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BradBlog's Journal
 Did Doug Hoffman Actually Win the NY-23 Special Election? If So, Does It Actually Matter? Narrowing margin in post-election canvass raises hopes for GOP/Conservatives, but recent Republican-set precedent may well dash that hope... A potentially interesting situation is underway in New York's 23rd Congressional district where post-election canvassing of the recent Special Election for the U.S. House is still underway. According to Syracuse's Post-Standard, the post-election canvass shows the race between Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who conceded on Election Night, and Democratic candidate Bill Owens, who was sworn in as the district's new U.S. Congressman last Friday, to be tightening as results are double-checked, errors are being found, and a few thousand absentee ballots are still uncounted. But whether or not it's found that Hoffman received more votes than Owens, will it actually matter, given the hard-fought precedent that Republicans established in 2006 in a very similar election?... FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7518 Source: BRAD BLOG
 Hannity 'Apologizes' for Falsifying Footage of Tea Bagger Rally After The Daily Show busted the Fox 'News' anchor attempting to inflate the apparent attendance for a recent D.C. Tea Bagger rally by using old footage from two months ago, Sean Hannity offered an "apology" of sorts on tonight's show. Having no choice but to cop to it, Hannity admitted getting busted, though claims it was "an inadvertent mistake". How one can inadvertently go fetch footage from two months ago, and "inadvertently" edit it into a report on an event that took place earlier on the same day is not entirely clear. He also failed to explain to his viewers the context in which the "incorrect video" actually was shown. Neither did he run Stewart's report from last night explaining clearly how Hannity had attempted to fool them. So, as usual, Hannity's viewers remain largely both in the dark and misinformed. Here's the transcript and the video of Hannity's statement, which came at the very end of his show tonight, about an hour ago... STEWART VIDEO, HANNITY 'APOLOGY' VIDEO, TRANSCRIPT: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7516 Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7516  ABC News' Brian Ross' Contacts with al Qaeda Network's 'investigative correspondent' used 'electronic means' to connect with terrorists... How many times does he have to get these stories wrong before ABC News cans their hapless and constantly wrong "investigative correspondent" Brian Ross? We suspect he'll be allowed to keep screwing up, again and again and again, so long as his screw-ups result in lots of media attention. Little wonder Ross is one of the only broadcast network news stooges invited on Bill O'Reilly's show, again and again and again. As it turns out, Ross' big "scoop" yesterday, which swept both the wingnut and non-wingnut media alike, cooked up the alleged Fort Hood shooter Army Major Nidal Malik "Hasan's Contacts with al Qaeda". Those "contacts with al Qaeda"? Um, not so much as it turns out in actuality, at least based on Ross misreported "evidence". Furthermore, Ross' own admissions now -- as measured by ABC News' own "standards" -- would seem to suggest that Ross himself may well be an al-Qaeda terrorist!... FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7514  Exclusive: Mike Connell's Family Copes With His Mysterious Death, Tipsters, Legal Options -- Guest Blogged by Rebecca M. Abrahams On December 18, 2008, Bush IT expert Mike Connell, a highly skilled pilot, was killed in a sudden crash while flying his small aircraft from Washington DC to his Akron/Canton home airport. The cause of the crash is still unknown and under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. For more than ten months, Connell's family has been coping with feelings of disbelief, anger and confusion and has many unanswered questions about the man they knew and loved. For Connell's widow Heather, holding her husband's New Media consulting firm together is a daily struggle. "The more I learn about the crash the more sick it makes me," she told me recently. Although mainly un-reported, there's a great deal of controversy surrounding Connell's death - largely in part because he was the architect of many Republican websites including GeorgeWBush.com and GWB43.com, the site Karl Rove used for 95% of his email correspondence. Connell was also considered a key witness in the election fraud lawsuit King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association v. Blackwell. The suit implicates Former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth J. Blackwell, Karl Rove and others of 2004 election night vote rigging. Attorneys in the case believe that Connell, who had not been accused of any wrongdoing, had firsthand knowledge about the missing White House emails and Rove's alleged wrongdoing with respect to the 2004 Presidential election. But his wife, and those attorneys, are not the only ones still focused on questions about what actually happened to Mike Connell nearly one year ago, and in the years prior... FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7509  TN GOP Fights Against Rule of Law, Paper Ballots In 2008, election integrity advocates in Tennessee won a hard and long-fought victory as the state legislature finally passed, on a bi-partisan basis, the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act (TVCA) requiring the state's wholly unverifiable touch-screen voting machines to be replaced with precinct-based optical-scan paper balloting in time for the crucial 2010 general election. But in November of 2008, as the state was still using its completely faith-based electronic voting systems, it somehow managed to buck the national trend as the only state in the nation to see legislative gains for the Republican Party which managed to win a majority in the statehouse in the bargain. Ever since, the GOP majority, along with the Republican Secretary of State and Election Director, have been fighting against implementation of that paper ballot law. A move in the legislature to delay the law until 2012 was narrowly defeated --- by a single vote --- earlier this year, but the state's Republican apparatchik have continued attempts to forestall following the rule of law. Late this week, however, a Nashville judge issued a ruling in a case brought by Common Cause seeking to force Secretary of State Tre Hargett to immediately implement the law he's so far refused to act on... FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7505  Frank Schaeffer: I'm Now a 'Liberal' Because I'm a Conservative -- Guest Blogged by Frank Schaeffer I grew up in a fundamentalist missionary family that in the 1970s and 80s morphed into my father's activity as one of the founders of the Religious Right. We would hobnob with Republican leaders from Ronald Reagan to Gerald Ford and the Bush family, Jack Kemp and many others. One day it dawned on me that the far right of the Republican Party --- in other words its base --- actually hates America. … People ask me why I'm a progressive these days and "changed sides" from being a conservative. I didn't change sides. What changed --- ironically with my father's and my nefarious "help"! --- was a conservative movement that became an enclave for hate-filled ignorance, anti-American sentiment and nihilistic individualism. What changed was my bare faced self deception as I profited from the God business and the far right even though I knew better. Today I am an independent voter, and an Obama supporter, and a progressive because I am a conservative… FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7499 'Tea Party Express II: Rise of the Tea Bags'
A short film in two parts by Brad Friedman... So we went out to Griffith Park out here in L.A. on Sunday to check out the kick-off day for the new "Tea Party Express II" national tour. Thought we might meet some interesting people and file a quick video report. Met alot of interesting people, and so ended up making a short film of sorts. Enjoy. Spread the word. Go tell the story ("both sides")...   VIDEO: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7487  Military.com Covers Edmonds Disclosures, Reports 'Denials' From Several Fingered Bush Officials Feature article offers comment from Perle, Feith, spokesman for Grossman, as well as information and comment in support of the FBI translator/whistleblower's charges of nuclear treason... The military news outlet Military.com is covering the story of FBI linguist-turned-whistelblower Sibel Edmonds as their lead story today. Report Bryant Jordan's 1,500 word feature includes a background summary of Edmonds' story, which The BRAD BLOG has been detailing for years, and a summary of the allegations she offered under oath last August in her sworn deposition following seven years of "forced silence" under a court-ordered gag due to the so-called "State Secrets Privilege" twice-invoked by George W. Bush's Department of Justice. Jordan's piece is well reported and includes, for the first time to our knowledge, several forms of denials of Edmonds allegations by some of Bush's key State and Defense Department officials --- such as Richard Perle and Douglas Feith --- who, she says, were participants in espionage plots against the United States in order to share military and even nuclear secrets with Turkish and Israeli government operatives. Edmonds also offers a very spirited and seemingly common-sense response to those denials (one of which is rather ironic in retrospect) and to critics who maintain she has been offering these allegations due to some form of vendetta... FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7478 Related story from yesterday...  Diebold's Optical-Scan System FAILS in Sarasota, FL County election director Kathy Dent's 'solution' as bad or worse than the actual problem...as usual... The November 3rd Election Day is nearing, so naturally the words "glitch," "hiccup," "snafu," and "snag" are back in the headlines, instead of the word "failure," which would be the appropriate one to use in such cases. Today, it's our old friends in Sarasota, under the continuing and now-legendarily failed direction of Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent and her latest failed voting system, this one an optical-scan system made by Diebold, featured in the Charlotte Sun's "Scanning glitch in vote machine test": A handful of individuals were on hand this week at the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office where Supervisor Kathy Dent and staff tested 16 ballot scanners that will be used in the Nov. 3 city council election. In one test a ballot with both blue and black ink was unable to be scanned. Officials pulled that scanner from service and substituted another. It didn't work either. The machine that didn't work --- no, it's not a "glitch," it didn't succeed in carrying out the purpose for which it was designed and purchased anymore than a car which didn't start, or whose brakes failed could be said to have a "glitch" --- was the old, failed Diebold Accuvote optical-scan system, similarly used in hundreds and hundreds of counties in dozens and dozens of other states. The "solution" Dent ultimately settled on in response to the failure of the machines made by Diebold (now calling themselves Premier and recently purchased by their larger competitor ES&S) is as bad, and as offensive, as the original failure itself... FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7472  CA Computer Scientists Charge U.S. EAC Misused Security Findings from Landmark E-Voting Study In letter to federal Election Assistance Commission, investigators from CA's unprecedented e-vote review blast the approval of flawed protocols in certification tests for new Diebold e-voting system... A group of computer scientists and security experts from California's 2007 landmark "Top-to-Bottom Review" (TTBR) of electronic voting systems, have sent a two-page letter of condemnation to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) taking the federal body to task for their approval of misused security findings from the TTBR in recent certification testing for a new e-voting system made by Diebold/Premier. The letter was addressed to the EAC's Director of Testing and Certification Brian Hancock, a longtime official at the commission with a disturbing background of helping to hedge test results for other electronic voting systems... FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7470 Source: BRAD BLOG; Peter B. Collins Show
 FBI Veteran Calls For Special Counsel Investigation, Accountability, Prosecutions in Sibel Edmonds Case Details panic inside the Bureau, executive effort to 'keep this whole thing quiet' when matter first came to light in 2002 Further confirms FBI translator/whistleblower's allegations, credibility... An 18-year Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Manager for the FBI has called for a Special Counsel to be appointed to investigate the allegations of FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. John M. Cole, who now works as an intelligence contractor for the Air Force, made his comments during an audio interview released late last week with radio journalist Peter B. Collins. He also offered a detailed insiders look at the panicked concerns among high-level officials inside the Bureau as Edmonds disturbing allegations began coming to light back in 2002, before they would be quashed for seven long years by the Bush Administration's unprecedented use of the so-called "State Secrets Privilege" to gag her. "Everybody at headquarters level at the bureau knew that what she was saying was extremely accurate. ... They were trying to figure out ways of keeping this whole thing quiet, because they didn't want Sibel to come out," Cole said. The FBI executive went on to further underscore his corroboration of key elements of Edmonds' allegations as "one hundred percent right on the money, on the mark," including the Bureau's long counterintelligence investigation into Turkish espionage/infiltration in the U.S. government; details on the importance of the first-hand intelligence collected by FBI translators like Edmonds; and a call for long-overdue "Special Counsel" investigation. "You know, it really irritates me that people are getting away with murder, in some cases. They should not be allowed to get away with that. There needs to be accountability. And that's what I'd love to see."... FULL STORY, COMPLETE AUDIO INTERVIEW, EXTENDED TEXT EXCERPTS: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7449 Also recently related... Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7449  CIA Vet: FBI Whistleblower Edmonds 'Very Credible' Longtime counterterrorism agent, Phil Giraldi comments on FBI vet John Cole's recent confirmation of Bush official targeted in 'decade-long' espionage probe (Giraldi also slated to be my guest on Wed.'s 'Malloy Show') Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi, the author of American Conservative magazine's explosive cover story interview with FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds finds her to be "very credible", even though "as a former intelligence officer", he says, he's "normally suspicious of these kinds of stories." Giraldi was a guest on the Thom Hartmann Program today, as guest hosted by Peter B. Collins. In the 13 minute segment, he discussed a number of aspects of Edmonds' disturbing allegations with Collins, including yesterday's confirmation by a long-time FBI veteran (http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7439 ) of a key element in her claims which include bribery, blackmail, and the theft of nuclear secrets as aided and abetted by high-ranking U.S. officials. Giraldi, a long time counterterrorism specialist with the CIA commented on the confirmation by 18-year FBI counterintelligence vet John Cole, who, in a published claim yesterday, acknowledged the existence of a "decade-long investigation" targeting the former third-highest ranking official in the Bush State Department, Marc Grossman, as Edmonds has long maintained. Citing Cole's first-hand experience with the espionage investigations in question, Giraldi told Collins during the interview: This is something that, presumably, if the mainstream media were interested in it, would be a line of inquiry that would lead to a major investigation. ... I'm a former intelligence officer, I find her very credible. And of course, as a former intelligence officer, I'm normally suspicious of these kinds of stories. In this case, John Cole, who obviously had direct access to the investigations going on, is confirming her story. FULL STORY, 13-MINUTE AUDIO INTERVIEW: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7440 NOTE: I'll be sitting in to guest host the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show again tomorrow night (Wednesday), and have also scheduled Giraldi as a guest. We'll have him on for a full hour at the beginning of the show (live at 6p PT, 9p ET) and will invite your calls and questions for him at 877-520-1150.  Former FBI Agent Confirms: Bush State Official Was Target of 'Decade-Long' Espionage Probe Longtime counterintel official acknowledges evidence behind key aspect of allegations against Marc Grossman made by former FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds Agency vet says investigation was 'buried and covered up', calls for new investigation, 'accountability'... George W. Bush's third-highest ranking State Department official, Marc Grossman, who became the Under Secretary of State after previously serving as Ambassador to Turkey, was targeted as part of a "decade-long investigation" by the FBI, according to an 18-year veteran manager of the agency's Counterintelligence and Counterespionage departments. For still-unknown reasons, the investigation which also involved a multitude of cases involving Israeli espionage, was ultimately "buried and covered up", according to the official. The comment from the former FBI official John M. Cole, in response to recent, stunning disclosures made by former FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, helps to shore up a key aspect of her allegations. Cole is now calling for an investigation to help "bring about accountability" in the matter... FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7439 |
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