The WAWG Blog

Report Finds U.S. Freedom of Press Slipping

The United States has dropped nine spots on Reporters Without Borders’ fifth annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index. When the list debuted in 2002, America was ranked 17 out of the 168 countries that are rated; this year, that rank is 53. The U. S. has a worse rating than countries like Albania, Liberia, Haiti, Armenia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Lebanon. We are getting closer to Iran, Cuba, and North Korea.

President Bush Says ‘We’ve Never Been Stay The Course’
During an interview today on ABC’s This Week, President Bush tried to distance himself from what has been his core strategy in Iraq for the last three years. George Stephanopoulos asked about James Baker’s plan to develop a strategy for Iraq that is “between ’stay the course’ and ‘cut and run.’” Bush responded, ‘We’ve never been stay the course, George!’

Tony Snow Tries To Convince Reporter That Bush Doesn’t Use Term “Stay The Course”

Republican National Committee Mailing Accuses Democrat Of Helping To Start the War in Iraq

Rodney Alexander’s (R-La.) chief of staff sued for sexual harassment
Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), already enmeshed in the ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) page scandal, now faces a new controversy as a former staffer has sued his office for sexual harassment.

Republican National Committee TV ad looks just like a terrorist propaganda film

The dictionary definition of the word ‘terrorize’ is simple and not open to misinterpretation: “To fill or overpower with terror; terrify; coerce by intimidation or fear.” Note please that the words ‘violence’ and ‘death’ are missing from that definition. For the key to terrorism is not the act-but the fear of the act. That is why bin Laden and his deputies and his imitators are forever putting together videotape statements and releasing virtual infomercials with dire threats and heart-stopping warnings.

But why is the Republican Party imitating them? Bin Laden puts out what amounts to a commercial of fear; the Republicans put out what is unmistakable as a commercial of fear.

The Republicans are paying to have the messages of bin Laden and the others broadcast into your home! Only the Republicans have a bigger bankroll. …

By this definition, the people who put these videos together: first, the terrorists and then, the administration, whose shared goal is to scare you into panicking instead of thinking, they are the ones terrorizing you.

By this definition, the leading terrorist group in this world right now is al Qaeda, but the leading terrorist group in this country right now is the Republican Party.

Some Quotes From Republican Harris County Precinct Chairman Greg Aydt

“In return, we will ship the Arab Muslims in the United States — regardless of their citizenship — back to the Middle East…They and their relatives back in their homelands have shown their utter inability to live at peace with neighbors who are different from themselves….After all, if the Jews are not a good fit in the Middle East, why should the unassimilable Muslims be welcome in America?”

“Where are the peacemakers from the Religion of Peace? All I see are jihadi swine.”

“Sorry, no respect for any ethnicity or religion with this scumbag…Just following the example of Muhammad, I guess. I recall that he liked sex with little girls, too. Would somebody please remind me what is there in Islam that is good and noble?”

“In other words, fundamental human rights are anathema to Islam.”

“Under no circumstances should any alien not yet legally admitted to the United States be held to have any rights beyond the right to continue breathing.”

“Why are we sending one thin dime to a backwater, Third World hell-hole like New Orleans?”

Columnist to Pay $34,000 in Bush Propaganda Settlement
Columnist Armstrong Williams has reached a settlement with prosecutors regarding the $240,000 in unpublicized taxpayer funds he received from the Education Department to extol the virtues of President Bush’s policies. Under the settlement, Williams admits no wrongdoing, but will have to pay $34,000 that prosecutors determined he had failed to earn under the terms of his secret contract with the government.

Tom Feeney running smear campaign
Tom Feeney is the sitting U.S. Congressman; former Florida Speaker of the House; Jeb Bush’s former gubernatorial running mate; the man who promised to deliver Florida’s electoral vote to George W. during the 2000 fiasco no matter what the Supremes had to say; the only so-far unindicted Congressman to have gone with Jack Abramoff on a paid golf trip to St. Andrews, Scotland and; the man whom Curtis accused — via affidavit video-taped Congressional testimony, and lie-detector test — of commissioning a vote-rigging software prototype in 2000. Shamefully, Feeney has done little more than mount a disgraceful smear campaign against Clint Curtis, attempting to paint him as “crazy” and not fit for office. The campaign seems only to have highlighted Feeney’s own lack of seriousness as a legislator. But now the Daytona Beach News Journal has endorsed Curtis over Tom Feeney in their race for the U.S. House seat in Florida’s 24th district.

Regards,

Jim

Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution provides the following requirement for any newly elected President:

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States; and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend, the Constitution of the United States.”

President Bush has spoken those same exact words on two occasions.  The last time was less than two years ago.

In Article 1, Section 9, our Constitution also states:

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

On October 17, 2006, The Decider, signed the military-tribunals bill.  By doing so, he approved the following:

No court, justice or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who has been determined … to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.

What makes this portion of the new law even more threatening are the words that are no longer there. An enemy combatant or anyone suspected of being one, are not limited to: “outside the United States.” The new law will be applied inside and outside the United States as seen fit by the executive Branch and without oversight by Congress.

David Savage of the Los Angeles Times, amplifies the reach of this elimination of rights:

Now, it not only bars the men held at Guantanamo Bay from challenging their detention in court, but it also closes the courthouse door to non-citizens who are arrested in Los Angeles or Chicago and held by the military as a possible “unlawful enemy combatant.”

The new law also defines this term broadly to include not just terrorists and fighters but also people, including American citizens, who have “materially supported hostilities against the United States”. While a citizen could be arrested as an “enemy combatant,” he or she could still challenge the government’s action in court.

How can a president take the above oath to “preserve” and “protect” the Constitution and then turn around and sign a bill canceling part of it? What is it he is so scared of that he thinks what has worked in the past is no longer enough. Surely, as head of the most powerful nation in the world, he is not scared of a few terrorists? After all, that would be playing into their hands, wouldn’t it? On the other hand, maybe he is just playing us to keep his authoritarian buddies in control and destroy this nation from within? How ironic, we destroy ourselves while trying to keep others from just trying to destroy us.

We have done this before. It was wrong then – but it is far worse this time.

By Jack Ohman

Buried in complex new Military Commissions Act of 2006 is a real shocker, reaching far beyond the legal struggles about foreign terrorist suspects.  This new law authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if you have never left the United States. And once you are thrown into military prison, you cannot expect a trial by your peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights.  You can be designated as an enemy combatant if you have just contributed money to a Middle Eastern charity, and you can be held indefinitely in a military prison.

Read literally, this means that if the President or the Pentagon says you’re an unlawful enemy combatant — using whatever criteria they wish — then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is concerned, you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to “hostilities” at all.  This definition is not limited to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.  It’s not limited to aliens — it covers U.S. citizens as well.  It’s not limited to persons captured or detained overseas.  And it is not even limited to the armed conflict against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, authorized by Congress on September 18, 2001. Indeed, on the face of it, it’s not even limited to a time of war or armed conflict; it could apply in peacetime.

It is easy to look away and hope for the best, to dismiss critics as the fringe left who think the worse about the United States or opponents of the President looking for partisan advantage.

Thomas Jefferson, in his letter to Thomas Paine, 1789. ME 7:408, Papers 15:269, said: “I consider [trial by jury] as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.”  And Patrick Henry warned us about Government officials who would seek to claim the right to imprison people without a trial:

• “Is the relinquishment of the trial by jury and the liberty of the press necessary for your liberty? Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend to the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings–give us that precious jewel, and you may take everything else! …Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.”

We are not dealing with hypothetical abuses.  The President has already subjected a citizen to military confinement. 

Do you think you are safe from this because you are a good person or because you trust the judgment of President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld?  Will you trust every president and secretary of defense forever?  We already have kept a three-year old boy off a flight because someone with the same name was on a no-fly list.  The path to hell is paved with good intentions.

Let’s suppose that in the future, some Preseident decides to take revenge someone named John Smith.  The President then designates John Smith as an unlawful enemy combatant, and if your name is John Smith, well, nice knowing you.  There’s nothing you can do about it then.

So you better do something about it between now and November 7th.

Regards,

Jim

Bush Space Plan Reserves Right to Kick Others Out of Orbit
President Bush has signed a new National Space Policy that rejects future arms-control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone “hostile to U.S. interests.” Though the administration claims it has no plans to develop or deploy space-based weapons systems, analysts say that the White House’s refusal to enter even informal negotiations on the subject fuels international suspicions to the contrary.

teRepublican Senator Larry Craig has consistently relied on “value voters”, but he has not been honest with them about his own conductxt

Republican U.S. Rep. John Sweeney may have violated congressional ethics rules by failing to reveal who paid for a trip he took to a Pacific island with a lobbyist hired by convicted Washington influence peddler Jack Abramoff

In January 2001, Sweeney traveled 8,000 miles to deliver a speech to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory infamous for its garment sweatshops and prostitution trade. He traveled with Tony Rudy, who had just left the staff of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to work for Abramoff.

Republican U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood admits to affair
U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood admitted Thursday to a five-year affair with Cynthia M. Ore, the Maryland woman who alleges in a $5.5 million civil action that he physically abused her, but called her lawsuit “malicious and baseless.” “For about five years I had an affair I deeply regret,” Mr. Sherwood said in a statement issued by his lawyer. “Although it was intermittent and ended last year, nothing I can say can diminish the pain and hurt I have caused my wife and family.”

GOP Sen Burns Says Bush And I Have An Iraq Plan And “We’re Not Going To Tell You”
Immediately following the debate, Tester campaign spokesman Matt McKenna likened Burns’ claim of a Bush plan to President Nixon’s secret plan in 1972 to end the war in Vietnam. The Burns campaign spokesman Jason Klindt, however, said there is no secret plan.

Bill O’Reilly falsely claimed that a pregnant woman’s life could “never” be “in danger” from pregnancy complication

On his radio show, Bill O’Reilly said, “you can always have a C-section and do those kinds of things.” In fact, several potential pregnancy complications, such as an ectopic pregnancy, which is “the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the first trimester” or preeclampsia, which “affect[s] up to one in seven pregnant women” can threaten the life of a pregnant woman.

Dick Cheney says, ‘General Overall Situation’ In Iraq Is Going ‘Remarkably Well’
Rush Limbaugh interviewed Vice President Cheney on his show today. At one point, Limbaugh asked Cheney to respond to growing frustration over U.S. efforts in Iraq. Cheney acknowledged there is a “natural level of concern out there” because fighting didn’t end “instantaneously.” (Next month, the war will have lasted longer than U.S. fighting in World War II.) Cheney then pointed to various news items to paint a positive picture of conditions in Iraq and concluded, “If you look at the general overall situation, they’re doing remarkably well.”

Electricity Levels In Baghdad At Lowest Level Since U.S. Invasion
In Sept. 2003, President Bush promised that he would help Iraqis “restore basic services, such as electricity and water, and to build new schools, roads, and medical clinics. This effort is essential to the stability of those nations, and therefore, to our own security.” But three years later, electricity levels in Baghdad are at an all-time low. Residents of Baghdad are receiving just 2.4 hours of electricity this month, compared to an average of 16 to 24 hours of electricity before the U.S. invasion.

Regards,

Jim

Bob “Swift Boat” Perry is finance chairman for Sekula-Gibbs’ congressional campaign
Houston homebuilder Bob Perry funded the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” ad campaign questioning Democratic nominee John Kerry’s Vietnam War record. Perry’s new group for spreading lies is “Americans for Honesty on Issues”, which is led by Sue Walden, who is a close ally of Tom DeLay. She was also an adviser to Ken Lay, the former chief executive of Enron. What a nice group of human-beings that is.

Tom DeLay announced he was not a candidate on April 4th, but paid his daughter with campaign contributions through September, and then gave her three months severance pay and three months of reimbursement for health insurance
Public disclosure request from FEC
FORM 99 Then click on VIEW MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENT
(This story originally found at Juanita’s )

Republican shows videos which portray Democrats as opposing integration in the 1950s while presenting Republicans in a favorable light with respect to African-Americans and promotes Christianity on city-owned TV station

Videos created by David Barton, Vice Chair of the Texas Republican Party and a close colleague of disgraced former House Leader Tom DeLay, have now been removed from a city-owned TV station in El Cajon, California. Barton has also been linked to groups with racist and anti-Semitic views.

Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman questioned about requesting two tickets to a July 2001 U2 concert from Jack Abramoff
If he accepted the tickets, the current head of the RNC failed to include them on his 2001 financial disclosure form.

Hispanics get letter saying it is a crime for immigrants to vote
The state attorney general’s office is investigating a letter received by some Southern California Hispanics that says it is a crime for immigrants to vote and tells them they could be jailed or deported if they go to the polls next month. The truth is that immigrants who become naturalized citizens can legally register to vote.

Ohio Republican Tom Noe went on trial Monday for stealing more than $2 million from a fund for injured workers and spending it on his business and renovating his home in the Florida Keys
Noe, once a member of state boards that oversee the Ohio Turnpike and Ohio’s public universities, was a top Republican fundraiser who gave more than $105,000 to Republicans during the 2004 campaign.

Regards,

Jim

Tom Delay says vote for Republican on “Dancing with the Stars”; then she withdraws; files for divorce; husband involved with George Bush, Christian Right, and pornography?
A while back, Tom Delay sent a letter out to Republicans asking then to vote for Sara Evans on “Dancing with the Stars” because she “represents good American values.”  Tom doesn’t think you should vote for the best dancer; everything is political with him.  Tom also said, “We need to send a message to Hollywood and the media that smut has no place on television by supporting good people like Sara Evans,” the letter read. “Sara will be a great representative of the values that we want to see in the media.” 

Well look what Sara Evans has brought to the media.  Sara Evans has now done just like Tom by withdrawing (from “Dancing with the Stars”) and filed for divorce from her husband, Craig Schelske, alleging that he had committed adultery, verbally abused her and frequently watched pornography at home.  Both Evans and Schelske are vocal, toe-the-line conservatives and supporters of the Christian Right.  Schelske has met with President Bush at least four times, according Schelske campaign press materials quoted in the Free Republic.  This total has likely increased as Evans campaigned for Bush in the 2004 election and Schelske.  He was the Republican candidate for Congress in Oregon’s 5th District in 2002 and served as a steering committee member for Bush’s 2004 run.  Schelske also has close connections with the Christian Right.  He has appeared on the 700 Club and is the executive director of AmericanDestiny.com, a put-more-God-in-the-schools organization that attempts to use advantageously religious statements made by the Founding Fathers to justify trashing the First Amendment.  In a June 16, 2006, interview, Sean Hannity describes Schelske as a “good friend.”

We don’t know if it’s Sara or Craig (or both) telling lies here, but at least one of those “family values” Republicans is a hypocrite.  Maybe the real moral of this story is don’t accept help from Tom DeLay.

Clear Lake area politician under investigation
Republican state Rep. John Davis is under investigation for possible campaign finance violations about what happened to nearly $100,000 in campaign donations.  Rep. Davis is unusually vague about what happens to much of that money.  There were entries such as, $5,490 for “miscellaneous expenses,” paying of an American Express bill.  In fact, credit card charges that contained no explanation as to what the card actually purchased total $48,734 in the last six years.  More entries included John Davis paying John Davis with campaign donations.  He lists them as reimbursements for “out of pocket expenses,” but the ethics commission rules are clear on that: Politicians need to specifically say what they’re purchasing, and why they need to be reimbursed with campaign donations.  And Rep. Davis never does.  In six years, those out of pocket reimbursements add up to $50,135.

FBI Reportedly Investigating (Another) GOP Congressman
The FBI is investigating whether Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) used his influence to secure lobbying and consulting contracts  worth at least $1 million for his daughter, two people familiar with the inquiry told the AP over the weekend. Federal agents are apparently focusing on Weldon’s work between 2002 and 2004 to help two Russian companies and two Serbian brothers connected to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who were also clients of the firm operated by Weldon’s daughter.

Under Oath, Fordham Once Again Contradicts Hastert
The House ethics committee heard its first sworn testimony yesterday, and already, House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s version of when his staff first learned of former Rep. Mark Foley’s conduct has been contradicted. Former Foley aide Kirk Fordham testified before the panel for five hours, and repeated under oath his contention that he first alerted Hastert’s office at least three years ago.

The Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), has recently held meetings in Paris with a front man working for Iranian arms dealer and Iran-Contra figure Manucher Ghorbani
Also, in July 2005, it was reported  that Congressmen Hoekstra had traveled to Paris along with Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA), the No. 2 Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, to meet with Ghorbanifar front man Fereidoun Mahdavi.Two former senior intelligence officers and current intelligence sources abroad have now described a more recent meeting between Hoekstra and Mahdavi that took place in Paris sometime between the spring and summer of this year. What is by far of greatest concern to the sources is that accompanying Hoekstra on the trip was Vaughn Forrest, a mysterious character who, like Ghorbanifar, has ties to the Iran-Contra scandal.

David Kuo, former #2 in the Bush administrations Office of Faith-Based Initiatives says “the name of god is being destroyed in the name of politics”
Kuo was interviewed on 60 Minutes.  As correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, he also says the White House was a place that cynically used religion for political ends and that White House aides ridiculed the very Christian leaders who helped bring Mr. Bush to office.  In his book, Kuo wrote that White House staffers would roll their eyes at evangelicals, calling them “nuts” and “goofy.”

NBC News forced Phil Donahue to book more conservatives than liberals and wanted him to imitate Bill O’Reilly
So says Jeff Cohen, who was a producer for Phil Donahue’s talk show.  Less than four years ago Donahue’s show imploded primarily because MSNBC and its corporate owners were afraid to have a show seen as liberal or anti-Bush at a time those opinions were less popular, he said.

Paramount Hires Path to 9/11 Writer For Movie On ‘The Hunt For Osama Bin Laden’
Cyrus Nowresteh wrote ABC’s docudrama “The Path to 9/11.”  Norwresteh maintained the movie was “an objective telling of the events of 9/11.”  But his script contained several glaring inaccuracies, all of which shifted blame to the Clinton administration.  Nearly 100,000 people contacted ABC to protest the film.  Now Paramount Pictures and Oliver Stone have signed up Norwresteh to write another movie about 9/11.  The movie is to be based on a book, also called “Jawbreaker,” that blames the Clinton administration for failing to capture Bin Laden and praises President Bush

Investigation shows Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell pushes the government to help cigarette makers, Las Vegas casinos, the pharmaceutical industry, credit card lenders, coal mine owners and others
McConnell has come to represent his affluent donors at the expense of Kentucky, the relatively poor state he is supposed to represent. They point, for example, to his support last year for a tough bankruptcy law, backed by New York banks that support him.

And now for something light-hearted:
How I sold one copy of Bill O’Reilly’s new book
By: John Amato
I stopped off at the Barnes & Noble in Marina Del Rey to buy the new Michael Connelly book, “Echo Park”.  The store was quite empty and I asked a cashier where they had a copy.  She walked me over to the front of the store that has new arrivals on a big dark brown table and I picked one up.  On the same table, there were several copies of Bill O’Reilly’s new polemic “Culture Warrior.”  His head had a shiny glare from the florescent lights up above.
I asked her how the book was selling and she told me that Woodward’s book (State of Denial) knocked all of them off of the B&N’s charts.  I told her how Billy was bad mouthing Nancy Pelosi last night because the polls were favoring the Democrats when suddenly, a man probably in his late seventies or early eighties dressed in small yellow shorts and a red cap grabbed O’Reilly’s book off the table and yelled at me,
• “Damn Liberal! Now I’m buying this book, you goddamn liberal,” and he stormed away.
I turned to the cashier and started laughing as she was trying to restrain herself. I mean, that came out of nowhere.
• “Now there’s an O’Reilly fan for you, ” she said.
I felt really bad because he did get quite excited.
• I said, “Wow, he became unglued just because I said Billy dissed Pelosi.  I’d like to talk to him for a few minutes and calm him down.”
We were both kind of surprised because it seemed like he popped out of the ground right below our feet.  It also seems to support the NY Times article about his age demographic but I digress. I asked her if she liked hard-boiled detective fiction when suddenly, the man scurried past us with Billy’s new book in a plastic bag tucked under his arm, head tilting to the ground and yelled at the cashier.
• “Don’t talk to him. He’s a liberal!”
And he stormed through the doors and out into the parking lot.
• I looked at her and said, “I guess a nice little chat is out of the question.”

Regards,
Jim

Month to Month Change

In this thirteenth survey of the web, The WAWG Index category group average was down by 28.6 percent from September 2006. Of the fourteen categories tracked, 9 were down, 4 were up, and 1 was unchanged. The cumulative change for the index is up 230 percent since October 2005.

The largest decrease for October, at 93%, was for “obsession with crime and punishment,” which was last months major increase at 1,648 percent. Note, this category is still 126 percent above August’s level. The largest increase was for reduced “labor power” at 50%. This may be due to recent rulings by the National Labor Relations Board to redefine who qualifies as a supervisor.

Number two person at the White House Office of Faith Based initiatives says administration repeatedly uses evangelical Christians for their votes while consistently giving them nothing in return, and routinely speaks of the nation’s most famous evangelical leaders behind their backs, with contempt and derision

David Kuo’s new book, Tempting Fate, due out Monday, says Faith-Based Initiatives were not only stiffed on one public promise after another — the office itself was eventually forced to answer a higher calling: Electing Republican politicians. Kuo’s bottom line: the White House is playing millions of American Christians for suckers. According to Kuo, “White House staff didn’t want to have anything to do with the Faith-Based Initiative because they didn’t understand it any more than did congressional Republicans . They didn’t lie awake at night trying to kill it. They simply didn’t care.” The Office was also, literally, a taxpayer-funded part of the Republican campaign machinery.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/11/olbermann-exclusive-dissecting-new-book-tempting-faith/

Group Trying to Suppress Voters;U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Buries Report
The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) commissioned, received, and then buried a report concerning the issue of Voter Fraud (as opposed to Election Fraud and other legitimate disenfranchisement issues) when they didn’t like the results they received. The report, which the commission received four months ago but failed to release, found “little evidence” of the “problem” now being pushed nationwide by Republican operatives as evidence that disenfranchising Photo ID requirement laws should be passed in states across the country. Such laws have been passed to keep Democratic-leaning voters, who are far more likely to lack drivers’ licenses, from voting, but have been found unconstitutional in several states.

Now chaired by outgoing Bush-appointee Paul DiGregorio since the original chair Rev. DeForest Soaries resigned in frustration, citing lack of support for true electoral reform from both the White House and Congress, the EAC has been much criticized for their failure to oversee implementation of and standards for new Electronic Voting Systems across the country.

The report goes on to quote from Republican operative Mark F. “Thor” Hearne, who is still pushing his deceitful line about the non-existent “epidemic” of voter fraud in the country. Hearne and his crew created the phony, self-described “non-partisan” Republican front group, calling themselves “American Center for Voting Rights” (ACVR) on March 22nd, 2005, shortly after they were the only “Voting Rights” group called to testify before congressional hearings held by the now-disgraced Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) on what went wrong in Ohio’s 2004 Presidential Election.

Hearne testified before Ney’s House Administration Committee on behalf of ACVR just three days after the group was created. He testified only that he was “a long time voting rights advocate,” and didn’t bother to mention that he had been the General Counsel for Bush/Cheney ’04 or that ACVR’s co-founder was Jim Dyke, the Republican National Committee Communications Director. Dyke now works out of Dick Cheney’s office in the White House. After exposure of the sham organization by this reporter, the group eventually added “Democrat” Brian Lunde as Executive Director. However, Lunde is a close advisor to Karl Rove and worked hard for Bush in 2004 and to retain a Republican Majority.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3609

Brian Bilbray, the Republican who took over Duke Cunningham’s seat, being investigated by Grand Jury Possible perjury or voter fraud
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/11/225811/09

Republican National Committee e-mailed list of names, Social Security numbers, and race of fundraiser attendees
Of 76 guests on the list, the race of all but three were listed as “Caucasian.” One was identified as “Asian,” and the race of two others was listed as “Muslim.” “Muslim is not a race. It is a religion,” complained one of the identified Muslims on the list.
http://www.nysun.com/article/4134

‘Conservative’ NewsMax.Com Labels Foley as a Democrat
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3612

HACKING DEMOCRACY to be aired on HBO exposes gaping holes in the security of America’s electronic voting system
The timely, cautionary documentary HACKING DEMOCRACY exposes gaping holes in the security of America’s electronic voting system when it debuts THURSDAY, NOV. 2 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT) – less than a week before the midterm elections – exclusively on HBO. Other HBO playdates: Nov. 5 (9:00 a.m.), 7 (9:00 a.m., 6:30 p.m.), 13 (12:30 p.m., 10:00 p.m.), 18 (6:00 p.m.) and 26 (1:15 a.m.).HBO2 playdates: Nov. 4 (noon), 7 (11:45 p.m.), 10 (6:30 p.m.) and 15 (3:00 a.m.).

In the 2000 presidential election, an electronic voting machine recorded minus 16,022 votes for Al Gore in Volusia County, Fla. While fraud was never proven, the faulty tally alerted computer scientists, politicians and everyday citizens to the very real possibility of computer hacking during elections.

In 2002, Seattle grandmother and writer Bev Harris asked officials in her county why they had acquired electronic touch screen systems for their elections. Unsatisfied with their explanation, she set out to learn about electronic voting machines on her own. In the course of her research, which unearthed hundreds of reported incidents of mishandled voting information, Harris stumbled across an “online library” of the Diebold Corporation – which counted more than 40 percent of the presidential votes nationwide in 2000 – discovering a treasure trove of information about the inner-workings of the company’s voting system.

Harris brought this proprietary “secret” information to computer security expert Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins University, who determined that the software lacked the necessary security features to prevent tampering. Her subsequent investigation took her from the trash cans of Texas to the secretary of state of California and finally to Florida, where a “mini-election” to test the vulnerability of the memory cards used in electronic voting produced alarming results.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3605#more-3605

Regards,

Jim

Rumsfeld Sat On Board of Company That Sold Reactors to North Korea
Rumsfeld in 2000: director of a company which wins $200m contract to sell nuclear reactors to North Korea Rumsfeld in 2002: declares North Korea a terrorist state, part of the axis of evil and a target for regime change

Compassionate Republican Asks if Critically Injured Girl is an Illegal Alien
Monday afternoon, what would become one of Weld County’s worst accidents, a 17-year-old girl ran a stop sign on a country road and a large pickup truck demolished her car. She’s still trying to stay alive in the hospital. And today, they are burying her two little brothers and her 3-month-old baby. The family donated their children’s organs to other children so they can live. Then, Republican Representative Dave Schultheis e-mails the newspaper asking, “Was this person the child of parents in the U.S. illegally? Or was she here illegally?”

In Hour of Need, Hastert Turns to — Nut-Job Evangelist?

Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC) has a remarkable talent for steering federal dollars to benefit properties that he owns

J. Kenneth Blackwell, Republican nominee for governor of Ohio, campaigning with one of America’s leading white supremacists
As Secretary of State, Blackwell was the Republican point man for getting the Ohio 2004 presidential vote that gave George W. Bush a second term.

Michael Savage (radio) declared that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is a “traitor” who “should be tried for treason, and when she’s found guilty

The Navy lawyer
who led a successful Supreme Court challenge of the Bush administration’s military tribunals for detainees at Guantanamo Bay has been passed over for promotion and will have to leave the military

Republican Makes Up Quote for TV Ad
Washington Republican Dave Reichert hit the airwaves this week with his first TV spot, and it’s an attack ad against his Democratic opponent with a fabricated quote.

Republicans Lie About Role of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in Foley Scandal
You may have heard some of the following claims on conservative radio or TV programs. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has responded with the following:

LIE:
The email messages between Rep. Foley and a former page have been in CREW’s possession as far back as April.
FACT:
CREW received the emails on July 21, 2006 and promptly sent them to the FBI, and no one else, that same day. CREW did not discuss the email messages or their content with anyone else. The only call CREW’s Executive Director Melanie Sloan made regarding the matter was to the Washington FBI agent to whom she sent the emails to confirm receipt of the messages.

LIE:
CREW provided the FBI with incomplete information and heavily redacted emails. CREW refused to disclose the page’s name and contact information to the FBI.
FACT:
The emails Ms. Sloan sent to the FBI were not edited or redacted in any way. The page’s full name and email address were in the emails, as was the name and email address of the Congressional staffer to whom the page was sending the emails.

LIE:
The FBI investigation into Rep. Foley was hampered because CREW refused to comply with the agency’s request for additional information.
FACT:
After CREW sent the emails to the FBI, CREW’s only subsequent contact with the Bureau was one telephone call from the special agent to whom CREW had sent the material confirming that the emails were from Rep. Foley. CREW had no further contact with the FBI.

According to several government officials, the FBI sent the emails to three squads: a public corruptions squad, a criminal squad and a cyber-squad. After reviewing the matter, the FBI determined that there wasn’t enough evidence at the time to suggest any criminal activity and did not move forward with an investigation.

LIE:
Fox News’ Sean Hannity said on October 5, 2006 that CREW had “been bragging about [the emails] on its website as early as July 21st.”
FACT:
CREW first posted the emails on September 29, 2006, one day after ABC News reported them.

LIE:
CREW has been working with ABC on the Foley story and was reporter Brian Ross’ source for the emails.
FACT:
Ross told The New York Times he received the emails from Republicans. CREW was not involved in the broadcasting of his story. In fact, Ross didn’t even know that CREW had the emails until after he broke the story.

LIE:
Rep. Mark Foley resigned from Congress after CREW posted some of his email exchanges with a former page.
FACT:
Brian Ross has reported that Foley resigned hours after ABC questioned him about the sexually explicit internet messages.

LIE:
The blog Stop Sex Predators is owned and operated by CREW.
FACT:
CREW does not own, operate, or have any connection or involvement with the Stop Sex Predators blog. CREW first heard of the blog in media reports after the Foley scandal broke.

LIE:
One of CREW’s funders, George Soros, was behind the Foley scandal and has been directing CREW’s involvement in the case.
FACT:
George Soros had no knowledge that CREW had the Foley emails, nor does he have any input over CREW’s day to day activities. CREW has not discussed the emails with any donors or Democratic operatives, strategists or staffers. All CREW did was send the messages to the FBI. After ABC broke the story, CREW posted the messages to its website.

LIE:
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) called CREW a “partisan 527 organization” on the October 8, 2006 edition of Fox News Sunday.
FACT:
CREW is a nonpartisan and nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.

And in the Election Integrity Corner…
What shall we make of this? Is it real?…
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Regards,

Jim

Election Fraud Special

Bobby Kennedy’s first Rolling Stone article, “Was The 2004 Election Stolen?” and Bobby Kennedy’s second Rolling Stone article, “Will the Next Election be Hacked”

Fraudulent, Shredded Voter Registrations In 2004 Linked To Same Shadowy Republican National Committee Operative Now Doing Questionable Voter Registrations in Tennessee
Last week the Brad Blog ran an item on fraudulent Voter Registration Forms submitted by a group reportedly tied to the Republican National Committee down in Tennessee where there’s a tight U.S. Senate race in play to replace the outgoing Bill Frist.

More information on those dirty tricks, and the ties to long-time Arizona-based Republican operative, Nathan Sproul & Associates, are now being reported by AP.

Sproul & Associates, and their various shadowy front groups, were linked to the shredding of Democratic Voter Registration Forms in Nevada, West Virginia, Oregon and elsewhere in 2004 as reported by Max Blumenthal in October of 2004 and again recently in Bobby Kennedy’s Rolling Stone exposé asking “Was The 2004 Election Stolen?” More details about Sproul and the millions of dollars he seems to have received from Team Bush ’04, and their attempts to hide those costs, were reported by Mark Crispin Miller in June of 2005.

Sproul & Associates were given buckets of unreported Republican National Committee cash before, during and after the 2004 election. For some reason or another. Sproul is also reported to be an organizer for the Christian Coalition. Natch.

AP is reporting the Republican National Committee hired a group down in Tennessee calling themselves Liberty Consultants to register (Republican) voters. Even if they had to make them up to do so. And whaddaya know? Liberty Consultants are funded by our old friend Nathan Sproul.

Liberty Consultants is responsible for 12 registration forms in Davidson and Williamson counties that included the names, addresses and phone numbers of real people, but had incorrect personal information such as Social Security numbers, signatures and birth dates, election officials said.

The group, funded by Arizona Republican and Christian Coalition operative Nathan Sproul, was banned from Wal-Mart stores in Tennessee in August for failing to meet the retailer’s standards of nonpartisanship

Regards,

Jim