlog, and lots of other stuff sure to come up along the way...

Malloy's show is nationally syndicated on air affiliates around the country and also on Sirius Ch. 146 & XM Ch. 167. You may also listen online to the free LIVE audio stream via our host tonight at GREEN 960 in San Francisco or via MikeMalloy.com.

Click here to jump into our LIVE Chat Room during the show. Or just see below!...

POST-SHOW UPDATE & AUDIO ARCHIVES: Well that went fast! Hope you'll find the same thing. Audio archives of the show, and of tonight's chat room all follow below...

Russian Television's English language satellite broadcast channel, RT, tracked me down on the road to comment on George W. Bush's speech yesterday at a conference on "Internet Freedom" at his George W. Bush Freedom Institute in Dallas.

A speech by Bush on "Internet Freedom"?! Irony much? Um, yes.

As it turns out, the Internet connection in the little town I was in was not stable enough to handle a Skype video interview, so my contribution had to be via telephone. Here's their story...

Closing out another week of guest hosting the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show LIVE tonight from L.A.'s KTLK am1150 9pm-Midnight ET (6p-9p PT). Hope you'll join me by tuning in, chatting in, Tweeting in and calling in!

Our LIVE chat room will be up and operating here during the show, so jump into the conversation there as well! (We''ll open it a few minutes before airtime, see down below.)

So far scheduled for tonight...

• JODIE EVANS, co-founder of CODE PINK joins us live from a Rove protest at UNLV following the group's attempted citizens arrest of the "war criminal" Rove this afternoon at a book signing event in Las Vegas (See our exclusive coverage here)...
• BOB KINCAID, WV environmental activist and founder of the Head-On Radio Network (HORN) on the recent Massey Energy mine disaster, and their disastrous CEO Don Blankenship...
• PLUS: Everything else we didn't get to previously this week (and there's plenty!), your calls at 877-520-1150, your tweets to @TheBradBlog, and lots of other stuff sure to come up along the way...

Malloy's show is nationally syndicated on air affiliates around the country and also on Sirius Ch. 146 & XM Ch. 167. You may also listen online to the free LIVE audio streams. Here's a few to choose from: GREEN 960 in San Francisco • KTNF in Minneapolis • KPOJ in Portland • KPTK in Seattle or at MikeMalloy.com.

Click here to jump into our LIVE Chat Room during the show. Or just see below!...

POST-SHOW UPDATE & AUDIO ARCHIVES: Had a great week, ya'll! My thanks to you, and to the Malloys for inviting me back behind their big microphone! Mike returns Monday! The audio archives from tonight's BradCast are now posted below, along with the archive of tonight's chat room. Enjoy 'em all until we next meet this way again...

[UPDATED with audio archives below. Enjoy!]

I'll be Guest Hosting the The Mike Malloy Show again tonight and tomorrow, LIVE from L.A.'s KTLK am1150 9pm-Midnight ET (6p-9p PT) each night. Please tune in and call in!

Our LIVE chat room will once again be up and operating here during the show, so jump into the conversation there as well! (We'll open it a few minutes before airtime, see down below.)

So far scheduled for tonight...

• KATE SHEPPARD, energy and environmental politics journalist from Mother Jones' Washington bureau, on Obama's off-shore drilling plan, the Massey mine disaster (and their disastrous CEO Don Blankenship), and where we stand on Climate Legislation in Congress.

• MARCY WHEELER, the great accountability blogger from Firedoglake's emptywheel, on accountability, the DoJ and Yoo!
• PLUS: My rants on all of the above and more, your calls at 877-520-1150, your tweets to @TheBradBlog, and lots of other stuff that will come up along the way...

Malloy's show is nationally syndicated on air affiliates around the country and also on Sirius Ch. 146 & XM Ch. 167. You may also listen online to the free LIVE audio streams. Here's a few to choose from: GREEN 960 in San Francisco • KTNF in Minneapolis • KPOJ in Portland • KPTK in Seattle or at MikeMalloy.com.

Click here to jump into our LIVE Chat Room during the show. Or just see below!...

POST-SHOW UPDATE & AUDIO ARCHIVES: A lively show tonight with lots and lots of callers (for a change) to boot! The audio archives follow below, and the archive of last night's live chat room follows below them...

[UPDATED with audio archives now posted below! - BF]

I'm Guest Hosting the The Mike Malloy Show LIVE again this week through Friday, LIVE from L.A.'s KTLK am1150 9pm-Midnight ET (6p-9p PT) each night. Please tune in and call in!

Our LIVE chat room will be up and operating here during the show, so jump into the conversation there as well! (We''ll open it a few minutes before airtime, see down below.)

Scheduled tonight...

• BERTHA LEWIS, CEO and Chief Organizer of ACORN on the now-infamous ACORN "Pimp" Hoax, mainstream media failure, their own failure, and the future for the four-decade old anti-poverty national community organization.
• PLUS: My rants on the New York Times failures, your calls at 877-520-1150, your tweets to @TheBradBlog, and lots of other stuff that will come up along the way...

Malloy's show is nationally syndicated on air affiliates around the country and also on Sirius Ch. 146 & XM Ch. 167. You may also listen online to the free LIVE audio streams. Here's a few to choose from: KTNF/Minneapolis • KPOJ/Portland • GREEN 960/San Francisco • KPTK/Seattle or at MikeMalloy.com.

Click here to jump into our LIVE Chat Room during the show. Or just see below!...

POST-SHOW UPDATE & AUDIO ARCHIVES: Lots and lots of ACORN and accountability and ass kicking. Hope you enjoy the archives as much as we enjoyed making 'em for you!. You can also read the rerun of the night's chat room. It all now follows below...

Sorry this took a few days to get posted. Have been busy. As noted last week, on Saturday I made my third appearance in as many years at the annual "L.A. Media Reform Summit" sponsored by CA Common Cause. It was again held at Occidental College, and I was honored to serve as their keynote speaker for the first time this year.

Below is the video of my full speech, in which I discussed the serious crisis we now face as our corporate mainstream media hit full fail mode. That point, as I argued, is exemplified by 1) the massive failures of the old "dead tree" media to meet their constitutional responsibilities to help protect the public from bad guys (as illustrated by the NYTime's months of damaging and flagrant misreporting on the ACORN "Pimp" Hoax, as we've been covering at The BRAD BLOG for months), and 2) the full, rightwing take-over of nearly every inch of the public's broadcast spectrum by a handful of corporations that do not meet their FCC license obligations to manage those airwaves in the public's interest (as we've been covering at The BRAD BLOG and elsewhere for years).

I also discussed your responsibility in doing something about both of those serious problems!

The video is posted below the fold, since it's about 40 minutes in all, and might otherwise get interupted by the main page's auto-refresh routines. Enjoy. And get to work!...

Just a quick note to mention I'll be presenting Saturday's (3/27) keynote address at the "Media Reform Summit" sponsored by CA Common Cause here in Los Angeles at Occidental College @ 11am. The theme of this year's conference is, appropriately enough, "Preserving Democracy."

After appearing on panels at each of the past two year's conferences, I'm honored to have been invited back to offer this year's keynote and am much looking forward to it. (Here's some video/text-transcript from my first appearance two years ago, on a panel alongside then-Congresswoman, now-Sec. of Labor Hilda Solis.)

If you're in the 'hood and can drop by, please do! I'll work to make it worth your time! More details, including directions, other speakers/panels, etc. are all available here...

POST-CONFERENCE UPDATE:

Video of keynote address is now posted here...

I had the pleasure to appear on San Francisco public radio's "Friday Media Roundtable" on their Your Call program today (heard on KALW in San Francisco and KUSP in Santa Cruz).

Along with the NYT's massive ACORN "Pimp" Hoax fail, we also discussed and critiqued media coverage of healthcare insurance reform, the latest in the U.S./Israel diplomacy theatrics, and even a bit on the guilty verdict for Kentucky election officials yesterday. Joining me on today's panel, along with host Sandip Roy, were Alex Wayne of Congressional Quarterly and Sherine Tadros of Al Jazeera English.

The audio is posted below, and I believe it's well-worth giving a listen to --- particularly in regard the direct disagreement that Wayne and I got into over the media's failure (as I see it, though he didn't), to have covered the substance of healthcare insurance legislation, while devoting an inordinate amount of coverage to the politics of that debate instead.

(Continue reading below for more on that, more on how the NYT's Public Editor Clark Hoyt illustrated the very crux of the media's failure on so many stories of importance to the public, and for the audio of the show itself)...

This from a panel of today's Tom Tomorrow strip, titled "Too Much Crazy," depicting New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt "as a weasel"...

Much more crazy in the full strip.

The quote in the above panel is taken from the mindblowing emails Hoyt sent to me recently, as one of his reasons for not recommending the "paper of record" issue retractions for their repeatedly inaccurate and misreported coverage of the James O'Keefe/Andrew Breitbart ACORN video "pimp" hoax, as The BRAD BLOG has now been covering for weeks.

In addition to the absurd justifications that Hoyt (who can be emailed at Public@NYTimes.com) offered for refusing to responsibly recommend corrections, the paper's Senior Editor for Standards, Greg Brock, offered equally absurd reasons for standing by their reporting earlier, including O'Keefe's appearance on Fox News, "wearing what HE said was the same exact costume he wore to ACORN's offices."

"If there is a correction to be made, it seems it would start with Mr. O'Keefe himself. We believe him," Brock (who can be emailed at SeniorEditor@NYTimes.com) incredibly asserted via emails we posted here. "Therefore there is nothing for us to correct."

[Ed note: This blog item was originally published on 2/6/2010. I'm re-dating it to today, to let you know that my full Hustler article, sans graphics, has now been posted online at the LarryFlynt.com site.. Edmonds has now named names, but the media won't investigate. Why would that be? I look at the possibilities in my article. --- As well, the Mike Connell feature story in February's Maxim, mentioned below, is also now posted online. -BF]

You're welcome. My 2000+ word article on former FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds is now featured in the March 2010 edition of Hustler. Sorry, she's wearing all her clothes. Go buy it anyway.

The article brings the story of Edmonds, who was twice-gagged by the Bush Administration's outrageous use/abuse of the "States Secrets Privilege," fully up to date following her naming of names, finally, under oath, in remarkable testimony last summer. (Some of those names: Hastert, Burton, Blunt, Lantos, Schakowsky, Wolfowitz, Perle, Grossman, etc.)

Last night, I received this tweet from GOP propagandist, con-man, unapologetic hypocrite and liar Andrew Breitbart:

Poor Andy has had some trouble keeping his stories straight of late. But, in any case, the above tweet is just something to keep in mind in the days ahead. I suspect it may come in handy for future reference...