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A great mashup (9:58) of many of the best election integrity documentaries including Uncounted and:
“Hacking Democracy” (Simon Ardizzone, Russell Michaels)
“American Blackout” (Ian Inaba)
“America: Freedom to Fascism” (Cinema Libre)
“Invisible Ballots: A Temptation for Electronic Vote Fraud” (American Media DBA Reality Zone)
Technorati Tags: democracy, Diebold, documentary, election integrity
From Brad Friedman:
MSNBC's Dan Abrams continued, for the third day in a row, on the Don Siegelman beat today. The former Democratic Alabama Governor, who still sits in jail pending an appeal for his non-violent crime, is alleged to have been railroaded by Karl Rove and political operatives in the state while running for re-election in 2006.
In 2002 he had won his election, according to the announced results on Election Night, only to wake up the next morning to find that a Republican election director claimed to have discovered a “glitch” (sound familiar, regular BRAD BLOG readers?) in the electronic vote counts overnight, resulting in Siegelman's loss. He was never allowed a recount after the vote tallies somehow changed on the electronic voting machines due to the “glitch,” as it was described officially, by court probate officers.
In this rarely seen, 2004 video interview with Siegelman (see approx. half-way through that linked article), he alleges: “Somebody electronically manipulated the election results…This election was stolen…There is no other kind, or sugar-coated way to say it.”
Neither the 60 Minutes report on Siegelman from Sunday, nor any of Abrams' reports so far this week (here's Tuesday's and Wednesday's) including today's, as posted at the end of this article, have yet delved, with any depth, into that aspect of what seems clearly to have been a well-run political frame-up --- or, yes, a conspiracy --- to do away with the one Democrat who had been able to win statewide elections in an otherwise very Republican-leaning state.
We hope to have more on that aspect of the case soon.
On today's MSNBC “Bush League Justice” report, Abrams spoke with both Siegelman's attorney, Vince Kilborn, as well as Grant Woods, the former Republican Attorney General from Arizona who has been among the most outspoken of the 52 former Republican and Democratic Attorneys General who have called on Congress for an investigation and a special prosecutor to be named in the case.
Abrams repeated his call, from yesterday, for the immediate release of Siegelman from prison, pending appeal of his case, as would be customary in other similar, non-violent cases. Abrams enumerated his chief concerns about the prosecution and the trial as run by federal judge Mark Fuller, as follows...
Excessive Sentence:
Siegelman was acquitted of 25 of 32 counts, yet he got seven years and four months. Much more than the norm.
Immediately Led Away in Shackles:
After the trial, the former Governor was manacled and taken to jail, like a violent offender. Didn't get the usual 45 days to report to prison that would be the norm.
No Bail Pending Appeal:
No bail was allowed, even though an appeal for the non-violent crime is pending.
Transcript Delay:
The appeal is delayed because the court has yet to produce a trial transcript even though the trial was held more than a year and a half ago.
Near the end of the interview with Woods, the former AZ Attorney General notes pointedly:
“I hope everybody, Republican or Democrat, will just rally around the principle that we gotta do the right thing in this country, and not allow this thing to happen. So, if it did happen, it needs to be uncovered. If it didn't, then let's investigate it, and call it off.”
Technorati Tags: Dan Abrams, Dana Jill Simpson, Don Siegelman
Dan Abrams once again tackles the Don Siegelman case in his stellar “Bush League Justice” series on MSNBC. Tonight's guests included Scott Horton of Harper's, former Alabama GOP operative Dana Jill Simpson and Governor Siegelman's daughter, Dana Siegelman.
Abrams and Horton opened the segment discussing the remarkable 60 Minutes blackout of the Siegelman story in Alabama on Sunday. According to the local CBS station the blackout occurred because of a faulty receiver. An incredulous Abrams then proceeded to make a mockery out of the laughable excuse:
“It's sooo hard to believe - the notion that a receiver, in Alabama, just during the Siegelman story, just during 60 Minutes - I mean, they got it resolved, right? Right at the end, just as the story is finishing up, right?”
After playing more of his interview with Karl Rove accuser Simpson from yesterday's show, Abrams made his first of many calls for Governor Siegelman's release from prison:
“But there are serious questions that should lead the Justice Department and the judge to, at the very least, release Siegelman while he appeals.”
Amazingly, Siegelman is unable to appeal his case because the government has failed to produce a transcript of the trial which was completed over 18 months ago.
Later Dana Siegelman tries to answer some of the many unanswerable questions regarding her father's case before flat out telling Abrams that the judge is “trying to keep her dad hushed as long as he possibly can” and that her father “knows Karl Rove is behind this.”
Part 1 (9:49)
Part 2 (2:08)
Note that my encounter with Karl Rove on Monday makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the segment.
Technorati Tags: 60 Minutes, Alabama, Bush League Justice, Dan Abrams, Dana Jill Simpson, Don Siegelman, Free Don Siegelman, Justice, Karl Rove
I got a chance to meet Karl Rove before he spoke at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles last night. See the video (33 seconds, below) of my brief encounter:
UPDATE: Transcript of the encounter which reveals one particularly interesting line...
Rove: “Hi, Karl Rove”
Alan: “Alan Breslauer”
Rove: “Hey Alan, nice to meet you”
Alan: “Do you mind holding this with me [inaudible - might be ”while we do this“]
Rove: ”What is this, what is this“
Rove: ”No, no, you can hold that one“
Alan: ”I'll hold it, all right“
Rove: ”You can hold that one, you can hold that one“
Rove: ”I'll look skeptically at it“
Alan: ”Come on, just hold it“
Woman's Voice: ”You don't need to do this. You don't have to do that. No. No“
Alan: ”Sure, sure I do“
Rove: ”Nice to meet you, thanks“
Alan walking away but not in the video: ”Free him“
Why would Karl Rove care one way or the other about Siegelman's freedom if he had nothing to do with the case?
Later, Rove was confronted with a question about the Don Siegelman piece on 60 Minutes. The audio of Rove's answer is available below (2:37) with the transcript following below the video:
Question: It’s basically a widespread belief that when it comes to politics you play it rough. They have accused you of outing CIA agent Valerie Plame, planning the dismissals of US attorneys on political grounds, collusion with Jack Abramoff and most recently plotting the downfall of Don Siegelman. Do you play rough?
Rove: Ah, you know, in each one of those instances things have proven to be or turned out to be either non-existent or not true. But if there is no evidence for it, Rove is responsible. It’s like the 60 Minutes thing on Don Siegelman…
Question: Did you see it?
Rove: Yeah I did, you know, this woman says that she was a longtime Alabama operative and I asked her to get pictures of Governor Siegelman with - naked pictures of him with his aides - and, ah, that this is a number of requests I’ve made to her.
The fact of the matter is that I never met with this woman. I never made this request of her or anybody else. If she was a political operative she wasn’t involved in any of the campaigns that I was involved in in Alabama. I’ve never met the woman.
And I frankly thought it was really unusual, you know, there was CBS – this woman says she met with me in 2001 – I’m at the White House, where did we meet? You know, she was an opposition researcher, ah, who paid her? When did I start making these requests? I mean, I, I, the woman lied. I don’t think I’ve ever met the woman. I know I’ve never taken a meeting with her.
And yet the CBS – look, I’m a myth I’m not a human being. I may appear to be flesh and blood but I’m a myth.
Cross-posted at Brad Blog.
Technorati Tags: 60 Minutes, Alabama, Dana Jill Simpson, Don Siegelman, Free Don Siegelman, Justice, Karl Rove
Tags: siegelman, rove, alabama, bush league justice, abrams
Technorati Tags: abrams, Alabama, Bush League Justice, rove, siegelman
FASCISM ALERT/UPDATE: This astonishing investigative report was BLACKED OUT in parts of Alabama and New York!
UPDATE: Scott Horton's must read on the 60 Minutes piece
Part 1 (9:52)
Part 2 (3:57)
Cross-posted at Brad Blog.
Will a Bush Administration effort open hundreds of thousands of acres of public land to private development?
Part 1 (9:04)
Part 2 (8:24)
DISCLOSURE: Producer of the NOW segment is a relative. Also check out an older mashup I made from an older Bill Moyers' piece on mining companies...
Have You Thanked A Mining Company Today (4:34)
Willie Nelson: “It's just... not anything wrong with marijuana if you use it responsibly.”
Technorati Tags: Marijuana, Willie Nelson
George W. Bush is quick to criticize Barack Obama for a foreign policy stance toward Pakistan that he shares. Video mashup is 45 seconds.
Technorati Tags: John McCain, Lobbyists
ALERT: Set your TIVO/VCR to record “60 Minutes” this Sunday (opposite the Academy Awards)!
The MSM is finally taking up the egregious case of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman who is literally an American political prisoner thanks in no small part to Karl Rove.
For much more on this shocking case check out Scott Horton's great work at Harper's and the Don Siegelman website.
UDPDATE: How is Karl Rove not in prison?
Technorati Tags: 60 Minutes, Don Siegelman, Karl Rove
