The Nation has a great piece, Justice, Bush Style, that the rest of the media reporting on ACORN should read. The article will read more like a review for many of us at ePluribus since we devoted a lot of attention to the politicization of the DOJ. But are we hearing anything about the near destruction of the Civil Rights Division from the press who is in a frenzy to cover the alleged voter fraud by ACORN?

A startling flurry of inspector general reports--including one released September 29 focusing on the US Attorney firing scandal--along with the testimony of former Justice staffers interviewed at length by The Nation, paint a detailed picture of how a once-proud government department came to teeter on the brink of a nervous breakdown. With the presidential election looming, the consequences of pervasive politicization could be profound, as the department's rules of engagement in the electoral process have been completely remade to allow a much greater degree of direct interference.

"They have destroyed the internal culture of the Justice Department as a restraint on the executive branch," said Bruce Fein, a prominent Washington constitutional lawyer who cut his teeth at Justice during the Watergate scandal and later served as a political appointee under Reagan. "There's no professional insistence on treating law and politics separately. It's all one."

The author covers the changes that took place from Ashcroft through the unraveling in 2007. So where does this leave the nation as we face the elections of 2008?

Brad Friedman, of Bradblog.com and election integrity fame, was on air with Hans Spakovsky during a Tavis Smiley interview last week.

Especially for some of the Spakovsky 'fans' around here (eP site search for Spakovsky), check out Brad's post but, especially, listen to the embedded audio record.

originally posted 2008-10-08 22:05:34 -- lots of news stories about this happening, see related pieces of Avahome's Nevada ACORN Raid info and Jamess Voter Register commentary, bumped cho

The massive effort to register new Democratic voters appears to be losing ground faster than it's being gained. The significant lead Obama has in the polls makes it appear unlikely the election could be lost to the GOP. But take a few of those votes away - say, a few tens of thousands - and you don't have a safety margin anymore, just theft . Again.

State's Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal
Oct. 8, 2008. The New York Times.

Although much attention this year has been focused on the millions of new voters being added to the rolls by the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, there has been far less notice given to the number of voters being dropped from those same rolls.

promoted, also take a look at Avahome's (Ms. Nose for News) commentary on the ACORN raid -- posted yesterday morning, 24 hours before others took notice -- cho

Update: Link to additional brief filed by Milwaukee Branch of NAACP and the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association.
Seven civil rights and public interests groups submitted their amici curiae brief in support of the Wisconsin General Accountability Board's (GAB) motion to dismiss the Attorney General's legal petition endorsed by the Wisconsin Republican Party.

Voters' rights communities fear that the Wisconsin Attorney General would suppress voters in the presidential election, characterize the move as a continuation of the national GOP voter suppression effort, and see a corrupt use of the Attorney General's office for partisan gain.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen filed an extraordinary writ of mandamus petition seeking a court-ordered remedy that would overrule a state agency, the Governmental Accountability Board (GAB), as the GAB seeks to protect legally voting citizens in a highly politicized voting issue implementing a federal law during this year's presidential campaign.

The public interest in Ohio News Bureau, John Spinelli's Ohio Attorneys to Assert RICO Claim Against Karl Rove for Orchestrating Theft of 2004 Election prompted us to compile links of work from the ePluribus Media community and friends that have helped to reawaken the 2004 Ohio Election legal story.

We hope you'll find these useful for context.

OhioNews Bureau

ONB COLUMBUS: Former two-term Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth J. Blackwell, who made headlines in 2004 for serving as state co-chair of the Bush/Cheney campaign and who many defenders of democracy and voting activists believe was complicit in throwing Ohio to President Bush, was sent a letter Tuesday asking him to appear before the US House Committee on Judiciary to provide testimony on “Voter Suppression.”