Looks like Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org gets the first words out on ElectionAssessment.org's hearing yesterday in Houston which was set up as a counter to the phony hearing that occurred today by the now-discredited Baker/Carter National Election Reform Commission. (Details explaining both hearings here. Be sure to enjoy the comments on that itme by the way, and note our own personal restraint in not posting our private communications with Mr. Lowenstein who is privileged enough to sit on the Baker/Carter Commission, but doesn't believe he needs to hear from American Voters who are concerned about the dangers it poses to our Electoral System. But we digress...)

It doesn't look as if C-SPAN covered the 2nd and final Baker/Carter Hearings today, as they did with the first one. Which is fine by us. As the first one was filled with little more than misleading disinformation presented by a stacked deck of ringer "witnesses" who morphed the real problem of Election Fraud into the non-existant "problem" of Voter Fraud. As a matter of fact, the only thing much resembling media coverage of either meeting beforehand was the Press Release issued we issued from Velvet Revolution.

In her quick message board reply, Harris, just one of the many witnesses at ElectionAssessment.org's hearings who should have given testimony to and/or been sitting on the Baker/Carter Commission itself, gives some insight into how things went at thos hearings...

She has more in her post, including what should make for some very interesting video tape to come soon!

(That tape, by the way, will be available on DVD for Dr. Pastor, with whom we've exchanged pleasantries ourselves in the past, and the rest of 'em on the Baker/Carter Commission...if you haven't already let them know about that fine opportunity, you may still do so here.)

(Hat tip BRAD BLOG commenter and BRAD SHOW caller, Catherine A. from Ireland for the link to Bev's post!)

Feeling scandal fatigue towards what is increasingly being revealed to be an indescribably filthy Republican Party / Bush Administration? Too bad, get ready for a bit more.

In just one of the increasingly too-many items that BRAD BLOG has been unable to find the time to investigate properly and report on of late, is the story of political operatives Sproul & Associates and the enormous amount of money they were paid by the Republican Party before, during and after the 2004 Presidential Election for services-still-unknown.

We had received some of the early tips on this matter based on the tireless digging of John Brakey (he, of the similarly under-reported Arizona Electoral Fraud "Rosetta Stone" investigation) but were unable to find the time to investigate and report on it properly. Thankfully, Mark Crispin Miller was able to find the time and has filed his first report on the matter today.

Miller does a fine job of making sense of a very complex set of numbers, representing millions of dollars paid to the firm of the former head of the Arizona Republican Party and the Arizona Christian Coalition.

Those numbers have since been changed, re-dated, re-apportioned, re-described, re-catagorized, disappeared and otherwise gamed in their filing of same by the RNC to the Federal Elections Commission since the November election, and even within the last few weeks!

Those of you paying close attention may remember former employees of Sproul's firm, Voters Outreach of America, alleging that the firm had shredded thousands of voter registration forms in a number of states prior to the election. Democratic voter registration forms only, mind you. They are reportedly now under criminal investigation in the state of Oregon related to such charges.

In any case, if you're not too exhausted already by the myriad other Criminal Enterprises being revealed daily as Business-as-Usual by George W. Bush and his Republican Party win-at-all-costs Partners-in-Crime, you may want to get a load of this one.

Is there no end to the corruption these guys are capable of?!

At least we can rest easy knowing that Bush didn't get a blowjob in the oval office (that we know of). If that had been the case, we're certain that Congress and the American Corporate Media would finally have found something criminal enough to merit a thorough investigation on behalf of the American People.

Long Live the Bloggers!

It seems to us that if these were normal times --- when we weren't far far through the looking glass already --- a story such as this would have been front page news. For days on end. At least. Such as things are, however, here in Bizzarro World (previously known as America) this story ran on p. 12 of Tuesday's LA Times...

Considering the lack of media attention the Downing Street Documents have recieved, the fact that Zogby is reporting today that some 42% of Americans would favor impeachment of George W. Bush for misleading the nation into war is rather stunning, we think.

The fact that the American People are no longer gullible enough to buy the baloney Bush sold in his speech the other night is not quite as surprising. We find both pieces of news to be encouraging.

Imagine what those numbers would be like if the Mainstream Corporate Media actually reported on what's really going on!

The BBC, of course, not the American Media, got the headline right...

Meanwhile, back over here across the pond, the AP typically downplays any concerns of a new "secret police" under the control of the White House. Their fawning lede for the same story seems to laud Bush for his latest actions:

Washington Post, however, in a Page 1 story (refreshingly), seems to mostly get it. Even though it takes a graf or two before they get to the troubling part:

Ah, well, as long as a good man and torturer like Alberto Gonzales has given his seal of approval and will be watching carefully over matters, we suppose there's nothing at all to worry about here. Phew...

Leave it to those America hating liberals at the ACLU to waste our time alarming us about such matters. It's not as if they were right at all concerning torture at Gitmo! Haven't you heard? Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said the prisoners are feasting like kings, and Rush says Gitmo is a vacation paradise!

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.” - Martin Niemoeller

Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (for whom we readily admit having a crush since having met her at the National Election Reform Conference in Nashville - see swooning photo of both of us at right) discussed the latest chililng Diebold hack conducted several weeks ago by BlackBoxVoting.org in a BuzzFlash article by Matthew Cardinale published today.

The hack they performed was very important, and raised some serious hackles from the friendly folks of Diebold Inc. They of the promise to "deliver Ohio" for George W. Bush, and coincidentally, the world's largest Voting Machine Company.

If you're not familiar with the Diebold hack done by BBV (and you may be, since we've be woefully remiss in reporting on it here) or the angry response that Diebold sent to the election supervisor who allowed the experiement, you'll want to read the whole article...

This is from a Reuters article we'd missed last week. It seems that there are still George W. Bush supporters who are gullible enough to believe he actually gives a damn about their tax burden and the way in which their money is spent. Apparently such folks will believe anything.

Yet since Bush didn't feel it important enough to broach this subject last night in his report to the American People on how well things are going in Iraq, we suspect this news --- even a week old --- is still notable enough that we should help get out the word about what's actually happening in Iraq...

Not sure where they picked it up, but yesterday Editor & Publisher covered the planned Guest Blogging duties here of Tribune Media Services' Bob Koehler for the upcoming BRAD BLOGathon. Their quickie item on it is right here.

This one is difficult for me to write about as I'm the main beneficiary of the effort and yet have not been in on much of the actual planning of the event (see this latest guest blog from Winter Patriot with more details including other notable Guest Bloggers scheduled for the event), but I'm glad that E&P picked up on the matter since I think the effort is actually newsworthy. Not so much the actual coverage of a fundraiser for this blog, but the general idea of readers organizing to raise funds for the Independent/Alternate Voices they appreciate as a counter to the Corporate Media.

I know that Dr. Steve Viele (one of the main ringleaders in the effort) has mentioned to me that he hopes this will serve as a model for other blogs out there, and I hope that he's right. Advertising and donations throughout the course of normal daily blogging here only go so far to cover the costs for the time and effort this gig now takes. Very few, if any, of us bloggers have major corporate sponsorship, and that's probably a good thing. But then how do we continue to do the important work that needs to be done without regular sponsorship or subscriptions if we can't pay our bills?

Don't know if Dr. Steve's model will work or not (the Blogathon is scheduled for the weekend of July 9, 10 & 11) but I think it's worth watching, and I hope that other blogs and blog readers keep an eye on it if only to see if they may be able to organize similar efforts for those other bloggers out there who find themselves in the same position/predicament that I do.

It seems there are a lot of folks --- political players with lots of access to money --- who complain about the bias and laziness of the Corporate Media. Many of them are more than willing to toss tons of bucks to Political Candidates every two or four years. But when it comes to opening their pocketbooks to support the work of the folks who are actually in the trenches every day trying to counter the Corporate Media Bias on a daily basis, those big money players are nowhere to be found.

If those monied folks who toss $50/month or more to their Cable Company without batting an eye realized how important even half of that amount would on a monthly basis to folks like the bloggers on the ground, there would be a lot more of us, and we'd have the resources to do alot more of this work...Anyway, sorry to natter on...I just hope the effort makes a difference. For me, yes, but even more so for so many others out there like me who are trying, against all odds, to do similar work. To that end, don't forget our friends at RAW STORY continue their ongoing fundraiser through tomorrow, and yes, our own PayPay Link is always open.

American Hero, Paul Rieckhoff, founder of OpTruth.org who quit his job on Wall Street after 9/11 to go fight in Afghanistan, (here's a link to our first-ever blog item on him from May of '04) responds to Bush's speech tonight.

Here are just a few of the highlights....

As they say at OpTruth, "Really support the Troops! Listen to them!"

Apparently the AP received the same couple of paragraphs from the White House about Bush's speech tonight that we did. However, we didn't bother to use their Press Release to write an article about a speech that hasn't yet occured. And to write it as if it already did occur! The AP, however, has done exactly that.

And they say we're too tough on the Mainstream Corporate Media for merely repeating instead of reporting...Give us a break!

UPDATE: The complete White House Press Release, from earlier today, is below so you can compare it to the article as run by AP...

Tomorrow, in Houston, the day prior to the Baker/Carter Commission's 2nd and Final hearing on Election Reform, ElectionAssessment.org is holding their own alternate hearings featuring many of the Experts and Advocates that the Baker/Carter Commission should have asked to testify at their own hearings!

Velvet Revolution has created a webletter allowing you to inform the Baker/Carter Commission about these alternate hearings!

Unfortunately, the Baker/Carter Commission has now irrevocably discredited themselves by stacking the deck with Partisan Operatives and Voting Machine Company Representatives as we have reported here many times. So it's up to groups like ElectionAssessment.org to present the honest testimony required for any commission to make real recommendations for Election Reform in the United States of America!

Please click here to send an Email Immediately to Baker/Carter Commission Members about ElectionAssessment.org's Hearings...

As time is now short, please use the "Email it to Someone" link at the bottom of this item to let your frirends know about this!!!

The superb set of real witnesses and experts scheduled to give testimony tomorrow include the following...

The BRAD BLOG has learned that Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and a number of other Congressional Members will announce their intention to hold open Town Hall Meetings across the country on July 23rd to discuss the "Downing Street Documents" with constituents.

The meetings, to be held on the same day around the country in the members' various Congressional Districts, will mark the third year anniversary of the creation of the original Downing Street Minutes document. That document, released nearly two months ago, revealed that the Bush Administration had determined at least eight months prior to the War on Iraq that they intended to topple Saddam Hussein through military means, and planned to "fix" the intelligence and facts around the policy.

Earlier this month, a letter was delivered to the White House signed by 122 Congressional Members and more than 560,000 American Citizens asking George W. Bush to answer a number of questions concerning the information contained in the minutes written by the head of British Intelligence, Richard Dearlove. The White House has still refused the courtesy of a reply to that letter.

MORE: We are told that "at least" 10 U.S. Congressional Members will be holding these Town Hall Meetings, and that --- unlike Bush and Cheney's phony Town Hall Meetings --- the forums will actually be open to the public for discussion. No loyalty pledges to be required before attending. The number of Congressmen and women to hold hearings is expected to increase in the days and weeks ahead prior to the July 23rd date.

AND MORE... AfterDowningStreet.org is helping to organize the Town Hall Meetings, and offers quite a few links on how you can help from your home town!

AND STILL MORE... Conyers has now released further details on his blog, including a link to sign up for information, help with hosting house parties on the day of the Town Hall meetings and an email address to send questions and suggestions for the event.

He goes on to say, in his blog item, that this event is a "follow up to our hugely successful hearing we held in the basement of the Capitol Building on June 16." Perhaps it should be suggested that all such July 23rd House Parties be held in basements or storage closets just to get into the spirit of things!

Since Ohio seems to be doing a fine job collapsing on itself politically, we haven't waded too much into the entire mess. Suffice to say, the Buckeye State seems to be imploding without much help from us, so far be it for us to get in its way.

We're fairly certain that the evil J. Kenneth Blackwell (OH Sec. of State and, by complete fluke of nature, Co-Chair for Bush/Cheney '04) will be sucked irrevocably into the vortex of criminal political corruption now unravelling in Ohio. Hubris has its way. The only unclear question is whether the entire national Republican Party will be sucked in as well.

Either way, we congratulate Ohio on overtaking Florida --- for the moment --- as the filthiest political state in the union! It seems a sure bet that any state responsible for delivering George W. Bush a "victory", is most likely corrupt from top to bottom. Ohio has yet to disappoint in that regard!

We also have a feeling, as Jolson used to say, we ain't seen nothin' yet!

As reported today by AfterDowningStreet.org...

The letter to colleagues from Conyers, Waters and Lee is here...

UPDATE 6/28/05: Plan for speeches on the floor rescheduled for Thursday...

As usual, on Monday morning, after taking a few hours off yesterday, I'm beseiged with stuff that I must catch up on. I'm doing my best to do so, and hope to be making some noise here soon. In the meantime, a couple of personal mop-up items from the weekend...