Know Your NeoCon Attack Dogs

“His presence here has never contributed to Turkish-American relations, and it never will. If we want to address the reasons for anti-Americanism, Edelman must be issue one. As long as Edelman stays in Turkey, the chill wind disturbing bilateral relations will last.”

In his March 17, 2005 column, Turkish journalist Ibrahim Karagul also called U.S. Ambassador Eric S. Edelman “the least-liked and trusted American ambassador in Turkish history” and a man who “acts more like a colonial governor than an ambassador.”

It is this same Eric S. Edelman who recently took it upon himself to overstep Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and reply personally to Senator Clinton’s letter to Gates requesting information on contingency plans for the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq with such an attack that she felt it necessary to take his reply to the press.

Back in 2003, Edelman, who had spent the previous two years in Vice President Cheney’s office as Principal Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs, developing the reasoning for invading Iraq, was sent to Turkey, arriving shortly after Turkey had decided to not allow the U.S. to attack Iraq from the North through Turkey.

Turkey had spent decades in battle with Kurdish rebels, a party called the PKK that demanded Kurdish independence, with close to 40,000 dead. But their leader, Abdullah Ocalan, had been captured and tried in 1999, and had undergone a change of heart, apologizing for the violence and calling for peaceful solutions. Turkey did not want to be a part of the U.S. war.

With the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and its support of the Kurds, Turkey soon found itself again in battle with the PKK, whose members suddenly were re-armed with weapons made available by the U.S.

Today Turkey has 140,000 troops at the border of Northern Iraq and has the United States’ commitment to help fight the PKK, backed up by Lockheed Martin contracts for more weaponry for Turkey.

And Edelman and the other Neocons state these wars will not end soon. It is just as they want it. After all, Edelman, like Scooter Libby, was one of the very special group of Neocons who were commissioned in 1992 by then Defense Secretary Cheney to write the infamous Defense Planning Guidance with Paul Wolfowitz and (now U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations) Zalmay Khalilzad. This document proclaimed a change in U.S. foreign policy, moving away from containment and towards preemptive strike of potential rivals for world power.

It was a response to Bush 1's retreat from regime change in Iraq, and while Clinton was President, the group of intellectual warriors reappeared as the Project for the New American Century in 1997, complete with a periodical, The Weekly Standard, edited by William Kristol, and think tanks, The American Enterprise Institute and The Heritage Foundation.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest manufacturer of weapons, provides sizeable incomes for its investors and friends, whose political theories conveniently require wars without end, rearming and rearming. And so there are men like Edelman who thrive by stirring things up.

PBS: NOW with David Brancaccio Investigates Voter Caging

At long last, attention is being paid.

Greg Palast was on Now last night, along with fired U.S. attorney David Iglesias and Congressman John Conyers, Jr., to discuss the Republican scheme to suppress black votes in 2004, pushed by Karl Rove, short-lived U.S. Attorney Timothy Griffin, and other aides -- which appears to be what the White House and Department of Justice are protecting (See "Purging the Purgers" below and at Greg's site.

As of early Saturday morning, the transcript is not yet posted, though the video and more indepth interviews and sources are there. When the transcript is available, it will be in the list here, which is also a spectacular source of information for shows going back to 2002.

You may remember, the show's original title was Now with Bill Moyers, but George Bush's hitman at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting targetted Moyers for having a liberal bias and tried to kill funding for PBS. See my Know Bush Fact #46 on this subject here. Tomlinson has since lost this job, and Moyers is back in full swing with Bill Moyers Journal.

Depleted Uranium Still in the VA Closet

Is there perhaps another reason for the VA Secretary James Nicholson to get out before it's too late?

Perhaps so.

For two years I've been researching Depleted Uranium, in waves, as time allows, interrupted by such other urgencies as Diebold and the Bush adminstration's usurping of public safety by controlling EPA and OSHA testing and findings under the guise of Homeland Security.

Some central concepts to know about DU:

It goes back to Bush/Cheney. January 1991, Bush Sr. and his Defense Secretary Dick Cheney blasted Iraq with hundreds of tons of Depleted Uranium weaponry.

Depleted Uranium is used because when it strikes, the friction causes it to instantly burn and sharpen, leaving radioactive particles. These particles hang in the air until moved by air or water.

They are available to be inhaled, ingested through food, water, or simple hand-to-mouth exposure, or they can enter a body by landing on an open wound.

Depending on their size and solubility, they may lodge in the nooks and crannies of the brain, the lungs, the bones, the colon, the liver - blasting nearby cells with "low-level" radiation [Note: Low-level does not mean less deadly, it means the range of the the attack is very small - but perfect for whacking the hell out of the local DNA in a human body).

If the particles are small and soluble they may just move swiftly to the kidneys, where the chemical poisoning may end the suffering quickly.

And these particles are predicted to continue to radiate for hundreds of millions of years, contaminating the water and food chains, carried by wind for hundreds of miles (Iraq has some of the greatest wind/dust storms in the world), causing birth defects and suffering for innocent people for generations to come.

(This is why international human rights attorney Karen Parker calls it a war crime and helped a initial report come before a UN Human Rights subcommittee in 2003. Funny how that whole division seemed to suddenly collapse and was further dashed by the formidably nasty neoconservative John Bolton.)

In January 2001, while Cheney was engaged in finding the best lobbyists to fill the Cabinet, news from Europe was bursting with almost hysteria, as the NATO forces that had been a part of the "peace-keeping" missions in the former Yugoslavia were suffering cancer at an alarming rate, with the blame going to the depleted uranium weaponry used by the United States and the UK.

In response to the concerns of the NATO allies, the United Nations assigned its World Health Organization to investigate. If they had then allowed the world to see the report of their senior radiation expert, Dr. Keith Baverstock, the use of DU weaponry could have been stopped. But the report was shelved, presumably under political pressure. Baverstock has since retired and is working elsewhere to get the word out.

Yes, by the way, that was Bill Clinton in charge during the US bombing of Bosnia and Kosovo.

Which is why Hillary should not be elected. She has a legacy to protect.

Which may also be why the Democrats have failed to jump on this.

Because there is a problem of liability. The greatest class action suit in history. And there have always been people who knew this, and squashed it.

So those who speak up about the effects of DU are shot down quickly. The frustration of trying to raise the issue for almost two decades has left some exhausted and cynical. Careers have been destroyed, scientists discredited, articles pulled, journalists stopped. Some activists have turned on each other.

Regardless of all that, the DU is still radiating.

Saddam Hussain tried to get the world to hear the effects it has had on Iraq, especially when sanctions kept hospitals unable to treat the increase in cancer, especially among the most vulnerable, the children.

Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has decried the hypocrisy of the US using DU weapons while taking the world to the brink of another impossibly horrific war over Iran's uranium projects.

Much of the rest of the world knows what has been done in our name.

But we don't. And we don't know why they are all so crazy mad.

Ron Paul was right in the Republican debate. Too bad he didn't go all the way and say what exactly we'd been bombing Iraq with. Not only did Bush 1 and Cheney break their word to the Saudis about staying only long enough to get Iraq out of Kuwait -- they poisoned the entire Middle East for the rest of time.

Oh, well. At least somebody's making money on it, right?

Okay, hopefully, this might inspire a bit of Googling. And sharing.

And if you Google, you just might run into this article, pointing out that Nicholson's predecessor, Anthony Principi, also left rather abruptly and some suspected that increased reported on DU influenced his decision.

Mary Mapes with Brad Friedman

Checking out Bradblog today, July 24th, and his guest hosting the Peter B. Collins radio show, I saw a name that gets me going -- Mary Mapes. I commented on Bradblog:

Mary Mapes! You've got Mary Mapes?! Wow.

Okay, I confess. I spent months in 2005 researching what happened to Dan Rather. I would have finished, and written something up, but the story kept growing.

And I was suddenly interrupted by the Carter Baker Panel, ACVR, etc. and felt like I desperately had to focus on election theft.

And the rest is history.

But that summer, at the first Cindy Sheehan vigil, The Salt Lake Tribune captured the most outrageous photo of me at the moment when, as I spoke about getting the real news, I declared passionately, "Dan Rather was right!"

Whatever mistakes were made, he was right. Bush ducked out of his already plush Air National Guard gig and was AWOL - a spoiled selfish arrogant brat. And since then, he and his folk have lied, and sent others to their deaths. Grrrrrrrr.

Digging into the story, I found Rather's magnificent confrontive interview of Daddy in 1988, as well as a quote from Cheney about how Daddy Bush holds a grudge.

I also discovered that the man who ran the investigatory panel set up by CBS, Richard Thornburgh, who of course was Daddy's AG, has spent a lot of his time and energy at the Justice Department reclassifying documents as secret and covering for the antics of Neil and George W.

Then there's Bill Burkett, Rather's source, a man who was desperate to have the public hear about what he'd seen and what a corrupt man George W. Bush was.

Not only was Burkett THE WITNESS to Bush's National Guard files being cleansed, but his story was told by James Moore in his Bush's War for Re-Election: Iraq, the White House, and the People, released in early 2004, and Moore is also the co-author with Wayne Slater of Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, the book revealing the kind of fiend that Karl Rove has always been.

Burkett was contacted after appearing with Moore, and memos were handed off in a non-trackable way. Burkett did nothing with them for months, until the swift-boating began.

It was a set up! And Bush/Rove got to take so many down.

I just want Mary to know, and Dan, that they've got a passionate, obnoxiously outspoken supporter here in li'l ol' Salt Lake.

I'm on hold now Brad - talk to me!

Yes, I got on, and by then I had reviewed some of my notes from 2005. I was always amazed by what I learned about Richard Thornburgh, who CBS picked to investigate the handling of the National Guard 60 Minutes story. I quickly asked if Mary was aware of Thornburgh's reputation as Bush 1's Attorney General. Afterwards, I followed up in Brad's comments:

To follow up on what I spoke about regarding Bush 1’s Attorney General, Dick Thornburgh, who ran the panel that investigated CBS’s National Guard story, here is a section from the an article in the March/April 1993 Columbia Journal Review by Russ W. Baker, "IRAQGATE, The Big One That (Almost) Got Away, Who Chased it – and Who Didn’t"

" ARMING SADDAM

The United States and its European allies have laws and policies designed to prevent arms and military technology from getting into the hands of developing countries, especially where there is a likelihood of their reckless deployment. If these controls were aimed at anyone, certainly they were aimed at the highly repressive, swaggering Iraqi regime, with its history of threatening both its neighbors and its citizens.

Still, when Saddam went to war against Iran, becoming the world’s chief practitioner of chemical warfare, U.S. realpolitikers dubbed him the lesser of two evils, and the one less likely to disrupt the oil flow. The essence of Iraqgate is that secret efforts to support him became the order of the day, both during his long war with Iran and afterward.

Much of what Saddam received from the West was not arms per se, but so-called dual-use technology – ultra sophisticated computers, armored ambulances, helicopters, chemicals, and the like, with potential civilian uses as well as military applications. We’ve learned by now that a vast network of companies, based in the U.S. and abroad, eagerly fed the Iraqi war machine right up until August 1990, when Saddam invaded Kuwait.

And we’ve learned that the obscure Atlanta branch of Italy’s largest bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro [BBT Note: a client of Baker Botts, the law firm of notorious Bush consigliere James Baker III], relying partially on U.S. taxpayer-guaranteed loans, funneled $ 5 billion to Iraq from 1985 to 1989. Some government-backed loans were supposed to be for agricultural purposes, but were used to facilitate the purchase of stronger stuff than wheat. Federal Reserve and Agriculture department memos warned of suspected abuses by Iraq, which apparently took advantage of the loans to free up funds for munitions. U.S. taxpayers have been left holding the bag for what looks like $ 2 billion in defaulted loans to Iraq.

All of this was not yet clear in August 1989, when FBI agents raided U.S. branches of BNL, hitting the jackpot in Atlanta. The branch manager in that city, Christopher Drogoul, was charged with making unauthorized, clandestine, and illegal loans to Iraq – some of which, according to the indictment, were used to purchase arms and weapons technology. Yet three months after the raid, White House officials went right on backing Saddam, approving $ 1 billion more in U.S. government loan guarantees for farm exports to Iraq, even though it was becoming clear that the country was beating plowshares into swords.

At the time, inquiring minds wondered whether Drogoul could possibly have acted alone in such a mammoth operation, as the U.S. government alleged. Was there a formal, secret plan to arm Iraq? And did the U.S. government engage in a massive coverup when evidence of such a plan began to emerge?

In fact, we now know that in February 1990, then Attorney General Dick Thornburgh blocked U.S. investigators from traveling to Rome and Istanbul to pursue the case. And that the lead investigator lacked the basic financial know-how to handle such an investigation, and made an extraordinarily feeble effort to get to the bottom of things.

More damningly, we know know that mid-level staffers at the commerce department altered Iraqi export licenses to obscure the exported materials’ military function – before sending the documents on to Congress, which was investigating the affair.

Eventually, it would turn out that elements of the U.S. government almost certainly knew that Drogoul was funneling U.S.-backed loans – intended for the purchase of agricultural products, machinery, trucks, and other U.S. goods – into dual-use technology and outright military technology. And that the British government was fully aware of the operations of Matrix Churchill, a British firm with an Ohio branch, which was not only at the center of the Iraqi procurement network but was also funded by BNL Atlanta. (Precision equipment supplied by Matrix Churchill was reportedly a target this January when the Western allies renewed their attack on Iraq).

It would later be alleged by bank executives that the Italian government, long a close U.S. ally as well as BNL’s ultimate owner, had knowledge of BNL’s loan diversions. It looked to some like an international coalition. As New York Times columnist William Safire argued last December 7, “Iraqgate is uniquely horrendous: a scandal about the systematic abuse of power by misguided leaders of three democratic nations to secretly finance the arms buildup of a dictator.”

Safire had been on the case since 1989, turning out slashing op-ed pieces. But readers of the Times’s news pages must have wondered where Safire’s body-blows were coming from, since the news columns contained almost nothing about Iraqgate for the longest time. "

In addition, this from Webster Tarpley’s George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography

The old imperialist idea of Theodore Roosevelt was quickly revived by the Bush administration during 1989. Through a series of actions by Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, the U.S. Supreme Court, and CIA Director William Webster, the Bush regime arrogated to itself a sweeping carte blanche for extraterritorial interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states, all in open defiance of the norms of international law.

These illegal innovations can be summarized under the heading of the “Thornburgh Doctrine.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrogated to itself the “right” to search premises outside of U.S. territory and to arrest and kidnap foreign citizens outside of U.S. jurisdiction, all without the concurrence of the judicial process of the other countries whose territory was thus subject to violation.

U.S. armed forces were endowed with the “right” to take police measures against civilians.

The CIA demanded that an Executive Order prohibiting the participation of U.S. government officials and military personnel in the assassination of foreign political leaders, which had been issued by President Ford in October 1976, be rescinded.

There is every indication that this presidential ban on assassinations of foreign officials and politicians, which had been promulgated in response to the Church and Pike Committees’ investigations of CIA abuses, has indeed been abrogated.

To round out this lawless package, an opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court issued on February 28, 1990 permitted U.S. officials abroad to arrest (or kidnap) and search foreign citizens without regard to the laws or policy of the foreign nation subject to this interference.

Through these actions, the Bush regime effectively staked its claim to universal extraterritorial jurisdiction, the classic posture of an empire seeking to assert universal police power. The Bush regime aspired to the status of a world power “legibus solutus,” a superpower exempted from all legal restrictions.

Isn’t history astonishing? No wonder they had to get rid of Rather. He had an historical perspective.

And while you can see him on “Rather Reports” - Comcast refuses to include HDnet on its schedule. And the show does not podcast. There are, however, transcripts. And suddenly, they are making some of the episodes available to watch online.

Taking Every Opportunity to Point Out the Voter Caging Trick

Today, Monday, July 9th, 2007, NPR's Talk of the Nation discussed "The Military Vote".
I couldn't call in at the time, so I've posted at their Blog of the Nation. It hasn't shown up yet, as they sometimes take a great deal of time (especially in non-business hours), but meanwhile. . .

Recent reports from Greg Palast of the BBC reveal that many who are in the military serving overseas had their votes deliberately thrown out -- not counted -- in the 2004 election.

It was called "Voter Caging". Registered voters whose addresses were in low-income African American neighborhoods, homeless shelters, and military bases in the United States were sent registered letters, with the envelopes marked "Do Not Forward" requesting that the voter confirm his or her mailing address by return mail.

Those voters who did not respond had their names removed from the voter registry lists. If they tried to vote in person, their votes were challenged and never counted. If they voted from overseas, their votes were tossed, without notifying the voters.

This was a deliberate method of removing the votes of low income voters, particularly African Americans, who statistically are more likely to vote for the Democratic ticket.

The program was run by a clever operative at the Republican National Committee. His name is Timothy Griffin, and he is the friend of Karl Rove's who received the appointment to be the United States Attorney in Arkansas, replacing Bud Cummins, who was investigating another Republican election operative, Mark "Thor" Hearne, spokesman for the phony "non-partisan" American Center for Voting Rights, pushing the non-issue of Voter Fraud to distract from the real issue of vote theft, formerly General Counsel for BushCheney 2004.

Is your head spinning? The point is --

In 2004, thousands of votes sent from our overseas military personnel, fighting for democracy, were illegally dumped on purpose by the Republican National Committee.

The story isn't over. When U.S. Attorney Timothy Griffin learned that House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. had met with reporter Greg Palast and seen the evidence, he immediately resigned.

And Conyers has said that he isn't done with Griffin yet.

NPR, my friend of over 30 years, has not reported this.

To check this story out, go to www.bradblog.com and/or www.gregpalast.com.

The story does continue. Today, Brad posted Paper: Internal Memos Contradict Florida Bush Team's Statements Concerning 'Voting Caging' Prior to '04 Election
Docs Based on Pre-Election Meetings in Duvall County Reveal Issue Was Repeatedly Discussed Despite Denials by Local Bush/Cheney '04 Election Chairman
DoJ Continues to Review U.S. Senator's Demand for a Full Investigation....

LiveEarth - 07/07/07

Across the world, TODAY, there are concerts to benefit Life on Earth.

There's something we can all believe in, yes?

Go to www.liveearth.org

And www.sundancechannel.com/liveearth

There are amazing film projects for this day, so spend some time and watch -- whenever you read this.

***

Here is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s speech at the New York Live Earth Concert!

Time to Impeach Cheney and more from The Nation

From: emailnation@thenation.com
To: knowbush@msn.com
Subject: Impeach Cheney
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 12:47:53 -0700

Dear EmailNation Subscriber,

Dick Cheney has been a destructive force on the checks and balances of American government for more than six years. He has subverted long-standing processes, procedures, protocols and laws to lead us into the tragedy in Iraq, and is now seeking to do the same with Iran. (Both countries, mind you, that he did business with while CEO of Halliburton.)

As the Washington Post's recent four-part series on the most influential and powerful man ever to hold the office of vice president showed, Cheney also usurped his Cabinet colleagues to make himself the dominant voice on tax and spending policy; secretly steered the Bush administration's most important environmental decisions and purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive Congress by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.

That's why there's a growing national movement to support H. Res 333, the articles of Impeachment against Dick Cheney. The bill is already endorsed by 14 members of Congress.
Sign the petition calling for the bill's passage, watch a new video by Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films for more evidence of why Cheney deserves immediate impeachment and check out impeachchenecy.org for info on the impeachment campaign.

New at TheNation.com...

A Clinton Spy Scandal?
Ari Berman | In a potentially explosive lawsuit, Hillary Clinton's chief strategist is accused of illegally monitoring a former colleague.

Weird Religion, Anglican Edition
Katha Pollitt | SUV owners in the hands of an angry God? Make that gay SUV owners.

Remembering Vilma Espín
RosaMiriam Elizalde | A Cuban writer pays tribute to Vilma Espín, wife of Raúl Castro and Cuba's first lady, who fought tirelessly for the rights of women in a male-dominated country.

Welcome to the Terrordome
In an excerpt from his new book, Dave Zirin explores what happens when the urge for social justice collides with the world of major league sports.

Don't miss Katrina vanden Heuvel's Editor's Cut, her regularly-updated Nation weblog.

[BBT - or David Corn's Capital Games. Corn is the author of The Lies of George W. Bush --an outstanding book -- and co-author of Hubris.]

Featured Video: Watch Your Foodometer
Here's a way to consume less oil: Eat locally! Video artist Molly Schwartz traces how far food travels from field to fork.

Best Regards,
Peter Rothberg,
The Nation

P.S. If you like what you read at TheNation.com, please consider subscribing to The Nation at a sharply discounted rate. Subscribing is the only way to read ALL of what's in the magazine week after week--both in print and online.

What Can This Mean?

Today is the birthday of these two people:




So strange that Diane Rehm was determined to make it known at the end of both of her two hours on her NPR show today.

From July 4th, 2004 - A Independence Day Reminder

Know Bush Fact #30 - In Celebration of Independence Day

The Declaration of Independence we honor today was written to "LET FACTS BE SUBMITTED TO A CANDID WORLD." (All quotes in bold caps herein are from The Declaration of Independence, 1776)

Amidst the "LONG TRAIN OF ABUSES AND USURPATIONS" which caused the signers to be "ABSOLVED FROM ALL ALLEGIANCE" to their King George, were the following:


"HE HAS REFUSED TO ASSENT TO LAWS, THE MOST WHOLESOME AND NECESSARY FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD."

Our George has rolled back environmental regulations, ergonomic laws, created a federal deficit that makes the U.S. vulnerable to those who loan the money, created a tax credit that only benefits the already extremely wealthy; engaged the United States in its first pre-emptive strike, and sought to overstep the rules of the Geneva Convention, thus making the United States and its citizens a greater target internationally – and more. (Google: "Bush +[any of the above words/phrases]")

Our George has ignored scientific evidence and reports, causing more than 60 leading scientists — including Nobel laureates, leading medical experts, former federal agency directors and university chairs and presidents — to issue a statement and report on February 18, 2004 calling for regulatory and legislative action to restore scientific integrity to federal policymaking. Dr. Neal Lane, a former director of the National Science Foundation and a former Presidential Science Advisor, stated, "In case after case, scientific input to policymaking is being censored and distorted. This will have serious consequences for public health." (Google: "Bush +scientists")


"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."

Our George neglected the warnings in 2001 from his experienced anti-terrorism advisor, Richard Clarke, from President Clinton, from the Hart-Rudman Commission’s Roadmap for National Security, from the Gore Commission on Aviation Safety & Security, from the CIA, from Jordan Intelligence, from Israeli Intelligence, from Russian Intelligence, from Morrocan Intelligence, and from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, all regarding an imminent Al-Qaeda attack. (Google: "Bush +ignored +warnings")


"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 COMPLAINCE WITH HIS MEASURES."

Our George began making phone calls to Congressmen from Air Force One at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, November 22, 2003, when his Medicare Prescription Drug Bill was rejected in a roll call vote by a margin of 218-216. Though such roll call votes are only supposed to stay open for 15 minutes, Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay refused to close the voting, stretching it to 2 hours and 51 minutes. That’s when the Bush phone calls, the Karl Rove phone calls, and the in-person pressure from Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson finally resulted in the vote Bush wanted, just before 6:00 a.m. with just two votes to spare. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts said, "I don’t mean to be alarmist, but this is the end of parliamentary democracy as we know it." (Google: "Medicare +vote +November 2003")


"HE HAS ERECTED A MULTITUDE OF NEW OFFICES, AND SENT HITHER SWARMS OF OFFICERS TO HARRASS OUR PEOPLE, AND EAT OUT THEIR SUBSTANCE."

Our George, before a Joint Session of Congress and the American People on September 20, 2001, announced, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." On October 25, 2001, with no time for the bill to be properly studied, the U.S. Patriot Act was passed. Aside from the abuses that have become obvious in the news of late, the Patriot Act has allowed the government to demand lists of individuals’ reading materials from librarians and booksellers, while forbidding them from uttering a word about such requisitions to anyone. Our ability to be informed, which is the substance of a democracy, is being eaten away. (Goggle: "Bush +Patriot +books")


"HE HAS AFFECTED TO RENDER THE MILITARY INDEPENDENT OF AND SUPERIOR TO THE CIVIL POWER."
and,
"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 AND PERFIDY SCARECELY PARALLELED IN THE MOST BARBAROUS AGES, AND TOTALLY UNWORTHY OF THE HEAD OF A CIVILIZED NATION."

Our George has contracted dozens of private security firms, manned by highly-paid former U.S. military (such as Special Forces, Seals, etc.), foreign mercenaries and Iraqis to carry out military work in Iraq. This would have stayed more secretive had not pictures been taken at Abu Ghraib, where "Military Intelligence" ordered actual U.S. military to soften up prisoners. Hired as interrogators, these employees of Titan and CACI International, Inc., as well as others, have been paid to pursue top secret information, while they have no more loyalty to the U.S. than their next employer. (Google: "Iraq +private security")

Our George created the Coalition Provisional Authority, which has granted immunity to Private Security Contractors (not normally resident in Iraq) from Iraqi legal process. Such contractors are also not subject to U.S. military law; though the U.S. Department of Defense hires the contractors, maintaining discipline of contractor employees is the responsibility of the contractor’s management structure, not the military chain of command.

Our George had L. Paul Bremer, Pro Consul of the Coalition Provisional Authority sign several edicts on Saturday June 26, 2004, two days before leaving Iraq, which enforce future control by the United States. The edicts specifically include ongoing immunity for U.S. contractors. "If they know they have full immunity, they will do anything they want because they know no one can do anything about it," stated Interim Iraqi Minister of State Mahmud Farhad Othman. (Google: "Iraq +contractors +immunity")


Concluding his list, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "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." (Google: "Declaration of Independence")

Happy Fourth of July. Let us make sure our leader is upholding our highest ideals for our democracy -- that we pay attention. July 4, 2004

Bush Commutes Libby (And Hopes Someone Will Do the Same for Him)

Well, so much for "Rule of Law."

Scooter Libby deserves prison. He is no scapegoat.

Though it's clear that Libby didn't act alone with the Plame leak and in thwarting its investigation, he is no innocent who made the mistake of following orders rather than listening to his better nature.

Those "years of excellent public service" were spent plotting and acting on undemocratic, world-domineering policies.

Is there no one is Washington with any historical perspective?

I. Scooter Libby has always been at the forefront of aggressive neoconservative policy.

In 1992, Libby, along with former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and the current U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, wrote a “Defense Planning Guidance” report, commissioned by then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.

This DPG called for the U.S. to claim its authority as the world superpower, to intimidate rivals for power, to bypass the United Nations as needed, to build more weapons to ensure global military dominance, and to strike pre-emptively against those who threaten U.S. interests anywhere in the world.

It was shockingly unethical, bullying and began the end of Americans-as-good-guys. It was supposedly shelved after its embarrassingly heartless approach to the world was leaked.

But in 1997 it resurfaced, only slightly edited, as the Statement of Principles of the Project for a New American Century, signed by Libby, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush, Elliot Abrams, Zalmay Khalilzad and more.

Though PNAC officially closed in 2006, its personnel and policies are still at work, though less visible, through such organizations as the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, the Weekly Standard and, yes, throughout the Bush/Cheney White House and Cabinet agencies.

P.S. From David Corn's response: "The foundation of a democratic judicial system is that the sentence fits the crime. In this instance, the commutation fits the administration."

2004 - Know Bush: Launching Facts that Shock and Awe, a One Person Patriot Act

Here is the video of the performance at the Salt Lake City Main Library on October 14, 2004.

If more people had seen this in 2004, George W. Bush would have had to steal/destroy even more votes to keep his squatting rights at the White House.

Or, as Molly Ivins wrote with Lou Dubose at the beginning of Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America, their second book on George W. Bush:

“Our biggest problem with the Bush administration is that for us it’s deja vu all over again. We spent six years watching the man as governor of Texas, the basis for our 1999 book, Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush. We were tempted to begin this book by observing, ‘If y’all had’ve read the first book, we wouldn’t had to write this one.’”

Justice - Purging the Purgers

For Participants --
Today, at the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta 2007
And
Everywhere else...

The U.S. Attorney Firings Scandal is not just about the Politicization of Government agencies.

It is about Election Theft - both Past and Future.

It is about Rewarding . . .

and Protecting. . .

the Thieves.

It is also about our letting it - or not letting it - happen.

It is about the Press - Investigating and Reporting.

It is about Paying Attention - or not.

Then it is about being Responsible for what we've Learned - and doing something.

After all, what if the actual recipient of the most votes in either of the last two Presidential elections had actually become President?

How much human suffering - in this generation and generations to follow - would not happen if Bush/Cheney never took the White House?

So, what is the appropriate punishment for conspiracy to usurp executive power by sabotaging the Presidential elections? What about financial liability for the damages, both at home and abroad?

The Lawyers in charge - both as Lobbyists and Justice Department Protectorates - have had to be on their toes, and out of the Limelight.

And the news media has had to be, well... bought.

Yet there are still some who dare to pry - and to tell what they've found. These days they are rare, and tend to be a bit obnoxious in their fervent determination be heard.

The two I have depended on for years are Greg Palast and Brad Friedman. Funny enough, they have each separately provided enormous specific details about different operations by the Bush/Cheney/RNC's election campaigns that are now hovering at the edge of the dangerous spotlight of the U.S. Attorney Purge scandal, making this administration and its operatives squirm (and, as of June 28th, 2007, claim Executive Privilege).

It's time to push them into the spotlight and bang our pots and pans. So here's what you need to know:

PURGING THE PURGERS

It started with Greg Palast .

In December 2000 Greg had the story that should have changed history, but the major media didn't want to touch it. On December 4th, 2000, one week before Bush v Gore went before the Supreme Court, the online magazine Salon posted his article "Florida's flawed 'voter cleansing' program", describing Florida Secretary of State Katharine Harris's purging approximately 173,000 names from the Florida voter registry based on a deliberately inaccurate list of Florida felons. [1.]

The article was overlooked and Harris got away with it.

Leading up to the 2004 election, emails from the Republican National Committee were accidentally sent to the wrong address, and then were forwarded to Greg. The emails included attachments titled "Caging Lists" and were proof of another Republican vote-purging strategy. He wrote about it on January 26, 2005 with the Reverend Jesse Jackson in their article "Jim Crow Returns to the Voting Booth" [2]:

"In November 2004, for the first time since the era of the Night Riders, one major political party launched a program of mass challenges of voters on Election Day. Paid Republican operatives, working from lists prepared by the party, fingered tens of thousands of voters in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere, questioning their right to a ballot.

"One of these secret 'caging lists' was obtained by BBC Television from inside Republican campaign headquarters in Florida. Every one of the voters on those sheets resided in African American neighborhoods, excepting a few in precincts of elderly Jewish voters.

"These lists helped Republican poll workers challenge voters on the basis of an alleged change of address. An analysis of one roster showed that several of those facing challenge were African American soldiers whose address changed because they were shipped overseas.

"Challenged voters were shunted to 'provisional ballots,' which, in Ohio and elsewhere, were not counted on the flimsiest of technicalities."

Palast's June 2006 book, Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War, went into further detail about the caging lists, and his article of June 16, 2006, "Buffalo Soldiers Scrubbed by Secret GOP Hit List" names Republican national Research Director and Deputy Communications chief, Tim Griffin, as the operative distributing thousands of names and addresses to state campaign chairmen and party leaders as "Caging lists". [3]

"Here's how the scheme worked: The RNC mailed these voters letters in envelopes marked, "Do not forward", to be returned to the sender. These letters were mailed to servicemen and women, some stationed overseas, to their US home addresses. The letters then returned to the Bush-Cheney campaign as 'undeliverable.'

"The lists of soldiers of 'undeliverable' letters were transmitted from state headquarters, in this case Florida, to the RNC in Washington. The party could then challenge the voters' registration and thereby prevent their absentee ballots being counted."

In addition to the military home addresses, letters were sent to homeless shelters, and...

"A check of the demographics of the addresses on the 'caging lists,' as the GOP leaders called them indicated that most were in African-American majority zip codes."

Now it is 2007, and in the midst of a scandal about fired U.S. Attorneys, we learn that Karl Rove's former deputy was named to replace Bush appointee Bud Cummins as U.S. Attorney for Arkansas, with Cummins forced to resign five days later. Any deputy of Karl Rove's who is suddenly given a new job should be looked at, and sure enough, that deputy was none other than Timothy Griffin.

Since that news appeared, Greg has done his best to point out the connection, and has written about it extensively in frequent articles, such as the blunt "Bush's New US Attorney a Criminal?" on March 28th. [4]

The release of the paperback version of his book, so full of additional material that he changed its title to to Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans - Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild [5], exploded with a party on May 1st with Air America Radio's Randi Rhodes and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at the New York Community Church.

This excellent timing has given him more opportunities for appearances with Common Dream, BuzzFlash, Ring of Fire Radio [6] ), Scoop [7], and Democracy Now [8] ) - spreading this important story - though still only reaching a smaller audience.

Then former White House Liaison for the Justice Department Monica Goodling testified before the House Judiciary Committee and at the top of her opening written statement, she nailed Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty for not being "fully candid", saying he...

"...failed to disclose that he had some knowledge of the White House's interest in selecting Tim Griffin as the interim U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Arkansas, inaccurately described the department's internal assessment of the Parsky commission, and failed to disclose that he had some knowledge of allegations that Tim Griffin had been involved in vote- cadging during his work on the president's 2004 campaign." [9]

Though that revelation slipped past without much ado, Palast shined a light on it in his May 29th "The Goods on Goodling and the Keys to the Kingdom". [10]

Two days later, Palast met with John Conyers, Jr., the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to interview him for the BBC. Palast showed Conyers the caging lists. Palast reports that Conyers response was, "We're not through with Griffin by any means."

That same day, May 31, 2007, Timothy Griffin suddenly resigned as the U.S. Attorney in Arkansas, effective the next day. [11]

Griffin's attempt to play the victim was rebuked by "The Tears of a Clone" on June 15, 2007 [12], and by June 18th, the younger brother of the late Attorney General Bobby Kennedy stood up to demand the truth. That day, Senator Edward Kennedy and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse announced that they had sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez at the Department of Justice:

"We write to request that the Department of Justice promptly investigate allegations that the Republican National Committee engaged in "vote caging" during the 2004 elections. We also ask that you investigate whether any Department officials were aware of allegations that Tim Griffin had engaged in caging when he was appointed United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and whether appropriate action was taken. Caging is a reprehensible voter suppression tactic, and it may also violate federal law and the terms of applicable judicially enforceable consent decrees." [13]

Two days later, on June 20, it was reported that Arkansas Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor were also in support of the investigation. [14].

When Paul McNulty appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on June 21, 2007, to try to expand upon his original testimony Congressman Conyers was more pointed in his questions.

Conyers: Thank you Madam Chair. Now you never, did you just say you didn't know anything about caging?
McNulty: What I said was that when I was asked that question at the Senate hearing, all I knew about the subject was that there was an article.
Conyers: Was that article by Greg Palast about African American soldiers scrubbed by secret GOP hit lists? Dated June 16, 2006? Was that it as you recall?
McNulty: That's the article I'm referring to.
Conyers: And didn't Monica Goodling tell you that caging might come up at the hearing as she was briefing you?
McNulty: Yes that's correct.
Conyers: And did it come up?
McNulty: It did.
Conyers: And you didn't, & your response was you never looked at the caging even though Goodling told you. You saw the Greg Palast article & it was put in your in briefing testimony for the Senate in your briefing book
McNulty: Right.
Conyers: And you didn't look at the material in your briefing book outside of the article?
McNulty: Mr Chairman I didn't read the article, I was aware the article existed because Senator Prior referred to it in his testimony right before I got up to testify & Ms Goodling had raised the issue the day before. But I had not read the article & not become familiar with the issue, even if I had read that article Mr Chairman, if I just may say so, even if I had read that article, & I was asked that question again by Senator Schumer, I would still be very careful before I started speaking because, information based upon just one article
Conyers: But there was more in your briefing book.
McNulty: There was another Tim Griffin e-mail which gave his explanation of that article which I have now seen but I hadn't read before I testified.
Conyers: So could I infer that caging of black voters may not have been one of the high items on your list as your responsibility as Dep AG?
McNulty: Well I'm not sure what you mean by that.
Conyers: What I mean by it is, Goodling told you about it, it's in your case, it's in your Senate testimony & yet you fail to answer questions on the subject before the Senate & you tell me even now, as of today have you looked at it yet?
McNulty: I have now read the article & I've read that e-mail
Conyers: I mean the whole subject matter of caging. I mean this disenfranchises lots of people. Well first of all, you know caging is challenging lists of voters that are usually minority voters
Unidentified voice: Would the gentleman yield because I think Ms Goodling's testimony slightly inaudible
Conyers: Wait a minute, let me just finish my question, I'll get back to you Chris, I always do, you know that. But we've got a whole chain of testimony, this is one of the big issues that came out of, at least a couple of major elections of this country, & you're saying 'yes I was told about it, yes it was in my tab in the briefing book for Senate testimony & yes I looked at Palast's article but I didn't read it'. Why does it not generate much concern or attention to you this for me, voter rights is one of the big problems that we have in terms of having it enforced in the Department of Justice? [15]

*******

Then there was Brad Friedman. It was during my frantic Googling in the wake of the unfathomable outcome of the 2004 election that I discovered bradblog. The press was ignoring the ground swell of doubt, but I dug daily for information on the Ohio recount and hearings by the Democratic minority members of the House Judiciary Committee.

A story and an affidavit jumped at me, about a computer scientist named Clint Curtis revealing a dark story about Republican Congressman Tom Feeney commissioning software in 2000 to change electronic voting results - presumably to be ready for the dastardly deed by Democrats, but suddenly appearing more ominous. Anywhere I found the affidavit, it always had the green and gold www.bradblog.com logo at the top, marked Exclusive! [16]

A little obnoxious, but very interesting... especially when bradblog also followed Curtis's testimony before some of the Committee members. [17]

In those painful early months after the election, I continued writing my Know Bush Facts, covering Conyer's January 6th report, "What Went Wrong in Ohio?"[18], the private inauguration luncheon for the most generous donors and what they wanted for it, and was in the midst of gathering info on Bush's military records and the vengeful two-fer strike on Dan Rather and Bill Burkett, when I saw the announcement on March 24, 2005 -

George W. Bush created a new Federal Election Reform Commission, to be lead by Jimmy Carter and - further down in the story, far less noticeable - James A. Baker, III.

I gasped.

While better known as the former Secretary of State, my earlier research had shown that Baker's far more important role as the lawyer whose firm, Baker Botts, had been setting up and rescuing George W. Bush at least since his early days in baseball, oil and illegal Harken stock dumping, and that he had lead the legal charge on the 2000 election that landed George in the White House - and he was General Counsel for The Carlyle Group. This was clearly a set up to protect Bush and election theft. I dropped everything to tear into this.

Bradblog was already on it. And he had lots more.

On March 22, 2005, Brad wasted no time in discrediting the expert witness designed to counter the evidence of voter suppression in Ohio presented Conyer's team, "Blackwell Finally Testifies in OH as a New 'Voters Rights' Group Appears 'Talon News-style' out of Nowhere...." [19]

Congressman Bob Ney (now in prison) chaired the House Committee on House Administration and finally got around to holding hearings on the 2004 election. On May 21, Mark F. (Thor) Hearne testified as a leader of the "non-partisan" American Center for Voting Rights, the only voting organization invited to testify.

Brad also nailed Hearne as being the National Election Counsel to Bush-Cheney '04 and Missouri counsel to Bush-Cheney 2000, positions he failed to disclose to the Committee. In additional, Brad reported that this great ACVR, with its 31 page report pushing allegations of "criminal voter fraud", appeared for the first time on only four days earlier, when it posted a website on March 17th.

Later on that same March 22nd 2005, Brad had more in "New 'Non-Partisan' 'Voting Rights' Org Appears Little More than Republican Front Group!". The publicist for ACVR was Jim Dyke, the Communications Director for the Republican National Committee. [20]

Over the next few days, Brad was amazing, tracing the domain registration of the ACVR to Dyke Associates in D.C., and sending a camera crew to visit the address of its Dallas office - only to find a dinky mail box in a Dallas UPS Store - odd, because neither Hearne nor Dyke were in Dallas --

Mystery Solved! Location of 'American Center for Voting Rights' Found! Exclusive Photographs! Photos Suggest ACVR Website Developers Most Likely Very Very Tiny Republicans! [21]

On April 12th 2005, Brad reported that Mark F. "Thor" Hearne, General Counsel to the American Center for Voting Rights, was listed on the Advisory Academic Board of the Carter Baker Commission, and that John Conyers, Jr. had just written to Jimmy Carter, voicing his strong concerns about the inclusion of James Baker on an Election Reform Commission at this important time. [22]

Conyer's communication with both Carter and Dr. Robert Pastor, the Executive Director of the Commission, was fruitful, and on April 21st, Conyers telephoned Brad to thank him personally for his diligent effort in educating the public as to the "unacceptable" make up and direction of the Commission, and to let him know he would continue to meet with members of the Commission over the next few months and put the word out through his own blog. [23]

On August 2005, the ACVR released its absurd counter-Conyers report, "Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression In The 2004 Presidential Election" which was publicized throughout the right wing internet and through such media as Rush Limbaugh, and then was used continually to push the non-issue of fraudulent voting and voting registration. [24]

And every time the ACVR, Hearne, Dyke, or its later token pseudo-Democrat Brian Lunde did anything, Brad was there to cover it, with constant reminders of its illegitimate claims and phony non-partisan guise.

Jack Abramoff's name came awfully close, on the way to indicting Bob Ney, Hearne still tried to push voter fraud, and was allowed a seat on the Board of the now-discredited Elections Assistance Commission, but for the most part, the Republican operatives slithered back to work on other trickeries.

Brad was pretty busy himself, finding much to stir up in 2006. December 2005 brought not only the revelations about NSA and domestic spying - Diebold met Hursti in Florida, and the proof was in - HACK HACK HACK HACK HACK. [25] So 2006 found Brad at the forefront of busting Diebold [26], Sequoia, ESS, HAVA, and the EAC, primary fumbles, Secretaries of State, both heroic and slimy election officials, unmarked ballots, overpriced recounts and demanding each vote be counted fairly.

Then, the annoying spokesman/expert of the American Center for Voting Rights - Mark J. "Thor" Hearne - popped up in the shadows of the U.S. Attorney Purge, looking nervous, so Brad took a look. And the more Brad looked, the more dirt Brad found, once again.

Jim Dyke had moved on to work for Dick Cheney's office, and Thor Hearne was back at his Missouri law firm, Lathrop & Gage LC.

On March 15, 2007, Brad wrote EXCLUSIVE: New Details on the Phony 'Voter Fraud' Angle in the U.S. Attorneys Purge Scandal... An Insider's Report from a New Mexico Election Attorney on the Firing of David Iglesias and the Rove/DoJ/Republican Efforts to Create a 2004 'Voter Fraud' Scare in the State... RELATED? - The GOP 'Voter Fraud' Front Group ACVR Goes Suddenly AWOL!.[27]

This treat tells the story of the ties between voter fraud accusations, the sudden disappearance from the Internet of the American Center for Voting Rights, the scrubbing of its website and references to it anywhere near Hearne's name, and the release of an important new study by Lorraine Minnitte, Ph.D. entitled "The Politics of Voter Fraud", finding that voter fraud is extremely rare and that allegations are frequently politically motivated.[28]

On April 19, 2007, the day Alberto Gonzalez testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Brad's headline was a headspinner:

A Direct, As Yet Unreported Connection in the U.S. Attorney Purge Scandal Leading Straight to the White House - Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins Was Fired Just After Reports Surfaced of Investigation into Law Firm of Top Level White House/GOP Operative and Close-Friend-of-Rove, Thor Hearne - Prosecutor Was Replaced by Rove Aide Timothy Griffin...

And there was that name from the Greg Palast side - Timothy Griffin. [29]

Brad's digging revealed that [Hold on to your hats] Hearne's law firm in Missouri, Lathrop & Gage LC, was running an extremely tangled and corrupt scheme - franchising satellite state licensing offices to provide millions of dollars to the generous supporters of Missouri Governor Matt Blunt (son of Republican House Minority Whip Roy Blunt), so those supporters could better support.

The Missouri U.S. Attorney who should have investigated this, Todd Graves, bowed out due to a contract for motor vehicle licenses held by his wife's company. Graves abruptly resigned, and was replaced by Bush's appointee to the DoJ's Civil Rights Division, the inexperienced but loyal Bradley J. Schlotzman (who recently testified that he had sometimes bragged about all the Republicans he'd hired at the Division).

The responsibility of investigating the Missouri governor then went to the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Arkansas, Bud Cummins.

In "THE UNDERLYING CRIME: White House Interference into a U.S. Attorney's Criminal Investigation in Missouri", Brad reported that when Cummins' investigation of Governor Blunt and the Lathrop & Gage LC legal team was reported in May 2006, Hearne's years of RNC/Karl Rove operations and ties came in handy. He was able to bring on board the powerful Dallas corporate defense attorney and Department of Justice Corporate Fraud "Point Person", William B. Mateja, who personally telephoned U.S. Attorney Cummins several times to ask if he was investigating his client, Governor Matt Blunt. [30]

A couple of weeks go by and on June 5, 2006, Bud Cummins was told by the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, Mike Battle, that he would be expected to resign, and in September, Timothy Griffin was sent to train with Cummins, presumably as his assistant.

On the day that Brad tied Hearne's Missouri law firm to the Attorney Purge scandal, April 23rd, Lathrop & Gage's CEO (and soon to be Chairman), Tom Stewart, suddenly left on a 90 days sabbatical. On May 17, 2007, it was announced that he was gone for good. [31]

Okay, did you follow that?

Don't worry, you won't be tested - yet. The good news is that Bradblog has his key articles on Thor Hearne and the American Center for Voting Rights listed chronologically here or just go the website www.bradblog.com and look for the Special Coverage section (currently on the right and down a bit, where you can select: "American Center for Voting Rights". GOP 'Voter Fraud' Scam.

While you're there, stroll around a bit. There are links to other areas of very Special Coverage, published articles, media appearances, archives of his radio show, and even his other career in theatre and film.

Both Greg Palast and Brad Friedman are happy to accept donations on their websites and by mail to support their investigative work.

SO NOW, THE SIMPLE VERSION OF ALL OF THE ABOVE:

I. Greg Palast www.gregpalast.com

A. Investigative Reporter for BBC Newswatch, Harpers, Democracy Now! Ring of Fire Radio and more

B. Reported after 2004 election that Kerry won, but the Republican tactic of caging lists and dumping votes, managed by RNC operative and Karl Rove assistant Timothy Griffin, caused tens of thousands of votes for Kerry to be dumped.

C. Story returns in U.S. Attorney Scandal when Timothy Griffin is discovered to be the Gonzalez-appointed interim U.S. Attorney in Arkansas, where he can best dig for dirt on Hilary Clinton. On learning that Congressman John Conyers, Jr. has met with Palast, Griffin suddenly resigns.

II. Brad Friedman www.bradblog.com

A. Participant in USSF 2007 - Investigative Blogger, Activist, and radio host with special expertise in elections, contributor to Huffington Post and more

B. Reported after 2004 election that “non-partisan” American Center for Voting Rights’ expert spokesman, Mark “Thor” Hearne, is RNC/BushCheney operative spreading disinformation about vote fraud to counter real evidence of vote theft and suppression.

C. Story returns in U.S. Attorney Scandal when Thor Hearne gets U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins fired and replaced by Timothy Griffin to stop investigation into his law firm’s fundraising for Republican governor with franchised state license fees. On learning that Conyers and Leahy are paying attention, the ACVR suddenly disappears.

DEMAND THESE STORIES GET NATIONAL ATTENTION. WRITE, POST, CALL EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE.
DEMAND THE USURPERS BE STOPPED. It is your responsibility now.

Resources

1. http://www.gregpalast.com/floridas-flawed-voter-cleansing-program-saloncoms-politics-story-of-the-year/#more-937 or http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/12/04/voter_file/index.html.
2. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/209316_palastjackson26.html
3. http://www.gregpalast.com/massacre-of-the-buffalo-soldiers/
4. http://www.gregpalast.com/bushs-new-us-attorney-a-criminal
5. http://www.gregpalast.com/order-the-book/
6. http://www.ringoffireradio.com/show.asp?jid=160 ; http://www.ringoffireradio.com/show.asp?jid=167 ; http://www.ringoffireradio.com/show.asp?jid=169 ; http://www.ringoffireradio.com/show.asp?jid=173
7. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00338.htm
8. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/14/1426254
9. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/transcripts/goodling_testimony_052307.html
10. http://www.gregpalast.com/the-goods-on-goodling-and-the-keys-to-the-kingdom/
11. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4620
12. http://www.gregpalast.com/the-tears-of-a-clone/#more-1762
13. http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=56FBB230-3DBB-43FB-BE74-1110CF30FE16
14. http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/06/20/WashingtonDCBureau/342468.html
15. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/mcnulty_transcript_062107.html
16. http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/CC_Affidavit_120604.pdf
17. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1050
18. http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/010605Y.shtml
19. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1276
20. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1277
21. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1283
22. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1317
23. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1342
24. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1651
25. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=2157
26. http://www.bradblog.com/Diebold.htm
27. http://www.bradblog.com/index.php?p=4276
28. http://projectvote.org/fileadmin/ProjectVote/Publications/Politics_of_Voter_Fraud_Final.pdf
29. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4429
30. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4447
31. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4568

See also this posting here.