Brad Blog

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"

DISCLAIMER: Some men may be created more equal than others. Certain unalienable Rights may be more alienable than others. Consult local listings. Happy Independence Day.

Complete text of seditionist document follows below...

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
[4]

Co-Editors: Dave Klein [7] and John Washburn [8]

While the goals of the U.S. and the Philippines seem to be the same regarding elections --- fair and fraud-free, their methods are diametrically opposed. The Philippines is desperate to get away from paper ballots and automate their elections, and the U.S., having been there done that, is heading in the opposite direction.

Happy Independence Day! We're taking the weekend off....

• National: New York Times, Rep. Holt, Still Misrepresenting Contents of Controversial Election Reform Bill
  http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7273 [9]
• IL: Judge to decide if uninitialed ballots count in RI race
  http://www.qctimes.com/n...e-a392-001cc4c002e0.html [10]
• MI: Clerks say overseas military balloting needs fix
  http://www.lansingstatej...01/907030331/1002/NEWS01 [11]
  (A sensible solution in our opinion.)
• MN: Another “winner” in a tied election
  http://www.lewrockwell.c...wrw/archives/028772.html [12]
• TX: Texas Legislature begins special session
  http://www.athensreview....cal_story_182232901.html [13]
  (Voter ID bill will not be included.)
• Iran: Unfolded Ballot Slips in the Boxes
  http://www.roozonline.co...-slips-in-the-boxes.html [14]
• Philippines: Enrile raises more election questions
  http://www.manilatimes.n...tories/20090704top2.html [15]
  (Quote from the article: But Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said, “Under the Constitution, Congress is supposed to be the canvasser for president and vice president. But if the election is automated, what will we canvass?”)
• Philippines: Enrile warns poll officials
  http://newsinfo.inquirer...ile-warns-poll-officials [16]
  (Quote from the article: Election officials will end up in jail if they fail to either automate or prepare for the manual balloting next year, Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile warned on Friday.)
• Philippines: 'Automation only way vs. poll fraud'
  http://newsinfo.inquirer...n-only-way-vs-poll-fraud [17]
• Philippines: Catholic schools pray for miracle to save poll automation
  http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/9450 [18]
• Philippines: Comelec readies charges against automation firm
  http://www.manilastandar...m/?page=news1_july2_2009 [19]

Published by VotersUnite.Org [20]
Ellen Theisen [21], Director and Managing Editor
Dave Klein [7], Editor
John Washburn [8], Editor

Daily Voting News was founded on February 6, 2004 by John Gideon (1947-2009). To assist with Daily Voting News, please send links to news articles to dvn-tips [22]. To donate, click here [23]

"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy." The Creekside Declaration. March 22, 2008

**Articles and commentary included in "Daily Voting News" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of Daily Voting News, VotersUnite.Org [24], or BradBlog.Com [25]. Articles are selected for inclusion to inform subscribers' ability to draw their own conclusions based on noteworthy and credible news, research, legislation, and debate bearing on the integrity of elections.**

[26]

[See update below for exclusive source details from Alaska...FURTHER UPDATE now added below: AK sources say 'embezzlement' scandal related to Palin's house, federal indictments may be in offing. MUCH MORE now added below...]

Palin resigns [28]. She was to have been in office until 2010. Something else is going on here above and beyond what she's saying, though I don't know what yet. Josh Marshall seems to agree, noting in his "first signs of what happened" coverage [29]:

[T]his clearly happened so quickly that Palin hasn't even had a chance to come up with a coherent cover story for her resignation. ... Remember that based on the public record, Palin is a wildly unethical public official, guilty at a minimum of numerous instances of abusing her authority as governor. And a lot of very damaging information has come out about her in the last few days --- though mainly embarrassing information about her character rather than new evidence of bad acts. I would not be surprised if this latest round of revelations shook something else loose that we haven't heard about yet."

I'd expect another shoe to drop very soon here...Looking into it...More shortly...

UPDATE: Alaskan Sarah Palin authority (and occasional BRAD BLOG [25] guest blogger) Shannyn Moore, who broke the news at HuffPo today [30], tells me she believes, with good reason, that there is an "iceberg scandal that's about to break. She's doing damage control."

She says Palin is "resigning as part of damage control" due to a scandal that is "not of a family nature." ...

"The governor would not be able to continue her job when it comes out," she told me on the phone just now, before adding: "Why would Mark Sanford not resign, but Sarah Palin did? Her family didn't even know about the resignation until they were standing with her by the lake" when she made her announcement.

Yes. It seems another shoe, apparently a big one, may indeed be ready to drop, perhaps within the next week or so. Perhaps earlier now that everyone will be poking around up there, according to the folks I'm hearing from in AK.

FURTHER UPDATE: Okay, I've now been able to get independent information from multiple sources that all of this precedes what are said to be possible federal indictments against Palin, concerning an embezzlement scandal related to the building of Palin's house and the Wasilla Sports Complex, built during her tenure as Mayor. Both structures, it is said, feature the "same windows, same wood, same products." Federal investigators have been looking into this for some time, and indictments could be imminent, according to the Alaska sources.

The BRAD BLOG [2] has not been able to receive confirm from any federal sources on this. Our information comes from local Alaskans who follow Palin, and who have been keeping an eye on this for some time, while keeping it quiet at the request of federal investigators.

A bit more now follows the video below...

* * *

With all of the above in mind, her rather manic, rather rambling, rather bizarre announcement (as seen below, via RAW STORY [31], text transcript here [32]), seems to make a bit more sense, I'd say...

* * *

LATE UPDATE: It appears that the questions about Palin's house and the sports complex made their way through the media and blogosphere during the campaign last October. "Glic" over at DailyKos [33] has collected some of the notable coverage from back then, including these details from the Village Voice on 10/8/08... [34]

THE $12.5 MILLION sports complex and hockey rink that is the lasting monument to Palin's two terms as Wasilla mayor is also a monument to the kind of insider politics that dismays Americans of both parties. Six months before Palin stepped down as mayor in October 2002, the city awarded nearly a half-million-dollar contract to design the biggest project in Wasilla history to Kumin Associates. Blase Burkhart was the Kumin architect on the job-the son of Roy Burkhart, who is frequently described as a "mentor" of Palin and was head of the local Republican Party (his wife, June, who also advised Palin, is the national committeewoman). Asked if the contract was a favor, Roy Burkhart, who contributed to her campaign in the same time frame that his son got the contract, said: "I really don't know." Palin then named Blase Burkhart to a seven-member builder-selection committee that picked Howdie Inc., a mostly residential contractor owned at the time by Howard Nugent. Formally awarded the contract a couple of weeks after Palin left office, Nugent has donated $4,000 to Palin campaigns. Two competitors protested the process that led to Nugent's contract.
...
A list of subcontractors on the job, obtained by the Voice, includes many with Palin ties. One was Spenard Builders Supply, the state's leading supplier of wood, floor, roof, and other "pre-engineered components." In addition to being a sponsor of Todd Palin's snow-machine team that has earned tens of thousands for the Palin family, Spenard hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004. When the Palins began building a new family home off Lake Lucille in 2002—at the same time that Palin was running for lieutenant governor and in her final months as mayor—Spenard supplied the materials, according to Antoine Bricks, who works in its Wasilla office.
...
Todd Palin told Fox News that he built the two-story, 3,450-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath, wood house himself, with the help of contractors he described as "buddies." As mayor, Sarah Palin blocked an effort to require the filing of building permits in the wide-open city, and there is no public record of who the "buddies" were.

Also...Max Blumenthal at Daily Beast asks [35] "Did a Scandal Sink the U.S.S. Palin?":

One logical place to start looking is the affair that has Alaska political circles buzzing: an alleged scandal centered around a building contractor, Spenard Building Supplies, with close ties to Palin and her husband, Todd.

Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gifts like the construction of their home on pristine Lake Lucille in 2002.

Blumenthal goes on to report that "Prior to her sudden announcement, Palin gave every indication that she intended to complete her tenure as governor," before detailing her recent activity suggesting exactly that.

Anderson Cooper on CNN just had Palin's top spokesperson, Meghan Stapleton, on by phone. She was in New York tonight, while Palin was resigning in Alaska. We report, you decide...

[36]

UpTake.org interviews Senator-Elect Al Franken [38]: "I want to thank the UpTake for what you did during the recount and the contest, for making it so transparent, what the process was, the transparency of it. It was an unbelievable great service."

On that point, we'll concur with Franken wholeheartedly. Their coverage alone helps make specious, partisan propaganda disguised as commentary, like the WSJ's [39], even more laughable and baseless than it already was.

The UpTake's live video, radio, and live-blog coverage and analysis of every step in the Franken/Coleman hand count, election contest, etc., set the standard for the very best of indispensable citizen journalism. Big thanks and kudos are owed Michael McIntee, Noah Kunin, et al! Take a well-deserved victory lap, guys!

[40]

In an unbylined Wall Street Journal editorial [41] (why a liar and sore-loser like WSJ/GOP operative John Fund is so ashamed to put his name on his own writing we'll never know...okay, maybe we do), the once-respectable paper shamelessly asserts: "Mr. Franken now goes to the Senate having effectively stolen an election."

In response, we'll associate ourselves with TPM's Eric Kleefeld's take on it [42], calling it "an essay that is so full of factual errors and distortions about what happened, it can drive you nuts if you'd spent countless hours following all the gritty details like I did."

It's all par for the cowardly John Fund [43] course, of course.

But since the sore-losing, sour-grapes, tin-foil hatted conspiracy theorists of the Wall Street Journal have taken the opportunity to propagandize the transparent Franken/Coleman election results by comparing them to the 2004 Washington state Gubernatorial race, where the Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire defeated Republican Dino Rossi during a long, sloppy post-election contest and court case, let's remind folks for the record, here in the reality-based community, what the judges in each case found in regard to the keyboard wingnut claims of "fraud"...

Judge John Bridges' finding in the '04 WA contest, as we noted in June '05 [44]:

"There is no evidence that ballots were changed, the ballot box stuffed or that lawful votes were removed from either candidate's ballot box," Bridges said.
...
On the Republicans' fraud charge, the judge repeated the fact that there was no official fraud claim in the case, but then said that in any case, he saw no evidence of fraud.
...
There is no evidence that the problems in King County had anything to do with "intentional misconduct or someone's desire to manipulate the election" or "partisan bias," the phrase Republicans used to allege wrongdoing.

"There is no evidence before the court to question ballot security as to those ballots actually counted," Bridges said, knocking down another Republican claim about King County.
...
[Republican Secretary of State Sam] Reed criticized the Republican efforts to claim vote fraud without producing convincing evidence.

"I think if they were going to allege fraud, they should have done it in the initial filings of the case and I think they should have had proof of fraud, and obviously they didn't do that."

And from the MN Supreme Court's ruling in the '08 MN contest, as we noted yesterday [45]:

The 5 to 0 unanimous ruling of the bi-partisan Minnesota Supreme Court noted "[n]o claim of fraud in the election or during the recount was made by either party" and that "Coleman's counsel confirmed at oral argument that Coleman makes no claim of fraud on the part of either voters or election officials."

In both cases, the Republicans were so thoroughly spanked by the court, that neither of the two candidates appealed the judges' decisions. Apparently the lack of any actual evidence of fraud presented by the Republicans in both months-long cases, is not enough to keep the cowardly Fund-ies from shouting "fraud!" any way.

Wingnuts, the photo above right, taken yesterday in the halls of the U.S. Senate, again courtesy of Kleefeld [46], is for you. Get over it. Move on.

Here endeth the 2008 Election.

The BRAD BLOG [25] covers your electoral system fiercely and independently, like no other media outlet in the nation. Please support our work with a donation [47] to help us keep going (Snail mail, more options here [48]). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! Details right here... [49]
[50]

[52]IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: California wins one for a change; Where's the beef? Recalled!; Did EPA suppress study from global warming skeptic?... PLUS: Wingnuts lose it over cap-and-trade...All that and more in today's 'End of the World' Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail, E. coli burgers? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com [53] or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com [52].

Download MP3 [54] (6 mins), or listen online here...

Link: Embed:

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Exxon Mobil will pay $400 million in interest on damages from Exxon Valdez oil spill; EPA releases list of "high hazard" coal waste impoundment sites; Some gray wolves to receive 'protected' status again... PLUS: Judge reverses Bush Administration's creative forest "management" rules...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

• Conservative Ire Rains on 8 Republicans Who Voted for House Climate Bill [55] (NY Times)
• Lobbying cash paved Waxman-Markey's road to House floor [56] (Greenwire)
• Southern Company Dominates the Climate Lobbying Scene [57]
• As House bill passes, GOP parties like it's 1993 [58] (Greenwire)
• Ailing Henry Waxman said to be improving [59] (LA Times)
• EPA ‘suppression’ story grows, despite shoddy science in report [60] (Grist.org)
• Shock: Hobby Report Deep-Sixed at EPA! [61] (Talking Points Memo)
• Climate Skeptic: "I Was Hoping People At EPA Would Pay Attention" To My Work [62] (TPMMuckraker.com)
• NASA Climate Scientist Gavin Schmidt - a real climate scientist [63] (RealClimate.org):
  So in summary, what we have is a ragbag collection of un-peer reviewed web pages, an unhealthy dose of sunstroke, a dash of astrology and more cherries than you can poke a cocktail stick at. Seriously, if that’s the best they can do, the EPA’s ruling is on pretty safe ground.
• EPA approves California auto emissions standard [64] (Reuters)
• EPA gives California emissions waiver [65] --- The state can develop its own standards on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, though it agrees not to toughen the standards before 2017. Automakers agree to drop lawsuits. (LA Times)
• California Finally Gets the OK to Set Its Own Auto Emissions Standard [66] (Treehugger.com) [emphasis added]:
  The ruling sets a precedent that allows California to tighten restrictions in the future, well after 2016 and the emission standard-sympathetic Obama have come and gone. So even if some future president were to repeal the emissions standard, or elect not to continue it after 2017, California would still be able to tackle the issue itself.
• Kroger, others recall beef in more than a dozen states [67] (USA Today)
• 12 hospitalized in connection with E. coli in beef [68] (AP)
• Kroger seasoning recall follows ground beef alert [69] (Indystar.com)
• E. Coli Confirmed In Nestlé Samples; Cookie Dough Ingredient May Be Source [70] (Washington Post)
• OPINION: When Our Brains Short-Circuit [71] (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  Evidence is accumulating that the human brain systematically misjudges certain kinds of risks.
  ...
  If you come across a garter snake, nearly all of your brain will light up with activity as you process the “threat.” Yet if somebody tells you that carbon emissions will eventually destroy Earth as we know it, only the small part of the brain that focuses on the future — a portion of the prefrontal cortex — will glimmer.

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report... See below!

• Exxon to pay $500 million in interest to spill victims [72]
• EPA reveals 44 higher risk coal ash sites [73] (AP)
• Is Your Town on the List?: EPA's Coal Impoundment Location & Information System [74]
• Gray wolves get federal protection again [75] (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
• Judge Tosses Bush-Era Forest Management Regulations [76] (Greenwire)

[77]

So, imagine if the corporate media had spent even a fraction of the time and resources they've spent going wall-to-wall with around-the-clock "team coverage" of their important "investigation" into the death of Michael Jackson, on any single investigation of any single crime of the Bush Administration.

For example, imagine if they had spent as much time and resources for any single week over the past eight years, on any of the crimes involved with sending us into a war that's killed over 4,000 Americans, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and has otherwise put our national security at dangerous risk for decades to come.

Some things are important, we guess. Other things aren't. Don't stop till ya get enough. And don't forget to blame the bloggers on the way out. Heckuva job, mainstream media. Don't let the door hit ya...

[79]

Please check out my editorial in response to the Franken election, as published at the UK's Guardian yesterday [80] just after the MN Supreme Court verdict [81]. Here's a taste...

When ballots are counted in secret (or, in many cases, not counted at all), democracy is dangerously imperiled. Lucky for Minnesotans, that wasn't the case up there, even if it meant some eight months without proper representation in the US Congress. It was worth the wait.

Transparency was no match for the conspiracy theorists, including the RSCC [82], the head of the Republican party [83] and even the Republican National Lawyers Association [84], who embarrassingly joined the black helicopter crowd [85] in touting evidence-free claims [86] of Franken's "efforts to steal a seat in the United States [87] Senate."
...
When democracy is visible to all, it works. When it becomes buried behind secrecy, insider tabulations and computerized black boxes, the very basis of our system of government is put dangerously at stake.

Transparency wins again. Along with the voters of Minnesota. Nice to see the voters win one for a change.

Check out the whole thing [80], if only for some of the whacky comments posted by some of the wingnut dead-enders over there. One of them, "MikeMichigan" wrote in response [88] to my piece, channeling every nutball with a primetime show over in Crazy Land (aka Fox "News")...

Oh, and Franken stole the election. The recount was a sham. Coleman was almost 800 votes ahead before the democrat lawyers got involved and started manufacturing votes for Franken and eliminating legal votes for Coleman.

To which I was happy to reply...with some handy info from MN Supremes decision yesterday, as helpfully highlighted today by Media Matters [89]:

The 5 to 0 unanimous ruling of the bi-partisan Minnesota Supreme Court noted "[n]o claim of fraud in the election or during the recount was made by either party" and that "Coleman's counsel confirmed at oral argument that Coleman makes no claim of fraud on the part of either voters or election officials."

Other than that, yeah, "Franken stole the election," but apparently the Republicans forgot to mention any of that, or present any evidence whatsoever for it in their 8 month long contest.

Enjoy your lonely world, MichiganMike...

Good times...

And, oh, yeah, I was also able to point out in the article that of the more than 42,000 voters registered in MN alone by ACORN last year, not a single instance of "voter fraud" was noted by the Coleman/GOP team in their 8-month long election contest and court case. "With all the claims of voter fraud being committed by the group," I noted, "surely this election, of all elections, would be where evidence of all that fraud would finally be revealed for all to see, no? Um, no. Apparently not."

The BRAD BLOG [25] covers your electoral system fiercely and independently, like no other media outlet in the nation. Please support our work with a donation [47] to help us keep going (Snail mail, more options here [48]). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! Details right here... [49]
[90]

Co-Editors: Dave Klein [7] and John Washburn [8]

As the continuation of John Gideon's valued creation, The Daily Voting News, nears its two-month anniversary, those of us who have been fortunate enough to carry on John's work are beginning to understand what will be necessary for its existence to continue into the indefinite future. At this point, we need to create a "budget" of the potential resources--volunteer time, computer resources, or direct financial donations--that can be devoted to continuing DVN.

Please respond to our survey [92] to help us determine how to proceed. Based on the responses we received from DVN subscribers, the resources we could expect would support a drastically minimized form of DVN, if it were able to continue at all....

• National: EAC Releases Report on Voter Registration
  http://www.eac.gov/News/...t-on-voter-registration/ [93]
• National: Rise and Flaw of Internet's Election-Fraud Hunters
  http://online.wsj.com/ar....html?mod=googlenews_wsj [94]
• DE: State agencies partner to develop new voter-registration system
  http://www.capegazette.c...t/200906/voterreg30.html [95]
• GA: County looks for voting machine sale
  http://metrospirit.com/i...cle_ID=11013006090814588 [96]
• MA: Recount affirms Walpole vote for library tax increase
  http://www.boston.com/yo...irms_walpole_vote_f.html [97]
• MN: Impressive unanimity: The historical significance of Coleman v. Franken
  http://www.minnpost.com/...coleman_v_franken#4-9951 [98]
• MN: Senate election timeline
  http://www.startribune.c...yc:aU1yDEmP:QMDCinchO7DU [99]
• NJ: 'Vote by Mail' Bill Signed Into Law
  http://www.gloucestercit...allots-in-elections.html [100]
• PA: 'Go after ACORN,' judge says
  http://www.pittsburghliv...htrib/news/s_631577.html [101]
• TN: An Answer to the Secretary of State's Q&A on Paper Ballots
  http://www.liberadio.com...tes-qa-on-paper-ballots/ [102]
• WA: Voting shouldn't be this hard
  http://www.pnwlocalnews....ed/opinion/49116182.html [103]
• Canada: Let's try Internet voting
  http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/659047 [104]
• Canada: Guest Blogger Kirk Schmidt on On-line Voting
  http://enlightenedsavage...-schmidt-on-on-line.html [105]
  (A different view from a "geek".)
• Germany: Apprentice postman torches election materials
  http://www.thelocal.de/s...iety/20090630-20293.html [106]
• Iran: Iranian recount results in small increase for Ahmadinejad
  http://jmppiran.com/?p=375 [107]
• Philippines: Happy times back for poll cheats
  http://newsinfo.inquirer...k-for-poll-cheats--solon [108]
• Philippines: Comelec must prosecute if TIM withdraws
  http://www.philstar.com/...icationSubCategoryId=200 [109]
• Philippines: Comelec solution proposed
  http://www.mb.com.ph/art...omelec-solution-proposed [110]
• Philippines: 'Smartmatic has too much power'
  http://newsinfo.inquirer...matic-has-too-much-power [111]

Published by VotersUnite.Org [20]
Ellen Theisen [21], Director and Managing Editor
Dave Klein [7], Editor
John Washburn [8], Editor

Daily Voting News was founded on February 6, 2004 by John Gideon (1947-2009). To assist with Daily Voting News, please send links to news articles to dvn-tips [22]. To donate, click here [23]

"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy." The Creekside Declaration. March 22, 2008

**Articles and commentary included in "Daily Voting News" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of Daily Voting News, VotersUnite.Org [24], or BradBlog.Com [25]. Articles are selected for inclusion to inform subscribers' ability to draw their own conclusions based on noteworthy and credible news, research, legislation, and debate bearing on the integrity of elections.**

[112]

It was a "glaring inaccuracy," according to VotersUnite.org's Ellen Theisen last week [113].

Yet, even though it's been more than a full week since the New York Times ran an editorial [114] endorsing Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ)'s new election reform bill, in which they included a huge factual error about the legislation, they have failed to issue a correction. Neither have they even bothered to respond to letters to the editor detailing the error, sent to them when we first pointed out the problem last week [115].

While several aspects of their editorial misled readers about the bill, as we detailed in our original article, one assertion made by the "paper of record" was just out and out incorrect, when they erroneously asserted the following:

Mr. Holt's bill would require paper ballots to be used for every vote cast in November 2010.

On that point, the Times is just plain wrong. Any reading of the bill would quickly reveal as much. Theisen would later call it a "complete misrepresentation."

While the bill, as currently written, would require Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting machines to print "paper trails" (otherwise known as "voter verifiable paper audit trails" or "VVPAT") by 2010, it decidely does not "require a paper ballot to be used for every vote cast in November 2010." Paper ballots for every voter will not be required by Holt's bill, as it's currently written, and as it's been introduced in the House, until 2014. That's two federal elections away, including one Presidential election. The Times is off by four years in their assertion.

That the NYTimes --- again, known as the "paper of record" for a reason --- would get something as important as that blatantly wrong in an editorial endorsing such a sweeping piece of legislation, is rather incredible in the first place. That they've not bothered to issue a correction, or even respond to a letter pointing out the error, is mind-boggling.

But their appears at least one reason --- though hardly an excuse --- that the Times might have gotten it so wrong. Congressman Holt makes the same wholly erroneous assertion about his own bill on his own Congressional webpage...

One might think that Holt himself would have notified the Times about such an egregious error, particularly since his office and his supporters have been touting the Times endorsement. Apparently they haven't. (Two aides failed to respond to request for comment on this article, though in both cases we received auto-reply emails stating they were gone from the office until after the 4th of July Congressional recess.) But what's worse is Holt's own website making the same incorrect assertion as seen in the Times editorial!

In a bullet point list, described as a "Bill Summary," Holt's web page touting the bill [116], asserts that it:

• Requires a voter-marked or ballot-marking-device paper ballot be produced for every vote cast in time for the November 2010 elections.

That first bullet point is belied by the very next one, which says the legislation [emphasis added]:

• Provides that printer-equipped electronic voting systems used in 2008 elections can be used after 2010 but are to be replaced with paper ballots before the first federal election in 2014.

So in admitting that jurisdictions will not have to offer paper ballots to voters until "the first federal election in 2014," it would appear that his office is simply trying to mislead voters about the legislation.

All of this is no small point. DREs with "paper trails" are no more reliable, or verifiable, than DREs without "paper trail" printers. Only voter-marked paper ballots can be known to reflect the voters' verified intent (presuming chain of custody is kept securely). Holt knows this, which is why his legislation calls for a paper ballot for every voter by 2014.

"They're not correct. That is a complete misrepresentation of the bill," Ellen Theisen of VotersUnite.org [117], a non-partisan election watchdog organization told us during a segment of the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show [118] when we were guest hosting last week and asked her about the Times' editorial. We hadn't yet realized, at the time, that Holt's own office had been publicizing the same misrepresentation of his bill.

She pointed out the Times' error as a "glaring inaccuracy" in her "Daily Voting News" newsletter last week [113], "hoping that they would pick up on the fact that they misrepresented the bill," as she explained on the radio. "There could be a lot of people out there thinking 'Yay! We'll have all paper ballots by 2010!' Not realizing [that's] not so," she told us. VotersUnite.org had previously endorsed this year's version of the bill, before withdrawing their endorsement after a last-minute change to a portion of the bill dealing with voting systems for disabled voters.

• Clip from interview with Theisen on this point from the Malloy Show, 6/26/09, [appx. 1.5 mins]...
  [See post to listen to audio]
  [The entire interview with Theisen, discussing other aspects of the Holt bill, and related election matters, can be heard here [119], in the 'HOUR 1' archive, beginning at the :22 minute mark]

The BRAD BLOG [25] has gone out of our way to be incredibly fair in our continuing analysis of Holt's bill as it's changed over the years. By way of full disclosure, we were even asked to help with several drafts of the 2007 version of the bill before its introduction, even though we could not endorse that version of the bill due to its many failures, a fair number of them improved in the latest version. Our most recent analysis [120] of this year's version, filed just before it was introduced this year, notes both the good and bad it offers.

That Holt's office still seems to feel it necessary to deceive the public is disturbing, at best. Regrettably, its not the first time [121] they've employed such tactics.

That the New York Times appears to have been lazy enough to work from Holt's talking points, rather than bothering to read the actual bill itself before endorsing it on its pages, represents our corporate media at its absolutely most shameful. Failing to issue a correction, even after the problem has been pointed out to them, is simply beyond the pale.

The version of Holt's "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2009" (HR 2894) as recently introduced in the U.S. House, can be read here [122].

CONTACT
editorial@nytimes.com [123]
letters@nytimes.com [124]
Contact page for Rep. Rush Holt [125]

[126]

Co-Editors: Dave Klein [7] and John Washburn [8]

As is so often the case, just when everyone had given up all hope of some resolution of the issue, the MN Supreme Court ruled unanimously to affirm the election contest decision made by a lower court and reject the appeal of the non-prevailing candidate, Norm Coleman. In another violation of expectations, Coleman conceded the November 2008 U.S. Senate race to Al Franken....

• National: Conservative filmmakers will get another hearing
  http://politicalticker.b...ill-get-another-hearing/ [128]
• AZ: Let's Begin the Debate on The Merits of This Proposal: Universal Voter Registration
  http://arizona.typepad.c...-voter-registration.html [129]
• IL: Recount battle in court Wednesday
  http://www.wqad.com/news...s-062909,0,4303647.story [130]
• MN: Minnesota court rules Democrat Al Franken won Senate seat
  http://www.reuters.com/a...ws/idUSTRE55T5Y420090630 [131]
• MN: Coleman concedes (video)
  http://www.msnbc.msn.com...540/vp/31669007#31669007 [132]
• MN: Report on the Supreme Court’s Decision (video)
  http://www.msnbc.msn.com...540/vp/31669007#31667388 [133]
• MN: Text of the Supreme Court’s Decision
  http://www.mncourts.gov/...rrent/OPA090697-6030.pdf [134]
• MN: How has the Senate dispute affected your faith in the electoral process?
  http://minnesota.publicr...-electoral-process.shtml [135]
• NY: Gotham Gazette: Understanding the Ballot Petitions
  http://onlytheblogknowsb...he-ballot-petitions.html [136]
• NY: With Albany in chaos, Board of Elections staff party in Finger Lakes
  http://www.nydailynews.c..._up_in_finger_lakes.html [137]
• PA: Sixth ACORN worker ordered to stand trial for election violations
  http://www.pittsburghliv...sburghtrib/s_631532.html [138]
• TN: Secretary of State: ‘there is insufficient time’ to uphold the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act
  http://www.nashvilleista...ee-voter-confidence-act/ [139]
• TX: Governor says session’s task is set in stone
  http://www.chron.com/dis...etropolitan/6503773.html [140]
  (Previously headlined, “Perry pressed to add CHIP and voter ID to special session”)
• WI: Voters May Have Another Option to Cast Ballots Next Year
  http://www.wqow.com/Global/story.asp?S=10614844 [141]
• Albania: Observers report some flaws in Albania vote, despite improvements
  http://blog.taragana.com...pite-improvements-94847/ [142]
• Canada: A Vote Against E-Voting
  http://www.themarknews.c...-a-vote-against-e-voting [143]
• Canada: Online voting no cure
  http://www.edmontonjourn...+cure/1746417/story.html [144]
• Iran: Iran Council confirms Ahmadinejad election victory
  http://www.besternews.co...ad%20election%20victory/ [145]
• Philippines: Comelec chief: Money, control root of feud between Smartmatic, partner
  http://www.gmanews.tv/st...tween-Smartmatic-partner [146]
• Philippines: Comelec: Smartmatic execs, partner face 15 years
  http://www.gmanews.tv/st...cs-partner-face-15-years [147]
• Philippines: TIM-Smartmatic given ten days to patch up
  http://www.philstar.com/...licationSubCategoryId=64 [148]
• History: Progressivism Gone Awry? The Price of Ballot Secrecy.
  http://tpmcafe.talkingpo...y-the-pr.php?ref=reccafe [149]
  (The first step in getting lost is not paying attention to where you were going.)

Published by VotersUnite.Org [20]
Ellen Theisen [21], Director and Managing Editor
Dave Klein [7], Editor
John Washburn [8], Editor

Daily Voting News was founded on February 6, 2004 by John Gideon (1947-2009). To assist with Daily Voting News, please send links to news articles to dvn-tips [22]. To donate, click here [23]

"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy." The Creekside Declaration. March 22, 2008

**Articles and commentary included in "Daily Voting News" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of Daily Voting News, VotersUnite.Org [24], or BradBlog.Com [25]. Articles are selected for inclusion to inform subscribers' ability to draw their own conclusions based on noteworthy and credible news, research, legislation, and debate bearing on the integrity of elections.**

[150]

[52]IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: The heat was on as members of the U.S. House of Representatives angrily debated and narrowly passed the landmark American Clean Energy & Security Act, a sweeping overhaul of the nation's energy systems and the first attempt to address the oncoming freight train of climate change...in this special edition of the Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com [53] or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com [52].

Download MP3 [152] (6 mins), or listen online here...

Link: Embed:

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Canada's problems with new nuke power plants; Beijing's air still polluted, even after olympic effort for Olympics; Q&A on CFLs wtih Consumer Reports.... PLUS: Is it illegal to capture rainwater in your area?

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

• In Close Vote, House Passes Climate Bill; Measure Aims to Change Energy Use [153] (Washington Post)
• House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer's empassioned speech in favor of Waxman-Markey (Transcript [154]):
  
  
• Next on climate: Improve Waxman-Markey innovation provisions in Senate [155] (Grist.org)
• Europeans ‘Demand More’ From Americans [156] (Green Inc., NYT)
• The CBO Gives A Big Boost To Climate Policy [157] (The New Republic)
• One at a Time, Waxman, Markey Chase Votes [158] (Wall St. Journal)
• Waxman Incorporates A Score Of Amendments Into Final Version Of His Clean Economy Legislation [159]
• How Did Your Representative Vote? The Climate Dividing Lines [160] (National Journal Online) [emphasis added]:
  Another telling, if somewhat less powerful measure, was the degree to which a member's state relied on coal to generate electricity. Thirty of the 121 Democrats from states that generate at least 40 percent of their power from coal voted against the bill; just 14 of the 134 Democrats from states that are less reliant on coal joined them in opposition. That means about one-in-four of the coal state Democrats voted no, compared to only a little over one-in-10 of everyone else.

  Of the 29 "McCain Democrats" who opposed the bill, 21 represent states that are heavily dependent on coal. Six of the eight Republican supporters came from states that don't use much coal --- though the vast majority of all Republicans from those states opposed the bill.

• Carbon Trading: What Europe Can Actually Teach Us [161] (The New Republic):
  Of all the questions about climate policy, one of the biggest is whether a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases will even work. Will it actually and tangibly reduce emissions? The only real-world example we have is the EU's Emissions Trading System, set up in 2005. Conservatives take it as a given that the ETS has failed—see Martin Livermore's Wall Street Journal column last week. But on closer inspection, the ETS seems to be working pretty well after a few early miscues, and there's plenty that American policymakers can learn from Europe's experience.
• Betraying the Planet [162] (Opinion, NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  In other words, we’re facing a clear and present danger to our way of life, perhaps even to civilization itself. How can anyone justify failing to act?
  ...
  But if you watched the debate on Friday, you didn’t see people who’ve thought hard about a crucial issue, and are trying to do the right thing. What you saw, instead, were people who show no sign of being interested in the truth. They don’t like the political and policy implications of climate change, so they’ve decided not to believe in it — and they’ll grab any argument, no matter how disreputable, that feeds their denial.

  Indeed, if there was a defining moment in Friday’s debate, it was the declaration by Representative Paul Broun of Georgia that climate change is nothing but a “hoax” that has been “perpetrated out of the scientific community.” I’d call this a crazy conspiracy theory, but doing so would actually be unfair to crazy conspiracy theorists. After all, to believe that global warming is a hoax you have to believe in a vast cabal consisting of thousands of scientists — a cabal so powerful that it has managed to create false records on everything from global temperatures to Arctic sea ice.

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report... See below!

• Costs kill Ontario’s new nukes [163] (Grist.org)
• Study: China’s Olympic effort to curb smog had little effect [164] (Christian Science Monitor's Bright Greenblog)
• Q&A: Have CFLs been improved in any ways? [165] (Consumer Reports)
• The Legalities of Rainwater Harvesting [166] (NY Times)

[167]

[Updated several times at end of article...]

The Minnesota Supreme Court has just ruled [131] that Democrat Al Franken will be the state's next U.S. Senator, bringing to a close the months-long contest against former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

The decision was a unanimous 5 to 0 ruling, finding that Franken was "entitled" to be certified by the state's Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and its Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

Pawlenty has recently said [168] he would sign the certification for Franken, if ordered to do so by the MN Supremes. The state requires a signature for certification from both the Governor and the Sec. of State before Congress members may be seated. State law also allows for all election contests to be settled in the state before certification is signed.

Franken's seating would give Democrats a theoretical 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, following Arlen Specter's recent move to the Democratic party.

Franken, an author, former radio talk-show host, and comedian, was found, by a three-judge, tri-partisan election contest panel to have won the election by 312 votes following an historic, painstakingly careful hand count of nearly 3 million paper ballots cast in last November's election. Coleman may now appeal the decisions of the state canvassing board, the three-judge election contest panel, and the unanimous decision of the state Supreme Court to the U.S. Supreme Court...

UPDATE: Washington Post notes [169] "a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said the earliest Franken would be seated is next week because the Senate is out of session for the July 4 holiday." Reid's spokesman also reported that the court's decision "stopped short of explicitly ordering the governor to sign the document, saying only that Franken was 'entitled' to it."

FURTHER UPDATE: The decision is now posted here [PDF] [134] and finds: ""Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under Minn. Stat. § 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota."

Working on a piece for UK's Guardian about all of this. But, bottom line: hand-marked paper ballots are the gold standard. Counting them by hand, publicly, in front of everyone, is what makes this election different from FL 2000, OH 2004, San Diego 2006, Iran 2009, etc. Transparency is the key. And the result is an election that is very difficult, for all but the most insane and/or disingenuous, to dispute when all is said and done. The voters of Minnesota, and its Sec. of State Mark Ritchie, are to be applauded for their superb, public, transparently handled election. Nice to see the voters win one for a change!

[That piece for the Guardian is now posted here [80]: "Franken laughs last: The long-running battle for Minnesota's Senate seat is finally over. Democracy – and Al Franken – won fair and square"]

LATE UPDATE: COLEMAN CONCEDES! [170] It's finally over....

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty plans to sign the certification today, clearing the way for Franken to be sworn in early next week when the Senate returns from its week-long recess.

“The Supreme Court of Minnesota has spoken, and I respect its decision and will abide by the result,” Coleman said. “It’s time for Minnesota to come together under the leaders it has chosen and move forward. I join all Minnesotans in congratulating our newest United States senator: Al Franken.”

Franken, in remarks outside his Minneapolis home about an hour after Coleman’s concession, said he expected to be seated early next week.

The BRAD BLOG [171] has been covering virtually ever notable beat in this contest since last November. If you'd like to review our coverage over the past nearly eight months, click here for a trip back through the time-machine... [172]

The BRAD BLOG [25] covers your electoral system fiercely and independently, like no other media outlet in the nation. Please support our work with a donation [47] to help us keep going (Snail mail, more options here [48]). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! Details right here... [49]
[173]

Co-Editors: Dave Klein [7] and John Washburn [8]

In Pierce County, WA, indications are that Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) may be a failed experiment. 63% of the voters didn’t like it, and the auditor says scrapping it would save the county $600,000. The County Council voted to amend the county charter to repeal the mandate for RCV; the voters will make the final decision in November.

Smartmatic still hasn’t submitted its incorporation papers to the Philippines Comelec, and its local partner, TIM, has pulled out of the joint venture.

Internet voting is now being considered in Canada and Nova Scotia. Is there no end to the wack-a-mole of unobservable ballots? Prove in one place that Internet ballots are an exercise in unjustified trust, and the idea pops up its head in another.

Today's articles about the Voting Rights Act deal with how to minimize future challenges....

• National: Can the Voting Rights Act Survive Another Challenge?
  http://www.law.com/jsp/s...urvive_Another_Challenge [175]
• National: Fixing the Voting Rights Act
  http://www.washingtonpos.../26/AR2009062603778.html [176]
• National: Conyers abandons plan to probe ACORN
  http://washingtontimes.c...orn/?feat=home_headlines [177]
• National: Editorial: Register Everybody
  http://www.rollcall.com/...3/editorial/36323-1.html [178]
• National: Record Number of People With Disabilities Voted in 2008 Election
  http://www.sunherald.com...swire/story/1444335.html [179]
• National: Searching for a Reliable Voting System
  http://www.nytimes.com/2...pinion/l28vote.html?_r=1 [180]
• CA: Secretary of State Debra Bowen Reports Record Percentage of Votes by Mail in May 19 Special Election
  http://www.sos.ca.gov/ad...leases/2009/db09-037.pdf [181]
• FL: Florida voter law garners praise
  http://www2.tbo.com/cont...rs-praise/news-politics/ [182]
• GA: New laws start July 1
  http://www.times-georgia...ga_news&open=& [183]
• GA: Voting Rights Act still relevant to today’s Georgia
  http://www.ajc.com/servi...06/26/bookmaned0626.html [184]
• IL: Attorneys lay out their arguments in the Rock Island mayoral recount
  http://www.qctimes.com/n...e-a301-001cc4c002e0.html [185]
• MN: Pawlenty 'prepared' to certify Franken
  http://www.upi.com/Top_N...nken/UPI-86151246237585/ [186]
• NC: Touch Screens High Rate of Unrecorded Votes for President in 2008
  http://ncvoters.blogspot...-rate-of-unrecorded.html [187]
• NH: Court may finally set N.H. voters free
  http://nhwatchdog.blogsp...-set-nh-voters-free.html [188]
• TN: Voting machines will change again
  http://spartaexpositor.c...48c19b065ae437651858.txt [189]
• TX: EDITORIAL: Voter ID bill was bad idea then and now
  http://www.gosanangelo.c...s-bad-idea-then-and-now/ [190]
• VA: New laws hit books Wednesday
  http://www.dailypress.co...ws_jun29,0,6404246.story [191]
• WA: Instant Runoff Voting too Costly - Pierce County WA Says Ditching Would Save $600,000
  http://instantrunoff.blo...g-too-costly-pierce.html [192]
• Canada: Elections Canada backs online voting
  http://www.thestar.com/article/657514 [193]
• Canada: Online voting could improve dwindling turnout for federal elections: report
  http://www.vancouversun....eport/1740238/story.html [194]
• India: EC had known the fundamental flaws of EVMs since 2000; not remedied
  http://www.organiser.org...038;pid=298&page=26 [195]
• Iran: Iran starts partial recount of disputed vote
  http://www.newsdaily.com...s-iran-election-recount/ [196]
• Nova Scotia: Byelection for Dartmouth council seat likely in September
  http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9012405.html [197]
• Philippines: Comelec to winning bidder: No papers, no deal
  http://quintessentialy.w...idder-no-papers-no-deal/ [198]
• Philippines: Smartmatic’s local partner withdraws
  http://businessmirror.co...l-partner-withdraws.html [199]
• Philippines: Automation in peril as poll partners break up
  http://www.gmanews.tv/st...lipino-partner-backs-out [200]

Published by VotersUnite.Org [20]
Ellen Theisen [21], Director and Managing Editor
Dave Klein [7], Editor
John Washburn [8], Editor

Daily Voting News was founded on February 6, 2004 by John Gideon (1947-2009). To assist with Daily Voting News, please send links to news articles to dvn-tips [22]. To donate, click here [23]

"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy." The Creekside Declaration. March 22, 2008

**Articles and commentary included in "Daily Voting News" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of Daily Voting News, VotersUnite.Org [24], or BradBlog.Com [25]. Articles are selected for inclusion to inform subscribers' ability to draw their own conclusions based on noteworthy and credible news, research, legislation, and debate bearing on the integrity of elections.**

[201]

Several weeks ago, VelvetRevolution.us [203], in coalition with a number of other accountability groups, filed bar disbarment complaints [204] against 12 different Bush Administration attorneys in four states and the District of Columbia in regard to their approval of banned torture techniques used during detainee interrogations.

In a press conference today we (Disclosure: The BRAD BLOG [25] is co-founder of VR) added two more to that list, both top CIA attorneys who continue to serve at the agency under the Obama Administration.

As RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna reports [205] today:

A grassroots coalition will file complaints today with the Washington, D.C. bar against two Central Intelligence Agency lawyers for their involvement in authorizing the use of controversial interrogation techniques against detainees in US custody.

Velvet Revolution, a coalition of over 150 grassroots groups, will register complaints against CIA lawyers Jonathan M. Fredman and John A. Rizzo. Fredmen, who is currently counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, served as the Associate General counsel for the CIA from 2001-2004. Rizzo is the current Acting General Counsel for the CIA but is retiring this month. His nomination to become full General Counsel has been held up for years over his alleged role in enabling the CIA’s controversial interrogation program.

DC lawyer and activist Kevin Zeese, along with a former Reagan administration Associate Attorney General Bruce Fein, held a press conference this morning at the National Press Club in which they discussed the complaints they will be filing later today.
...
“We call for dismissal of two torture architects still working in the Obama administration,” said Zeese. “The United States must face the reality of the extent of the torture program under the Bush-Cheney administration. War crimes were committed. The toxic poison of torture will not be removed from the body politic unless the rule of law is applied.”

[206]Please see Alexandrovna's coverage today [205] for details of revelations discussed at the presser this morning (eg. the "crucifixion" of a detainee who "died from asphyxiation after having been hung by his arms, in a hood, and suffering broken ribs" and details on, and links to, the new complaints against Rizzo and Fredman, both of whom still serve in the CIA today, incredibly enough).

More information on the campaign, including all of the complaints filed, is available at VR's DisbarTortureLawyers.com [206] campaign. A quick video of Zeese's announcement, summarizing the complaints after today's press conference follows below...

[207]

[209]Just a quick note to formally announce my honor in being named a Fellow at the Commonweal Institute [210]. CI is a terrific, fearless, forward-thinking Progressive organization/think-tank, and I couldn't be prouder to have been invited to join their ranks and hopefully augment their already outstanding efforts.

The rightwing has had their Wingnut Welfare Program in place for some time, so it's nice to see organizations like CI --- even if they're not funded on anywhere near the scale of the rightwing "think-tanks" --- expanding and maturing to take on so much of the disinformative nonsense coming from the extremist Right. Perhaps reality-based discourse and forward-thinking Progressivism can return someday to find it's voice welcomed again in the public square. See their recent announcement on their new Fellows Op-Ed program [211].

Where I can help, I'm happy and honored to do so under the auspices of CI, in good company with a number of my fine fellow Fellows [212]. Be sure to check out Commonweal's website [210]. Lots of good stuff to be found there, with more coming soon! And again, I'm delighted to be onboard!

[Ed Note: CI Executive Director Barry Kendall will be joining me as a guest tonight on the final night of my week-long stint guest hosting the Mike Malloy Show. Update: Interview now here, [119] choose HOUR 3, interview with Kendall begins just after the 11 min. mark.]

[213]

Co-Editors: Dave Klein [7] and John Washburn [8]

The Tennessee Senate’s defeat, last week, of a bill that would have delayed a switch from paperless e-voting machines to optical scanners is already having an effect. Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy is pressing the county election commission to begin the switch. Some counties in New York will be switching from levers to optical scanners this year, too – testing the uncertified scanners on 1.4 million real voters in real elections in a ‘pilot program.’...

• National: A New Page for Voting: It's Time to Ditch Paper-Based Registration
  http://www.delawareonlin...aper-Based-Registration- [215]
• National: David Epstein: NAMUDNO and the Dilemma of Observational Equivalence
  http://www.huffingtonpos...-dilemma-o_b_221137.html [216]
  ("The problem is that a world in which Section 5 procedures are unnecessary is observationally equivalent to a world where they are necessary and completely effective.")
• CA: Brown sabatoges [sic] initiative process
  http://www.sbsun.com/pointofview/ci_12692328 [217]
• CT: Connecticut Will Not Be Illinois or New York
  http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2128 [218]
• IL: Rock Island county clerk files election report
  http://www.qctimes.com/n...e-808e-001cc4c002e0.html [219]
  (Leibovitz questioned whether the Touchscreen ballots should count since they lack an election judge's initials.)
• MO: Settlement in Missouri Lawsuit a Victory for Low-Income Voters
  http://tpmcafe.talkingpo...-in-missouri-lawsuit.php [220]
• NJ: Sette's attack cannot go unchallenged
  http://www.dailyrecord.c...k+cannot+go+unchallenged [221]
• NY: Fine in uproar over polling place change
  http://www.watertowndail...0090626/NEWS05/306269955 [222]
• NY: Voters to use new machines exclusively
  http://www.leaderherald..../id/513458.html?nav=5011 [223]
• NY: Area to try voting on optical scanners in 2009
  http://www.thedailystar....cal_story_177040011.html [224]
• TN: Commissioner asks Shelby County to begin voting machine switch
  http://www.tmcnet.com/us...-/2009/06/26/4245940.htm [225]
• TX: Gov Perry No Voter ID in 96-hour (max) special session | Texas ...
  http://blogs.chron.com/t.../06/gov_perry_no_vo.html [226]
• WA: Election-filing glitch
  http://seattletimes.nwso...ction-filing_glitch.html [227]
• India: Can EVMs subvert democracy?
  http://rajeev2007.wordpr...-evms-subvert-democracy/ [228]
• Iran: Electoral watchdog says disputed vote Iran's 'cleanest ever'
  http://timesofindia.indi.../articleshow/4705740.cms [229]
• Iran: Was Iran's election stolen? New study makes a forceful case
  http://features.csmonito...makes-a-convincing-case/ [230]
• Iran: TIMELINE: Iranian election and aftermath
  http://www.reuters.com/a...08/idUSTRE55H3TE20090625 [231]
• Philippines: Comelec preparing for worst-case 2010 scenario
  http://www.philstar.com/...licationSubCategoryId=63 [232]
• Philippines: Senator: Comelec 'blinded' by automation
  http://newsinfo.inquirer...ec-blinded-by-automation [233]
• Philippines: Comelec brass ignores gang of insider-forgers
  http://www.philstar.com/...licationSubCategoryId=64 [234]

Published by VotersUnite.Org [20]
Ellen Theisen [21], Director and Managing Editor
Dave Klein [7], Editor
John Washburn [8], Editor

Daily Voting News was founded on February 6, 2004 by John Gideon (1947-2009). To assist with Daily Voting News, please send links to news articles to dvn-tips [22]. To donate, click here [23]

"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy." The Creekside Declaration. March 22, 2008

**Articles and commentary included in "Daily Voting News" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of Daily Voting News, VotersUnite.Org [24], or BradBlog.Com [25]. Articles are selected for inclusion to inform subscribers' ability to draw their own conclusions based on noteworthy and credible news, research, legislation, and debate bearing on the integrity of elections.**

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[Now updated with audio archives...]

I finish up my week-long Guest Host stint on the The Mike Malloy Show [236] LIVE tonight, Bradcasting from L.A.'s KTLK am1150 [237] from 9pm-Midnight ET (6p-9p PT). My great thanks to Mike and Kathy Malloy for allowing me to make noise on his loud microphone from coast to coast all week!

Scheduled guests for tonight's show include:

• MARCY WHEELER, author and master blogger at the indispensable emptywheel [238] blog, on all matters of Bush Administration corruption, whether we'll ever see accountability under Obama, and the sorry state of our mainstream corporate media. (Marcy was appropriately recognized today in Dan Froomkin's final column for WaPo [239] for her "fine investigative blogging".)
• ELLEN THEISEN, founder of VotersUnite.org [240] and publisher of the 'Daily Voting News' on Rep. Holt's election reform bill [241] in the U.S. House, and other late election integrity issues.
• BARRY KENDALL, Executive Director of the progressive Commonweal Institute [242], on their new Fellows and Progressive op/ed program [211].
• SUE WILSON, filmmaker of Broadcast Blues [243], the new documentary on the epic fail of the corporate media, the rise of hate-speech radio and more!

PLUS: Today's breaking news (including an update from DESI DOYEN on the Climate Change battle on the House floor today), my rants, your calls (877-520-1150) and anything damn other thing we feel like!

Malloy's show is nationally syndicated on a number of air affiliates around the country [244], also on Sirius Ch. 146 & XM Ch. 167, or listen to the free online stream here [237] or here [245]!

This item will be tonight's Open Show Thread, hosted, as always, by the ever-affable "Agent 99 [246]". See ya tonight!

* * *

POST-SHOW UPDATE, AUDIO ARCHIVES: I had a great week, and a lot of fun. Thanks again Mike & Kathy! Tonight's finale, I believe, was great as well. The audio archives for all three "hours" (about :36 mins each with commercials removed, courtesy of Ben Burch at WhiteRoseSociety.org [247]) follow below. Have fun...

HOUR 1: A brief rant or three on Michael Jackson madness, NYTimes irresponsibility, WaPo irresponsibility, the passage of the Waxman-Markey climate bill in the House today with Desi Doyen, and election reform/integrity news with Ellen Theisen. Download MP3 [248] or listen online below...
[See post to listen to audio]

HOUR 2: An Ann Coulter/Fox "News" voter fraud hypocrisy rant, plus a full hour with Marcy Wheeler and callers. Download MP3 [249] or listen online below...
[See post to listen to audio]

HOUR 3: Sue Wilson and Barry Kendall on media failure and a full half-hour of open line calls! Download MP3 [250] or listen below...
[See post to listen to audio]

[251]

As of tomorrow, the increasingly useless Washington Post will become more so. Dan Froomkin, one of the few journalists at the once-credible newspaper who bothered to do his job by investigating and asking the questions that mattered during the Bush Administration's historic gutting of America and so much of what it stands for, filed his final "White House Watch" column [252] today. He described, today, what he does as "accountability journalism." We could use dozens more like him in the MSM.

His piece today echoes FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley's exposé on these pages yesterday [253], in his description of Bush as "the proverbial emperor with no clothes." He goes on to note how, after 9/11, "the nation, including the media, vested him with abilities he didn't have and credibility he didn't deserve."

As Rowley pointed out in her piece, in relating her frustration at 60 Minutes failing to air their interview with her warning about the dangers of going to war in Iraq, historians will "at some future point, [try] to figure out how such a naked emperor was able to continue despite some of us who tried to yell." When that history is put into perspective, they'll find Froomkin's paper trail, revealing him to be one of the loudest (ignored) shouters. For that, he's now (at least temporarily) out of a job [254].

In addition to the litany of Bush lies (a word that WaPo became allergic to [255] over the last eight years) which Froomkin looks back on today, he also continues his critical warnings about the Obama Administration and recognizes some of those journalists --- in both the MSM and the blogosphere --- who didn't fail in their Constitutional duty to the nation over the past few years.

We most appreciate both the shot he takes at WaPo's own Bob Woodward, while recognizing the "fine investigative blogging over at Talking Points Memo [256] and by Marcy Wheeler [257]."

[Ed Note: Wheeler will be joining me this evening as a guest on the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show [118], which I've been guest hosting all week. Update: Audio interview now here... [119]]

"Hopefully, the next time the nation faces a grave national security crisis," Froomkin writes, "we will listen to the people who were right, not the people who were wrong, and heed those who reported the truth, not those who served as stenographers to liars."

On a personal note, back in 2006, when the bulk of the MSM were still deluding themselves, in full-tilt denial about the credibility of the work those of us who are "just bloggers" were doing --- (Isn't it odd that they blame us, even now, for their own impending failure, after so many years of marginalizing the relevance of 'bloggers who work in their pajamas out of their parents' basements'? If we hastened their demise, what does that say about them?) --- Froomkin recognized the importance of the work The BRAD BLOG [2] was doing and invited me to pen a column on questions of election integrity [258] that the media should have been asking in advance of the 2006 election, for Harvard's prestigious Nieman Foundation for Journalism's "Watchdog" website [259], where he remains their Deputy Editor. We are ever grateful for that opportunity, his frequent linkage to these pages, and, frankly, for his early and continuing recognition of the importance of the blogosphere over all. After all, we were getting it right from day one. The MSM weren't. (And still aren't.)

But this sounds alot like an obit, and it is not. Froomkin will reemerge soon, after he "take[s] a few weeks off before embarking upon [his] next endeavor." Whichever outlet is lucky enough to have him grace its pages will be infinitely better off for that contribution, even as WaPo seems satisfied with withering on the vine with rightwing liars, those who brought on so many of our current problems, still staining their pages on a daily basis. At "worst," hopefully he knows he's always welcome to contribute here at The BRAD BLOG [25]. Though he may have to buy some pajamas, and we'll have to find out if our parents mind him moving into their basement.

[Cross-posted at the Commonweal Institute's 'Uncommon Denominator' blog... [260]]

[261]

Co-Editors: Dave Klein [7] and John Washburn [8]

On a day in which celebrity deaths will capture headlines, we mourn the loss of FL Elections Supervisor, Phyllis Busansky, and honor her lifetime of public service as "an election official with integrity."

No it's not a typo, ACORN brought a lawsuit and won....

• AL: Birmingham elections set for August 25 | Birmingham Weekly
  http://www.bhamweekly.co...tions-set-for-august-25/ [263]
• CA: County May Use Ranked-Choice Voting in 2010 Elections
  http://www.berkeleydaily...Voting-in-2010-Elections [264]
• CA: Secretary of State Debra Bowen Announces Charges Filed Against Orange County Man for Los Angeles Election Fraud
  http://www.sos.ca.gov/ad...leases/2009/db09-036.pdf [265]
• CA: Latino-rights advocate charged with voter fraud
  http://latimesblogs.lati...ed-with-voter-fraud.html [266]
• FL: Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky dies at 72, after a lifetime of public service
  http://www.tampabay.com/...itics/article1012870.ece [267]
• FL: Applicants line up for job, which Gov. Crist will fill
  http://www.tampabay.com/...tions/article1012868.ece [268]
• FL: Naming successor to Busansky an opportunity, risk for Crist
  http://www2.tbo.com/cont...isk-crist/news-politics/ [269]
• MN: Help Mpls. Prepare For Ranked Choice Voting
  http://kingfield.org/ran...e-voting-coming-to-mpls/ [270]
• MO: Missouri settles voter registration lawsuit filed by ACORN
  http://www.kansascity.co..._news/story/1279572.html [271]
• MO: Mo. agency will reform itself to help clients vote
  http://www.stltoday.com/...5E000605C73?OpenDocument [272]
• NC: The Performance of Optical Scanners and DREs in North Carolina’s 2008 General Election
  http://www.ncvoter.net/d...Effect_on_Undervotes.pdf [273]
• NJ: Lebanon Mayor, Wife Voted Twice In Primary
  http://www.nj.com/hunter...or_wife_voted_twice.html [274]
• NY: Uncertified machines do not serve voters
  http://timesunion.com/As...33&category=OPINION [275]
• TX: When is a typo like a veto? When it thwarts a vote
  http://www.news-journal....009/06/25/0625selby.html [276]
• Afghanistan: Afghanistan's Election Challenges
  http://www.crisisgroup.o...g/home/index.cfm?id=6176 [277]
• Iran: $10,000 Reward: Show How the Iranian Election Was "Stolen"
  http://www.huffingtonpos...ow-how-the_b_220705.html [278]
• Iran: Crunching the numbers
  http://www.atimes.com/at...iddle_East/KF26Ak04.html [279]
• Philippines: Lack of machines slows down voter registration
  http://www.bloggen.be/ph...ws/archief.php?ID=362693 [280]
  “A CITY Commission on Election (Comelec) officer is alarmed over the lack of biometric machines to accommodate the deluge of new registrants.”
• Philippines: Manual polls loom with contract delay
  http://www.bworldonline....62609/content.php?id=072 [281]
• Sweden: Irregularities reported in Sweden's EU vote
  http://www.thelocal.se/20196/20090622/ [282]
• Sweden: Voting Irregularities in Swedish EU Election Negatively Impacted Pirate Party?
  http://www.zeropaid.com/...y-impacted-pirate-party/ [283]

Published by VotersUnite.Org [20]
Ellen Theisen [21], Director and Managing Editor
Dave Klein [7], Editor
John Washburn [8], Editor

Daily Voting News was founded on February 6, 2004 by John Gideon (1947-2009). To assist with Daily Voting News, please send links to news articles to dvn-tips [22]. To donate, click here [23]

"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy." The Creekside Declaration. March 22, 2008

**Articles and commentary included in "Daily Voting News" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of Daily Voting News, VotersUnite.Org [24], or BradBlog.Com [25]. Articles are selected for inclusion to inform subscribers' ability to draw their own conclusions based on noteworthy and credible news, research, legislation, and debate bearing on the integrity of elections.**

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