A scandal is brewing in Nevada:

Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.

The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations. Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats.

Eric Russell managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed voter registration forms, all from Democrats. We took them to the Clark County Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law.

[Link via Norwegian Chef at Daily Kos.]

Update: Josh Marshall adds:

And here's a careerbuilder.com listing for the same company looking for door-to-door canvassers. Paid for by the GOP. And here it seems that the same outfit was doing work for Nader in Arizona.

by TChris

The prevalence of surveillance cameras in our cities may bring Orwell to mind, but some champion their public presence as a valuable tool to help the police identify criminals. MTA police officer Michael Koenig might be unenthused about the law enforcement potential of surveillance cameras, having been captured on camera during an encounter with a homeless man at Penn Station. Witnesses confirm that Koenig hit the man in the head with his metal baton after ejecting him from the station.

Koenig has been charged with assault. Koenig and another officer are also charged with falsifying records by failing to report the misconduct.

Colorado's voter registration problems seem to be getting a lot of media attention--probably because it's a swing state this year. In any event, officials say problems are being blown out of proportion.

A few days ago it was disclosed that up to 6,000 felons are among the registered voters. Their names had not been checked to see if they were eligible to vote. In Colorado,

Felons cannot vote if they are in prison or on parole, but felons on probation can vote....Worried about possible lawsuits challenging her rules, [Secretary of State] Davidson said she won't just purge the rolls of felons but will allow people who show up and might be flagged as felons to vote with a provisional ballot.

Their names will be checked after the election. If they are eligible to vote, their votes will count.

Next issue: Registration drive workers were paid by the number of people they registered to vote.

by TChris

The Center for Public Integrity compiles here a vital set of documents for those who want to research events at Abu Ghraib -- from the investigation of a "riot" in 2003 to the Taguba report in 2004.

Democrats reportedly have decided on a legal strategy to block the Sinclair Broadcasting company from airing an anti-Kerry film in the days prior to the election.

The Democratic National Committee is to petition the Federal Election Committee to classify the film an "illegal in-kind contribution" to the Republican campaign. In a letter to the Federal Communication Commission, 18 Democratic senators branded the documentary "blatantly partisan".

The article adds,

The Democrats are not thought likely to obtain a ruling in time to stop the broadcast.

If an election lawyer is reading, can you explain why they can't seek a temporary restraining order preventing Sinclair from airing the film until the petition can be heard on its merits?

Kevin Drum and Josh Marshall have good ideas about what regular folks can be doing to stop the airing--particularly those who live in places that carry Sinclair stations.

Saddam Hussein had hernia surgery about ten days ago. He went to a hospital where Iraqi doctors operated on him. He was returned to his cell the same day, and has recovered completely.

He also has high blood pressure and a chronic prostate infection but has refused to have a biopsy done to determine if he has anything more serious.

Bumping this up from this morning:

Human Rights Watch has released a new report about at least 11 suspected terrorists who have been grabbed overseas by the U.S. and held in countries allowing torture. More is available in today's Guardian. While this report is new, many of the underlying details, including the names of these suspects, is not. [This is a very long post, so you may want to bookmark it for when you have time to read it and follow the links.]

In November, 2003, Human Rights Watch official and Findlaw Columnist Joanne Mariner wrote this article about "the hidden detainees" and their connection to Zacarias Moussaoui:

The most important aspect of Zacarias Moussaoui's prosecution may have little to do with Moussaoui himself.....The larger significance of Moussaoui's case lies elsewhere. It is, at present, the only legal peephole by which to glimpse the circumstances of a much more important group of terrorist suspects: those, like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, who are held by the U.S. military for interrogation in "undisclosed locations."

....Right now, the detainees are missing, "disappeared," vanished with hardly a trace. No one knows where they are, and little is known about how they have been treated, although disturbing reports are occasionally leaked. These hidden detainees are in a frightening legal limbo. It is time for the judiciary -- and the Supreme Court, eventually -- to step in.

Human Rights Watch also raised allegations of torture of al Qaeda detainees in December, 2002. It detailed the practice in April, 2003. The Washington Post expounded on the practice on December 26, 2003.

Markos of Daily Kos is writing a column for The Guardian. His second installment is titled The Madness of George.

Getting our allies to participate in the Iraq war may have just become a tougher proposition:

More than two-thirds of the people living in Australia, Britain and Italy - three countries allied with the United States in the Iraq war - believe the war has increased the threat of terrorism.

Leaders of those countries - prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia and Premier Silvio Berlusconi of Italy - all get low marks from their people for their handling of the war on terrorism, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll shows.

The number of Americans who believe the Iraq war has increased the threat of terrorism is now over 50%.

"In the context of the presidential campaign in the United States, this is undeniably a blow for George W. Bush, since it shows that a majority of Americans don't agree with the main justification for his policy in Iraq," said Gilles Corman, research director at Ipsos-Inra of Belgium, who studies public opinion trends across Europe.

Time for an exit strategy. Anybody have one?

John Edwards is holding an 11:30 am town hall meeting in Commerce City, CO, today, before flying off to Burbank, CA to tape the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and then make an 11pm fundraiser in San Francisco. Let's hope he leaves the crack-down on meth labs talk in Iowa.

Edwards said he and presidential nominee John Kerry would propose legislation to limit consumers to two standard packages per day of cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, an ingredient used in Sudafed and other drugs. Bulk sales of cold medicines would be more closely monitored to track suspicious sales.

They also would propose spending $30 million annually for 10 years to fund law enforcement efforts and help farmers buy better locks to secure ammonia tanks where drug dealers steal the ammonia they need to make meth.

Can his advisors please tell him to stick to Iraq, where's Osama, health care, social security and our droopy economy? For once we have a national election where being tough on crime is not a major issue for voters. Let's keep it that way.

Blogs are abuzz with how to stop Sinclair Broadcasting from directing its stations to preempt regular programming and run an anti-Kerry film on the eve of the election. What can be done legally to stop them? If any election lawyers are reading and have any ideas, this thread at Daily Kos is a good place to post them. Or this one .

At a minimum, everyone should sign this petition. Here's more about Democrats' objections to the Sinclair plan. Hesiod at Counterspin has links to online voting polls on Sinclair.

Update: The Democratic party asks you to call Sinclair's affiliates. Click here for a list of phone numbers for Sinclair stations. Call them to let them know what you think about their decision to air untrue smears about John Kerry just before Election Day. Go here to sign their petition.

Don't miss Bubbie vs. the GOP. Brilliant. Even god-zella can't save them.