Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today finds a mixed bag of articles. There is more about the Ohio study that is beginning right away according to the SoS Office.

See below for links to today's mixed bag...

We don't normally re-run entire items from elsewhere here. This one, however, is important (and short) enough to merit it. From Paul Kiel over at TPMMuckraker...

You can register your opinion on Hans von Spakovsky, who is as evil as his name evokes, with the Senate Rules Committee and Feinstein (D-CA) here: 202-224-6352, or via their website.

Let's play Republican-like politics.

Turns out, some 50 (mostly Republican) members of the Senate are in favor of attacking "the honor, integrity, and patriotism" of those who have served honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces.

We knew that already, and not only from the Republican filibuster of a bill that would have given members of the U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq as much time off as they were forced into serving in the field.

But a less-discussed vote in the Senate last week underscored just how much Republicans despise honorably serving members of our military, and how impotent Democrats seem to be at exploiting that fact...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

We were encouraged earlier this year when two states announced their plans to do a complete review of their voting systems. California has now completed their “Top-To-Bottom Review” and has taken action on all but the three Document Review papers that have yet to be released. Ohio got off to a slow start with their “Evaluation and Validation of Election Related Equipment, Standards and Testing” (EVEREST). It’s hard to figure out what is happening and how valid this project will now be. The State Controlling Board has now given SoS Brunner the money she needs to conduct the project but they have thrown in some questionable requirements. Local election officials now have an advisory role in the testing and a say in any recommendations. The Board has also provided the technical testing standards that will be used and requires participants in the study to have insurance to make sure counties don't have to pay to repair or replace any machines damaged by tests. Two weeks ago they were concerned about the bias of some academics who were involved in the project. Now they are building bias into the whole system.

That story, and all of today's other notable voting news stories, linked below...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

In Nevada ex-Secretary of State and now Congressman Dean Heller likes to tell anyone who will listen why he dislikes HR-811 and all about the amendments he has added to the bill. He falsely claims to have “inserted” amendments that would exempt Nevada from the requirements of the bill and another that would require English-only instructions on the voting machines. Heller also falsely claims that Nevada is the only state that has established a paper-trail on its voting machines, avoiding lawsuits. He then goes on to claim that passage of HR-811 would erase all of the advances made by the state; advances that were taken when he was SoS, by the way. It appears that Congressman Heller has no problem at all misleading his constituents and the local media who report his false statements. Congressman Dean Heller, today’s “Enemy of Democracy.”

That story, and today's other notable voting news stories, all linked below...

Guest Blogged by Steven D of Booman Tribune

I don't mean to be rude, but what the hell is going on?

No impeachment proceedings, despite the Kucinich Impeachment Articles languishing in the House? A refusal to make the Republican Senators filibuster the Webb amendment that would have required a mandatory year's rest between deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan (which wasn't even an antiwar bill, but one crafted specifically to support the troops)? Twenty two Democratic Senators voting to condemn Moveon.org for exercising their right to free speech? No strategy for ending this war other than a vain hope to "peel away" a few "moderate" Republicans? Mealy-mouthed explanations for why nothing gets done?

I'd like to support the Democratic leadership in the Senate and the House, I really would, but so far I see nothing that I can, in all honesty, point to as a significant action by our leadership in support of a progressive agenda...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Over the past week the media and the blogs have been filled with articles in support of a report negative on voter-verified paper audit trail requirements. Though the articles have found fault with parts of the report from the new on the scene Information Technology and Innovation Foundation they all agree on one thing; more technology added on to DRE voting machines is good and vvpat is bad. This new think-tank, ITIF, wants more software and gimmicks to be added to the present DREs. They say it will make the machines verifiable. In fact, it’s nothing more than software and gimmicks. It’s more expense for the counties who must pay more for licensing, updates, bug repairs, certification costs, etc. I have an innovation. Let’s recycle the DREs, use paper-ballots, and let the fine folks at ITIF think about how they can improve some other aspect of our lives like the long waits at the airport or global warming. This all makes the ITIF today’s “Enemy of Democracy” award winner.

And with that caveat, links to today's notable voting news stories follow below...

[UPDATED POST-SHOW]

Santa Cruz County Clerk, Gail Pellerin joined us on the Peter B. Collins Show again tonight, live, to follow up on last week's interesting and rather spirited (at times, contentious-ish) hour.

The audio archive and full text transcript of last week's hour is posted here if you missed it.

The audio from this week's show, along with the transcript, courtesy of Santa Cruz voter Emily Levy of VelvetRevolution.us.

Since last Friday's show, CA SoS Debra Bowen has pronounced that the voting machine "sleepovers" Pellerin told us she'd planned for her Sequoia voting systems again in 2008 "don't comply with the security requirements" for those voting systems in California.

As well, we've gotten the opportunity to chat a bit via email with Pellerin since then, and are encouraged that we can begin working more together than apart, as is necessary, I think, for Election Integrity advocates and Elections Officials. It's the voting machine companies who are the real villains in this matter, and they've been quite successful at driving an opportunistic wedge between advocates and officials.

UPDATE, AUDIO & TRANSCRIPT: The show went very well. Pellerin stuck around for the entire hour and it was a great discussion with several interesting and newsworthy revelations, along with some very good callers as well. I think we may be getting somewhere. At least I'm hopefully tonight for the good folks of Santa Cruz...

As we could all use something to lighten things up around here, and it's so amusingly off-base, and it's a slowish posting day, and clearly someone needs some attention, why not...

Some pseudonymous blogger named "Vigilis" with some blog named "Molten Eagle" has called me out. I am so wounded to the core by his stinging and ingeniously well-supported critiques and barbs that I just must respond in desperate defense of my once-good name.

In his item called "Confronting Brads Baloney Blog", our man (I presume) "Viligis" instructs his readers (reader?) that "today's leftist propagandists...refuse to stand and debate" before alluding to me (presumably) as "con artists and their ilk [who] shift topics as rapidly as possible by disparaging opponents with both charges of falsehoods and rancorous name-calling."

"Of course," our friend "Vigilis" ironically charges: "this is done without citation of the slightest facts." (More on that in a minute.)

But it's not just me of whom the anonymous blogger is critical. It's you! You commenters! Especially you female commenters, whom "Vigilis" calls out not once, but twice in his amusing post:

I have "frontmen"?! Cool!

But wait, it gets more tickling!

"Vigilis" then asks, "How can serious people behave so irresponsibly?" before dropping the most absolutely, amusingly ironic (read: immeasurably foolish) graf, particularly in light of his earlier charge that "propagandists" and "con artists" like us ply our trade "without citation of the slightest facts."...

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

The following videos were all created on Thursday, September 20th at the Jena Six rally in Jena, Louisiana and in front of the prison in Alexandria, Louisiana. Sadly, Mychal Bell, the only member of the Jena six still behind bars more than 10 months after he was charged with attempted second-degree murder for a school yard fight, had his bail denied today. And the injustice continues...

Reverend Al Sharpton: "Two wrongs don't make one Civil Right"...

CNN's Tony Harris tells The BRAD BLOG what he would like to see happen with the Jena Six...

More videos beneath the fold...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

What is more important; verified accurate elections or results reported on election night? San Francisco election officials would have us believe election night reporting is the most important as they whine about how the decertification of their voting system will cause them to have to spend weeks counting the ballots; a clearly childish and false claim. Why isn’t the verified accurate count of our votes more important than election results being announced on election night or even the next morning?

The Secretary of State of Washington and the County Auditor’s Association argue against any audit of the votes counted on optical-scan machines. We are a vote-by-mail state so well over 70% of the ballots are all counted by optical-scan. I find it to be amazing that they would argue against ensuring every vote is counted correctly. The only reason they would make those arguments is cost or early results. Neither of those reasons should take precedence over my vote being counted accurately.

Those stories, and all of today's other notable voting news, linked below as usual...

We just spoke with Greg Palast, whose Armed Madhouse paperback (or "mysterious 'yellow book,'" as lazy Washington Post blogger, Emil Steiner "reported" it), was being waved and alluded to by University of Florida student Andrew Meyer just prior to his being Tasered by UF cops earlier this week.

Palast says he is offering the journalism student a job as a paid intern. Meyer had described Palast, in his question to Sen. John Kerry, asking why he conceded the 2004 Presidential Election so early, as "the top investigate journalist in America."

"Did you notice he never let the book touch the ground?" an impressed Palast wryly noted.

Meyers was Tasered by the authorities as the majority of the students in the crowd sat passively during their fellow student's pleas for help and shrieks of pain. He was then arrested and charged with a felony for "inciting a riot and disrupting a school function." (Police report here [PDF])

"His attorneys seem to be keeping him on ice," Palast told us, when we asked if he'd been able to officially offer the gig to Meyer.

Indeed, our note to Meyer sent Tuesday, inviting him to Guest Blog his experience here at The BRAD BLOG, has so far similarly gone unanswered.

We were in Nashville a couple of months ago, at a meeting of the Davidson County Board of Elections. We tried to warn them that they would run into trouble with their ES&S touch-screen voting machines, probably sooner, rather than later. But the Kool-Aid drunk Republicans on the board would have none of it. "Paper ballots are the biggest scam ever perpetrated on America," one of them told us. To our astonishment, he actually seemed to believe himself.

That GOP blend must be some very tasty Kool-Aid.

Meanwhile, the nice Democrats who were in the majority on the board sat there and said and did nothing. They were very very nice. And completely clueless.

And now, next door in Memphis (Shelby County), where they use equally bad Diebold touch-screen machines, Mayor Willie Herenton is calling for an end to Early Voting, which began this week, as reports of votes flipping began coming into his office just after polls opened...

And thus, Stephen Colbert hits on precisely the most alarming issue at the heart of the Tasering incident: The students (and Kerry) stood by. Did nothing. America pacified...

As we wrote to some folks in a discussion list yesterday:

I should also add that, according to the Police Report [PDF], Meyer was arrested on an absurd felony charge of "inciting a riot and disrupting a school function."

If that was "inciting a riot" worthy of Tasering, I can only shudder at what the authorities' reaction would have been to someone who was actually inciting a riot.

And I believe my shudder is ultimately, and exactly, the point of such displays by the authorities.

As Naomi Wolf pointed out, such tactics have worked very effectively in the past.

Eternal Vigilance: More Than Just a Swell Bumpersticker Catch-Phrase.

Our initial coverage, and early thoughts on the incident, are posted here...

Related: Wheelchair Bound Woman Tasered to Death