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It's Up to You, New York: 'BradCast' 3/21/24
Trump staring down barrel of both civil and criminal accountability in NY; Also: Biden forgives another $6B in student loans; U.S. seeks 'sustained ceasefire' in Gaza; Scientists baffled by spike in record global heat...
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Biden EPA issues biggest climate regulation in U.S. history; Rio hits 144°F heat index!; Exxon CEO blames YOU for climate change; PLUS: U.N. issues climate change 'red alert'!...
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Corporations 'Taking a Bazooka' to NLRB, Hoping to Declare it 'Unconstitutional': 'BradCast' 3/18/24
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FL bans heat protections for workers; Methane leaks continue; GOP Project 2025 would ban Paris Agreement; PLUS: CA snowpack is back, but too late for salmon...
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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...
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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...

DOJ PROBE SOUGHT AFTER VA ARREST
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
The other companies of Romney's GOP operative Nathan Sproul, at center of Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, still at it; Congressional Dems seek answers...

FINALLY: FOX ON GOP REG FRAUD SCANDAL
The belated and begrudging coverage by Fox' Eric Shawn includes two different video reports featuring an interview with The BRAD BLOG's Brad Friedman...

COLORADO FOLLOWS FLORIDA WITH GOP CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Repub Sec. of State Gessler ignores expanding GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, rants about evidence-free 'Dem Voter Fraud' at Tea Party event...

CRIMINAL PROBE LAUNCHED INTO GOP VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD SCANDAL IN FL
FL Dept. of Law Enforcement confirms 'enough evidence to warrant full-blown investigation'; Election officials told fraudulent forms 'may become evidence in court'...

Brad Breaks PA Photo ID & GOP Registration Fraud Scandal News on Hartmann TV
Another visit on Thom Hartmann's Big Picture with new news on several developing Election Integrity stories...

CAUGHT ON TAPE: COORDINATED NATIONWIDE GOP VOTER REG SCAM
The GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal reveals insidious nationwide registration scheme to keep Obama supporters from even registering to vote...

CRIMINAL ELECTION FRAUD COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST GOP 'FRAUD' FIRM
Scandal spreads to 11 FL counties, other states; RNC, Romney try to contain damage, split from GOP operative...

RICK SCOTT GETS ROLLED IN GOP REGISTRATION FRAUD SCANDAL
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) sends blistering letter to Gov. Rick Scott (R) demanding bi-partisan reg fraud probe in FL; Slams 'shocking and hypocritical' silence, lack of action...

VIDEO: Brad Breaks GOP Reg Fraud Scandal on Hartmann TV
Breaking coverage as the RNC fires their Romney-tied voter registration firm, Strategic Allied Consulting...

RNC FIRES NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION FIRM FOR FRAUD
After FL & NC GOP fire Romney-tied group, RNC does same; Dead people found reg'd as new voters; RNC paid firm over $3m over 2 months in 5 battleground states...

EXCLUSIVE: Intvw w/ FL Official Who First Discovered GOP Reg Fraud
After fraudulent registration forms from Romney-tied GOP firm found in Palm Beach, Election Supe says state's 'fraud'-obsessed top election official failed to return call...

GOP REGISTRATION FRAUD FOUND IN FL
State GOP fires Romney-tied registration firm after fraudulent forms found in Palm Beach; Firm hired 'at request of RNC' in FL, NC, VA, NV & CO...
The Secret Koch Brothers Tapes...

By Desi Doyen on 7/26/2007 12:28pm PT  

Guest blogged by DES...

The Hill reports that Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has issued a subpoena to White House adviser Karl Rove, the next step in the escalation of the standoff between the White House and Democrats over their attempts to assert congressional oversight and investigation over the executive branch. Scott Jennings, a White House aide, was also subpoenaed.

The latest subpoenas come on the heels of the contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, in which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was openly derided by both Democrats and Republicans on the committee for his perceived misleading testimony; several members of the committee alleged the testimony borders on perjury and today asked the U.S. Solicitor General to appoint a Special Prosecutor.

Comparing current Bush White House tactics to the embattled Nixon Administration, Leahy said:

The evidence shows that senior White House political operatives were focused on the political impact of federal prosecutions and whether federal prosecutors were doing enough to bring partisan voter fraud and corruption cases,” Leahy said. “It is obvious that the reasons given for the firings of these prosecutors were contrived as part of a cover-up and that the stonewalling by the White House is part and parcel of that same effort...

Not since the darkest days of the Nixon administration have we seen efforts to corrupt federal law enforcement for partisan political gain and such efforts to avoid accountability...

I am left to ask what the White House is so intent on hiding that it cannot even identify the documents, the dates, the authors and recipients that they claim are privileged.

Rove and Jennings have one week to appear before the committee to testify under oath.

Hold your breath.




Shows Gonzales Apparently Admitting That Some US Attorney Firings Improper
By Alan Breslauer on 7/26/2007 12:24pm PT  

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Jon Stewart covers the latest ridiculous testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on yesterday's Daily Show. More importantly, Stewart highlights what appears to be an admission by the AG of improper firings of US attorneys:

Alberto Gonzales: I'm not aware, sitting here today, of any other US attorney who was asked to leave...Except, there were some instances where people were asked to leave, quite frankly, because there was legitimate cause.

Whoops.




Tune in, Call in, LIVE Today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET) at www.PeterBCollins.com!
By Desi Doyen on 7/26/2007 10:22am PT  

Blogged by DES from Houston...

It's our penultimate day of Brad's week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show! We've got a big show again today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET), broadcasting still from KPFT in Houston, Texas.

Our Election Integrity Hour today will feature the first LIVE broadcast interview with TOVA ANDREA WANG since she's finally been un-gagged by the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC). You'll recall she co-authored a report on Voter Fraud for the EAC (her original report here [PDF]) which was subsequently buried and then altered without her permission by the federal commission, when they didn't care for her findings that Voter Fraud was not the wide-spread epidemic that Republican operatives in the White House, DoJ, and other front groups like the ACVR had pretended it to be. Wang, a Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation, had been disallowed, through dubious legal tactics by the EAC, to speak about their duplicity, their changes to the report, and much more for months...until now!

Other guests scheduled for today's show: (subject to change/updates as warranted): FAIZ SHAKIR of the Center for American Progress, KRISTINA JOHNSON of the Sierra Club and TRACY FLEISCHMAN of Brave New Films on the hard-hitting new documentary Fox Attacks!, JOHN GIDEON of Voters Unite and the PBC show's military affairs contributor, SCOTT DICK (and perhaps more to be announced shortly), plus BREAKING NEWS and YOUR CALLS throughout!

Listen LIVE via: http://www.PeterBCollins.com (or an on-air affiliate station)
Call in at: 1-888-5-PeterB (1-888-573-8372)
Open thread discussion during the show: In Comments below...


POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES:

HOUR 1: Faiz Shakir on the Democratic requests for a special prosecutor to investigate Gonzales for perjury. Kristina Johnson and Tracy Fleischman on the campaign against Fox "News" (and their advertiser Home Depot) and their anti-environmental propoganda...

HOUR 2: Scott Dick on all matters military, Iraq, and the meltdown of America...

HOUR 3: The latest on CA SoS Debra Bowen's release of her "Top-to-Bottom" study of electronic voting systems and the rest of the hour with Tova Andrea Wang on her extraordinary experience with the EAC and the political gaming of her voter fraud report...

A complete text-transcript of this interview with Wang is now posted here...




Independent Reports to Be Released Friday, Public Comment Hearing in Sacramento on Monday, SoS Bowen's Final Certification Decisions on Aug. 3...
By Brad Friedman on 7/26/2007 8:11am PT  

Blogged by Brad Friedman from Houston...

Following up on yesterday's report on the latest machinations surrounding the release of CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen's unprecedented "Top-to-Bottom Review" --- including independent hack testing and source code analysis --- of electronic voting systems. The BRAD BLOG has received a few more details on official release dates and timing, including a public hearing in Sacramento next Monday, from the SOS's office [emphasis ours]:

-- The independent reports will be finalized and posted to our website this Friday, July 27. These will include all the teams' findings in the four areas of the voting systems review, without opinions about what the state and counties should do.

-- A public hearing will be held in Sacramento beginning at 10:00 a.m. Monday, July 30. It will begin with the two principal investigators presenting an overview of their findings, followed by vendor responses and then a general public comment period.

-- Secretary Bowen's decisions on system certifications will come August 3, after her thorough review of the findings and public input.

We're in Texas, but hoping those within driving, walking, running distance from Sacramento will show up to the Capitol to give their thoughts on the findings on Monday, as we expect the voting machine vendors to be there in droves, and they may need a reminder that they do not own these elections. The citizens do.

We're also still waiting to hear back from Steve Weir, the Registrar-Clerk of Contra Costa County and President of the California Assoc. of Clerks and Election Officers (CACEO), for details on his published comments indicating that CA registrars may choose to ignore Bowen's findings. The CACEO has blasted Bowen's review of voting systems previously.

Not sure what Weir's legal theory is for such an action, which seems to fly in the face of both the law and the will of the people --- Bowen was elected precisely on her promises to take the actions she's currently taking after both her predecessor in CA and federal agencies had failed completely to properly test these voting systems before certifying them --- but we'll let you know what we learn. We've invited Weir to appear on the Peter B. Collins Show, which we continue to Guest Host through the end of this week. We'd love to hear from him, of course. Stay tuned...

UPDATE 7/27/07 2:40pm PT: Still waiting for the release of the reports, which I'm told by the SOS will be "any moment". When it's released, it should be right here.




Results of Unprecedented Testing to Be Released Next Week, While Voting Machine Companies Continue in Denial, and CA Clerks Association Says They May Do What They Want Anyway...
By Brad Friedman on 7/25/2007 11:24am PT  

Blogged by Brad Friedman from Houston...

The results of California Secretary of State Debra Bowen's landmark "top-to-bottom" review of electronic voting systems in California are due on August 3rd. (UPDATE: The SoS's Office informs us the report will be released this Friday. Details now posted here.) It'll be the first such official analysis, performed by several teams of testers, in which these voting systems have actually been tested for vulnerabilities and failures by "red team" hack/penetration testers, as well as having the system source codes fully and independently tested.

An article by Steve Harmon published in several CA newspaper this week offers a preview of the battle which may be ahead, including one exceedingly disturbing suggestion that California Election Clerks may be preparing to "ignore Bowen's findings and continue to use their systems" no matter what she may find, and whether or not she decertifies the systems for use.

Yours truly is quoted early in the piece, suggesting that "voting machine companies are quaking in their boots," as Bowen is doing precisely what she was elected to do and is fulfilling her campaign promises through the unprecedented series of tests.

John Gordon of Public Radio's Future Tense program followed up that printed report with his own four-minute audio report in which I'm also interviewed:

Of note in both reports, the voting machine company spokesholes are on the defensive, as expected. But the real battle after Bowen releases her findings may lie with the California Association of Clerks and Election Officers (CACEO), currently led by President Steve Weir, who makes some startling statements in the report...

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




'Most if not all prosecutions and investigations should await the end of the election' Has Been Removed from Guidelines, According to Senate Questioning of Gonzales Yesterday...
By Brad Friedman on 7/25/2007 9:51am PT  

Blogged by Brad from Houston...

It's difficult to keep up with everything from on the road, in a hotel without C-SPAN, and while being on air (at least) three hours every day right now. So we're grateful to reader SG, who took the opportunity to "be the media" and send us the following overlooked item from yesterday's Gonzales hearings in the Senate.

I haven't seen this covered on any of the blogs other than the liveblog on FDL. It strikes me as important enough that it might deserve some additional investigation and commentary on Bradblog.

During the Gonzo hearing yesterday, Diane Feinstein brought up the fact that the new 2007 version of the "Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses" [PDF] guidebook had significant alterations and omissions from the prior version (1995) in the area related to preventing new prosecutions from being timed in a manner that could impact the results of an election. As I'm sure you know, there were some pretty strict guidelines related to that which were violated by some of Bush's US attorneys in their quest to gain Republican advantage.

Here's the relevant portion of FDL's liveblog:

[FROM SEN. FEINSTEIN QUESTIONS] Read to you what has been dropped from the earlier addition of the DOJ manual. (1) restriction on bringing a voter fraud case close to an election. (2) Care for overt investigations in the pre-election period and while election is underway. “Most if not all prosecutions and investigations should await the end of the election.” — underlined in the prior volume — has been removed. Reason for that was to not impact the election. Gonzales, predictably, has no idea what Feinstein is talking about and can’t answer why those changes were made.

Feinstein says that this is relevent because two, possibly three, USAttys did not bring these small cases which could have impacted the elections. And when you look at the changes in the regs on this, something is rotten.

Hope that is helpful.

Helpful indeed. Thank you, SG.

BRAD BLOG readers likely recall the questions given to Bradley Schlozman during Senate Judiciary Hearings last May after the DoJ Civil Rights Unit "Voter Fraud" zealot turned Missouri US Attorney "Voter Fraud" zealot brought voter fraud indictments just days before the November '06 general election in the Show Me state, where a razor thin Senate election was raging. The indictments, so close to an election, were in contradiction of written DoJ policies, and led to an extraordinarily angry exchange between Schlozman and Sen. Patrick Leahy during those hearings (video here).

In that exchange, Schlozzie admitted that he could have brought the same indictments two weeks later --- well, after the election --- without otherwise damaging his case. He also blamed others at Main Justice for giving him the okay to bring the obviously politically-timed indictments. Shortly thereafter, facing pressure from those he'd blamed at DoJ, he was forced to recant his testimony to take responsibility himself for bringing the indictments.

Unfortunately, we can't dig deeper into the Feinstein/Gonzales exchange for the moment, but welcome readers who can to leave more info on this in comments as they are able to unearth it.




Tune in, Call in, LIVE Today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET) at www.PeterBCollins.com!
By Desi Doyen on 7/25/2007 8:22am PT  

Blogged by DES from Houston...

It's Day 6 and we're closing in on the last few laps of Brad's week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show! Listen in today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET), where we'll be continuing our live broadcasts from facilities of Pacifica's Houston station, KPFT.

Today's scheduled guests (subject to change/updates as warranted): MAX BLUMENTHAL of Huffington Post; MIKE LUX of American Family Voices on OpenLeft.com; BRAD BLOG D.C. Correspondent MARGIE BURNS (see Margie's newest article here); LARISA ALEXANDROVNA of RawStory.com; today's Daily Election Integrity Hour with JOHN GIDEON and ELLEN THEISEN of VotersUnite.org on today's Senate hearings for Diane Feinstein's new election reform bill, plus the latest news on Debra Bowen's "Top-to-Bottom" voting system review in California, plus BREAKING NEWS and YOUR CALLS in the Free Speech Zone!

Listen LIVE via: http://www.PeterBCollins.com (or an on-air affiliate station)
Call in at: 1-888-5-PeterB (1-888-573-8372)
Open thread discussion during the show: In Comments below...


POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES:

HOUR 1: Latest on Contempt of Congress in the House, Mike Lux on "Legislation 2.0" and Max Blumenthal on "Generation Chickenhawk" with some great audio from his recent video taped visit to a College Republicans convention...

HOUR 2: Audio from Gonzales hearings in the Senate, Margie Burns on where Team Bush came up with "Compassionate Conservative", and Larisa Alexandrovna on the questions about the ties to Iran in the latest National Intelligence Estimate...

HOUR 3: Election Integrity Hour! With John Gideon on the latest ES&S mess in San Francisco and the horrible idea to sell poll worker sponsorship to corporations in one Ohio County, a Brad rant on the California Election Clerks' Dick Cheney-like attempt to undermine Debra Bowen's "Top-to-Bottom Review" of voting systems in the state, Ellen Theisen on the Senate hearings for Diane Feinstein's S.1487 Election Reform Bill, and a quick in-studio special appearance by 9-year old George W. Bush expert, Alister...




A Tribute to a Late Pope - a Genuine Compassionate Conservative - Ripped Off for a Campaign Slogan...
By Margie Burns on 7/25/2007 5:39am PT  

Guest blogged from DC by Margie Burns

(NOTE: Margie will appear on today's Peter B. Collins Show as Guest Hosted by Brad Friedman, to discuss this article.)

Team Bush began describing candidate George W. Bush as a “compassionate conservative” in 1998, when Bush began his open run for president, as opposed to the behind-the-scenes operation that had begun with his first run for governor of Texas in 1994. By the time the 2000 presidential campaign was in full swing, probably every American with a television had heard the label. In fact, as the actual election approached, the Bush campaign often took to preferring “reformer with results” --- reacting to a margin of diminishing returns for “compassionate conservative.”

Where did they get the “compassionate conservative” label? Hardly anyone would remember or notice in 1998, but the New York Times had run it front-page on August 7, 1978, when Pope Paul VI died and the Times ran his photograph, captioned prominently as a “Compassionate Conservative,” above the fold. Originally the phrase was a genuine tribute to honor a man who by all accounts deserved it (see below). Its recycling by the Bush campaign was a tactic designed to help Bush seem ‘centrist.’

But a 1978 issue of the Times was not the first step in resurrecting "compassionate conservative" as a campaign slogan...

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




91% Of Country Supports Legislation That Bush Has Threatened To Veto
By Alan Breslauer on 7/25/2007 12:00am PT  

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer




Marian Wright Edelman appeared on Democracy Now today to discuss legislation supported by Democrats and Republicans in both houses, along with 91% of the American people, to extend health coverage to nine million uninsured children. Amy Goodman points out that the expansion of the so-called "S-CHIP program" to cover more children even enjoys "tepid" support from pharma and insurance groups.

Yet, while Americans overwhelmingly want to protect the most vulnerable among us, at least one person fervently disagrees:

President Bush: “I believe government cannot provide affordable health care. I believe it would cause --- it would cause the quality of care to diminish. I believe there would be lines and rationing over time. If Congress continues to insist upon expanding health care through the S-CHIP program --- which, by the way, would entail a huge tax increase for the American people --- I'll veto the bill.”

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




Luzerne County's Leonard Piazza Furious at Attempt to Charge $300,000 for Extended Warranty on Touch-Screen Voting Systems...
By Brad Friedman on 7/24/2007 12:46pm PT  

Blogged by Brad from Houston...

Michael P. Buffer at The Citizens Voice is reporting that Luzerne County, PA, elections director Leonard Piazza is furious at voting machine company ES&S for their attempt to charge some $300,000 for an extended warranty on their voting machines.

Decrying "the mix of deception this company promulgates" and the "unsavory business practices that vendors, such as ES&S, seemingly have a deep commitment to employing," Piazza penned a letter to state officials recently with his concerns.

We have now booked Piazza as a guest to discuss the issue on this evening's Peter B. Collins show, which we have been Guest Hosting. We also hope to be posting his letter in full here, and will update this item with it after we receive it. (NOTE: See update now at end of this article for full letter, and link to the archive of the radio interview with Piazza.)

For now, here's the lede today from Citizens Voice:

In a letter to state officials, Luzerne County Director of Elections Leonard Piazza bashed the company that provided the county’s voting machines and asked for financial help to pay for a three-year warranty priced at more than $300,000.

The county last year spent $2.4 million in federal money to buy 750 touch-screen voting machines from Election Systems & Software, and a one-year warranty has expired on roughly half of the machines and will expire on the rest this year.

“In addition to not being able to meet the financial burden that ES&S is asking us to meet, we cannot individually deal with such a large, multi-national corporation and the mix of deception this company promulgates,” Piazza wrote in a July 19 letter to Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth Thomas J. Weaver and Harry A. VanSickle, commissioner of the state bureau of commissions, elections and legislation.

Piazza asked the state to help ensure “that voting-system vendors doing business here do not have the opportunity to threaten the democratic process with such unsavory business practices that vendors, such as ES&S, seemingly have a deep commitment to employing.”

UPDATE: The two-page 7/19/07 letter from Piazza to state officials, complaining about ES&S and asking for help ends, "As I’ve come to learn from other jurisdictions, once the confidence is lost, it is virtually un-retrievable—and that would suggest that the democratic process itself has been broken." It is now posted in full here [PDF].

My on-air interview with Piazza --- which was both informative, and at times a bit contentious --- from today's Peter B. Collins radio show is now archived online here (in Hour 3).




Tune in, Call in, LIVE Today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET) at www.PeterBCollins.com!
By Desi Doyen on 7/24/2007 9:32am PT  

Blogged by DES from Houston...

It's Day 5 of Brad's week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show! Listen in today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET), where we'll be continuing our live broadcasts from facilities of Pacifica's Houston station, KPFT.

Today's scheduled guests (subject to change/updates as warranted): MARY MAPES, the Peabody-award winning former CBS Evening News producer and current Huffington Post contributor; Investigative Journalist and author of News Junkie, JASON LEOPOLD of Truthout.org; DUANE BRADLEY, General Manager of KPFT Pacifica Houston and OTIS MACLAY, formerly of the Pacifica Radio Network, old-school veterans of independent radio (and our generous hosts here in Houston), on the Fairness Doctrine and our ever-changing media landscape; today's Daily Election Integrity Hour with JOHN GIDEON of VotersUnite.org, Luzerne County, PA Election Director LEONARD PIAZZA on his county's problems with ES&S, plus BREAKING NEWS and YOUR CALLS in the Free Speech Zone!

Listen LIVE via: http://www.PeterBCollins.com (or an on-air affiliate station)
Call in at: 1-888-5-PeterB (1-888-573-8372)
Open thread discussion during the show: In Comments below...


POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES

HOUR 1: Joined in-studio by KPFT's General Manager Duane Bradley on the history of the station and Pacifica, and the KKK bombing of their transmitter in the 70's, and then by Pacifica legend Otie Maclay to discuss the Fairness Doctrine (which he's against)...

HOUR 2: Mary Mapes on George W. Bush and his brutal record of using the death penalty in TX (after commuting Scooter Libby's sentence for being "excessive") and the railroad she received after her CBS/Dan Rather story on Bush's National Guard service (or lack thereof). And Jason Liepold on Dick Cheney's coverup of his energy task force and the phony California power "crisis"...

HOUR 3: Election Integrity Hour, with...John Gideon's Daily Voting News update, and PA Election Director Leonard Piazza on the strongarming of his county by the ES&S voting machine company and a somewhat contentious exchange or two on DREs. Plus, Bill Richardson and his "touch stone" voting systems...




Richardson Answers, Wants 'Verified Paper Trails on Optical Scanners,' No More 'Touch Stones,' and an End to Republican Voter Suppression
By Alan Breslauer on 7/23/2007 8:05pm PT  

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer and Brad Friedman

The question (video below) in the CNN/YouTube seems to be about "standardizing" voting systems around the country. The only one given the opportunity to answer it is New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson, who should have hit this out of the park since he signed a bill to outlaw the use of DRE touch-screen systems after disaster in NM in the 2004 election.

Though his answer uses the phrase "touch stones" (we'll chalk it up to nervousness, we guess) and he goes on to use the phrase "verifiable paper trail" (instead of paper ballot), he's clearly speaking about actual ballots since he calls for those "verifiable paper trails" with "optical scanners."

Richardson is theoretically trying to break out from the pack. He ought to be able to use his status as the only candidate to have actually outlawed dangerous, disenfranchising DRE touch-screens to distinguish himself from the others. It might help, however, if he got his words right. But at least someone spoke to democracy, finally, in the midst of this absurd Presidential Election campaign.

Anybody else in the pack care to speak up and stand up in favor of democracy? Anyone? Bueller? We're waiting.

The video of the question and answer, appx 1 minute, follows in full...







After being hidden from the public for more than two years, records reveal apparent forgeries in the first city ward examined
How is it US Attorney Steven Biskupic missed this? Could he have been looking for voter fraud instead of election fraud?
By John Washburn on 7/23/2007 11:10am PT  

Guest Blogged by John Washburn

(NOTE: Washburn be appeared today on The Peter B. Collins show, as Guest Hosted by Brad Friedman, to discuss his findings. The archived interview is now available here..)

After a two year interruption, I am beginning to go through the copies of November 2, 2004 election records which were provided to me in the settlement of my lawsuit with the City of Milwaukee Election Commission.

People have asked me: "Why do you still pursue this after two years? Get a life. The election is over and John Kerry carried the state with 11,384 ballots."

The high minded reasons are:

  1. Because it is the duty of sovereign citizens to watch public officials vigilantly and eternally. This is a design principle of the American government; Citizens watch those in power.
  2. Process auditing is the act of verifying written procedures were actually followed as documented. As a software tester process auditing is in my professional "sweet spot." I thought I could do some process audits of the canvassing done by several cities and share the results with others. I considered this my contribution to the body politic if any of my fellow citizens would want to do the same.
  3. Election results are important. John Kerry carried Wisconsin by 11,384 ballots out of 3 million cast (2,997,007 to be exact). This is 0.38% of the vote. It is important to know which candidate won such a razor thin election; especially since the State of Wisconsin and the City of Milwaukee in particular were rife with problems.

But, to be brutally honest the answer is it has been primarily spite and anger which has kept me on this like a Jack Russell terrier clamped to the sleeve of a shaking arm. And the results of my initial examination of these records reveal immediately disturbing findings...

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




Tune in, Call in, LIVE Today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET) at www.PeterBCollins.com!
By Desi Doyen on 7/23/2007 11:05am PT  

Blogged by DES from Houston...

We're launching into the second week of Brad's week-and-a-half long Guest Hosting stint on the Peter B. Collins Show! Listen in today from 3p-6p PT (6p-9p ET), where we'll be continuing our live broadcasts from facilities of Pacifica's Houston station, KPFT.

Today's scheduled guests (subject to change/updates as warranted): AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder and activist DAVID SWANSON, fresh from the scene (if he's not in jail!) of today's Impeachment March and Sit-in at Rep. John Conyers office; Media Matters' ERIC BOEHLERT; MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD, Editor of The Progressive and author of You Have No Rights; and live from Baghdad, Reporter and author of Baghdad Bulletin, DAVID ENDERS! Plus: today's Daily Election Integrity Hour starts a half hour early (4:30pm PT) with software expert, citizen investigative journalist JOHN WASHBURN on his new BRAD BLOG post below, JOHN GIDEON of VotersUnite.org, and YOUR CALLS!

Listen LIVE via: http://www.PeterBCollins.com (or an on-air affiliate station)
Call in at: 1-888-5-PeterB (1-888-573-8372)
Open thread discussion during the show: In Comments below...


POST-SHOW UPDATE/ARCHIVES...

HOUR 1: Eric Boehlert on the attempted Rupert Murdoch buyout of Wall Street Journal and Matthew Rothschild on Bush's troubling new Executive Orders...

HOUR 2: Bob Fertik of Democrats.com updates us with the latest on the 1,000,000 impeachment signatures dropped off today at John Conyers office, in place of David Swanson who was arrested there today with Cindy Sheehan and others. And, in the first half of our Election Integrity Hour today (which started early), John Washburn gives us inside details on his Exclusive today on the apparent ballot box stuffing and forgeries in Milwaukee's 2004 Presidential Election...

HOUR 3: John Gideon on the failure of Sequoia Printers in New Jersey, and Tom Courbat checks in from Riverside County, CA for the second part of our split EI Hour today, followed by journalist Eric Benders LIVE from Iraq...and not from the green zone!




By Brad Friedman on 7/22/2007 2:58pm PT  

Not enough time today to give more than the quickest of notes on this, but I'm sitting in this evening on the Sunday Monitor as Guest Host here on Houston's Pacifica Affiliate, KPFT 90.1 FM.

I'll be taking the place of the good Pokey Anderson and interviewing "Diebold Document Whistleblower" Stephen Heller on both his plight and his feelings on the latest Election Reform issues.

Tune in, if ya can, via http://www.KPFT.org at 4pm PT (7pm ET, or 6pm CT locally here in Houston).


POST-SHOW UPDATE: Here's the audio archive of the full hour-long show. Including a new round-up of the week, my interview with Stephen Heller, and an interview on legal and impeachment issues with Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild...




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