We will make you as comfortable as possible in this lovely city of Portland Brad. Thanks for everything and see you there at the Summit.

Anyone have any hints on how to get a newpaper editor to print a letter that is not "newsworthy" (like having our elections routinely stolen is no biggie, kinda like a lost dog article or something...). I don't see anything in the Oregonian yet.

This was my best quick effort at a letter to the editor....wish us luck! - Editor: As reported in the Business section of the Oregonian, the stock for Diebold, Inc. (Diebold Election Systems) hit a 52-week low last week. Ordinarily not a newsworthy bit of information. However, the bottom line is that as has been documented numerous times, free and fair elections have become a thing of the past in the United States. This is due in part to the ability to alter electronic vote returns through control by private companies. The reason for the huge stock price drop is that a Diebold insider has come forward with details on the security flaws within Diebold, Inc's electronic voting systems, software and machinery. The source is acknowledging that the company's upper management as well as top government officials were keenly aware of the undocumented backdoor in Diebold's main GEM Central Tabulator software that was used natrionwide in the 2004 election. A branch of the Federal Government even posted a security warning on the Internet.

This weekend, the National Summit to Save Our Elections is being held in Portland. Prevention of electronic election fraud is but one topic to be addressed by bipartisan national experts.

Looking forward to saying hello, DaveK! Come out on Portlanders (and those within driving, running, flying, walking distance!)

Brad, I've been following you for almost a year...since you first broke the story about that scum bag Tom Feeney and his vote fraud software. I can't wait to read/hear your full report on the Save OUR Elections Summit. I love you so much, you make us girls swoon, you know! I hope you run for President some day you smart, sexy thing!

Tom DeLAY INDICTED!

ABOUT BLOODY TIME!!!

I got a question?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a link for reporting crime. Well do you think if I reported this administrations crime's they would investigate? One that comes to mind is the lie bush told to the American people about this war, and all the murders that accured because of it.
Has anyone done this yet?
:plain:

Go, Brad! Good heavens, you're a panelist and an expert now! Well, if Robert Pastor can be an expert, why not you? Looking forward to hearing about the conference. Hey, mainstream media, gonna send some reporters out to cover it? Sorry... little joke...

A listener called into Ed Schultz today very upset about Diebold and the state of our hackable elections. Schultz gave him a good 2 minutes of air time (refreshingly, since when I brought this up with Johnny Wendell on-air in LA on KTLK, I got disconnected), and Schultz hemmed and hawed a bit, saying he covered this issue as much as anybody before the election, but for whatever reason it just did not get any traction with the American people. Schultz also blamed the Dems for not running with the ball. And he was right. And I listened to all this shaking my head, thinking, Kee-rist, people just do not fucking get it. We all, every one of us, needs to keep doing our parts to wake them all up. BE THE MEDIA!

Somewhat off topic: Wayne Madsen has a great story on how the Bush machine deliberately doctored the Bush military records so they could be exposed as fakes... check it out at

www.waynemadsenreport.com

Lisa, if I'm not mistaken, the Attorney General would be the one in charge of an investigation of that magnitude, and with a Bush loyalist in that post, an FBI investigation ain't gonna happen. Fitzgerald was a definite fluke.

The real question is why NYPD allowed their jurisdiction to be usurped in the 9-11 investigation. Hey, wait, the police commissioner in New York at that time was... Bush loyalist Bernard Kerik! Sweet Jesus. NO WONDER Bush tried to reward him with the Homeland Security job. The whole thing is so disgusting it makes me ill. One of my best friends from high school was killed when the NeoCons demolished those towers. I will never forget, and I will not rest until every last PNACer is in prison.

I have a sure fire way to get the Neocons concerned about hacking of voting machines. We need to start a "HACK THE VOTE" campaign". I dont' know how to but, someone needs to post instructions all over the net on how to hack into a GEMs server. Email and mail fliers to Repub. & Dem. congress folk incouraging Dems. to HACK THE VOTE in 2006. Our mantra can be "IF THE CONS CAN DO IT, WE CAN TOO". That'll get their attention and maybe some meaningful reforms.

Interesting post(s) at Huffingtonpost
In the immediate aftermath of 9-11 former President GHW Bush publicly advocated suspension of the US Constitution and violation of laws by the DOJ and CIA and FBI agents inside the US to allow domestic spying on Americans. This is what Presidents GHW Bush and GW Bush and Chertoff have had in mind all along when they intentionally helped create the terror pretexts they have used to illegally and immorally trade American freedoms and privacy for a false sense of security.

Chertoff not only helped develop illegal and unconstitutional police laws for a US police state at DOJ, but Chertoff now, as Homeland Security Chief will carry out these same police state laws. Chertoff will willingly carry out and extend the perverted legal umbrella legalese excuses provided in the Alberto Gonzales memo that proclaimed Bush, as President, is above the law during an unending, self-declared war on terrorism.

was that "the Alberto Gonzales memo that proclaimed Bush, as President, is above the law during an unending, self-declared war on terrorism."?

Elaine - (Blush...) At this rate, I'm more likely to be running *from* the "President" than for it!

JimCirile - Yup, if Robert Pastor is an "expert" at *anything*, then I can't understand why I was once again overlooked for the Chief Justice nomination! It's a whacked out world we're in, and getting more whacked. I've been asked by KPFK to take part as analysist for their Election Day coverage in November! See what I mean about a whacked out world?

Let us all pray...But fix the problems on our own, in every way possible, until the Big Man shows up to do it for us (and no, I don't mean John Conyers).

Great links, MMIIXX. Thanks!

Brad, have a great time in my hometown! I'm now 3+ hours away, and wish I could be there, but I've spent too many weekends out of town lately.

Anyhow, you'll love Portland and will add tons to the panel. Go Brad!

Brad, how is Clarence Clemons gonna help us? "The Big Man!" "Whoa-oa-oa-oh, Thunder Road..."

Hey Brad,

One thing that's bugged me for awhile is: why are the big liberal names like Move On, Michael Moore, and others silent on election fraud? Must be death threats. Only reason I can see.

It would really help this issue get traction to bring Move On and their 600,000 members into the fold. Maybe now that the election is a year ago it will be deemed "safe" for these guys to jump onboard to fight this issue and at last get about the business of saving America.

Definitely something to bring up at the conference: how to bring these very influential types into the fold.

USEFUL TOOL

Excellent attack tree presentation here gives a great overview of just how vulnerable our election systems are.

Great tool for sharing info with folks who don't realize how bad the situation actually is.

There's one good thing about the deafening silence re. Stolen Election issues: as this thing grows, it grows strong and deep.

Sure it would be great if the Usual Suspects on the left came on board. But I'd rather see a movement that didn't need them in order to gain numbers and relevance.

Sorry, this is OT but I'm in a rush (running VERY late)...

...Stirling Newberry's DailyKos entry for today has some key phrase-changes to help properly frame the assault on our language and terminology by Republicans of the NeoCoup:

Words to Live By

Please share this.

Grey hawk- I enjoyed your post and found it very informative. Words make a big difference because we live in a sound bite society. People go alot on impressions they get from small things and events. For this reason I would like to add that anything that is said or done by progressives is fodder in the next election. I encourage all progressive and liberal candidates, individuals and groups to consider how the things they do or say will look during the election. Politics are dirty and this bunch are very dirty politicians.

Re: FRAMING

(Thanks Greyhawk for bringing this up.)

There is an excellent discussion here about "framing" issues relating to elections./

Some key points:

Voting reform => "Voting INTEGRITY"

Diebold, ES&S, etc voting machines are (in the words of Consumer Reports/Nader)
-- UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED
-- UNSAFE FOR ANY ELECTION

-- voting machine security flaws are akin to an "unguarded border crossing" --- it's possible that anyone can get in - they are a house with "curb appeal, but with an unlocked back door"

public officials' ignorance is like "pre-9/11 security"

Voting security issues are a "grave and gathering threat"

The Carter-Baker commission is like Michael Brown and FEMA --- unprepared to deal with real challenges.

GEMS/ Accuvote/ etc like Vioxx: proven unsafe, should be taken off the market.

Diebold, O'Dell = the "Enron" of voting machine companies --corporate insders lied to the public, bilked stockholders.

Paper ballot:
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln all voted with a paper ballot --- the birthright of all democracies.

The Constitution, the Bill of Rights were a product of Pens, Paper, and Patriots.

[above thanks to Mike Copass]

and:

Another frame (theirs) is to frame voting machine SECURITY issues, instead, as issues of voter CONFIDENCE.

In the rebuttal written by Jimmy Carter and James Baker to the opponents of the ID requirement, recently printed in the New York Times, the first paragraph stated that they had set up the Carter-Baker Panel because they were concerned about voter confidence. Therefore, they wanted to restore voter confidence.

This is the frame of choice in Washington D.C. Note that this frame has us trying to fix voter confidence, instead of trying to fix THE PROBLEMS.

Don't fall for the myth of "polite politics" where we carefully tiptoe around the actual problem instead of defining it accurately. The problem with the voting machines is that they are insecure and can be manipulated. This is not a problem of "voter confidence."

And, FYI, the first to address voting machine SECURITY as an issue of "voter confidence" was the ITAA, in a proposal asking voting machine VENDORS to pony up $200,000 each in a hurry so it could start lobbying in order to correct the "voter confidence" issue.

To do this, it proposed setting up a "Blue Ribbon Panel" and coming up with a "Gold Standard" which vendors would be allowed to heavily influence.

Sound familiar?

We need to define the problem accurately, and WE need to insist on the frame. It is not "voter confidence" it is "election integrity" and "voting machine security."

Also, it is not "VoteR fraud" it is "Election fraud" that we are concerned about. Insiders, vested interests, wholesale techniques that create systemic opportunities for control of elections --- not a voter here and there who pushes a button twice.

[above thanks to Bev Harris]