Religious Groups and Koch Bros. Target Voters
Editor’s Note: The Mudflats team has been reporting on a developing story here in Anchorage (LINK, LINK) . Zach Roberts, whose journalistic efforts on this topic have been recognized on a national level has this piece cross-posted at TruthOut.org. ********************* In audio obtained from a Family Council fundraiser in Anchorage, Alaska, Truthout has learned that a number of right-wing religious groups, including Focus on the Family, have been working with the Koch brothers to target voters across the country using their multimillion-dollar voter database known as Themis. At a fundraiser held at the Anchorage Middle Eastern restaurant Aladdin’s last week,…
Exclusive from Greg Palast -The Debates: What the hell happened?
Exclusive to TheMudflats.net from Greg Palast, author of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps please listen to my discussion with Shannyn Moore on her radio show from last night. What the hell happened? Did Barack have a fight with Michelle? Was it nicotine withdrawal? Do really rich guys just scare you, Mr. Obama? Dear Mr. President: As a journalist I don’t take partisan sides, but I do take America’s side. And as Commander-in-Chief, you simply cannot fall asleep in the saddle. I mean Commander-in-Chief in the Class War. The war of the billionaires against the rest…
Voter ID – It started with 10 Nuns in Indiana
This story is the basis of chapter 29 of Greg Palast’s Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps available now in bookstores and on-line. Or for a donation to TheMudflats of $100 (using the donate button at right) get a signed copy by Greg Palast (and if you like I’ll sign it too…). You’re probably asking why am I publishing a story that’s 4 years old – well, Indiana was the testing ground for Voter ID laws. When Indiana was allowed by the Supreme Court to force people to have voter id in the elections…
Mudflats Exclusive: “Colonels in Mirrored Sunglasses”
A Mudflats EXCLUSIVE – Greg Palast has given TheMudflats permission to publish the first excerpt from his new book Billionaires & Ballot Bandits – out in stores September 18th. Enjoy. ~Zach *************** Here are the facts, ma’am: In the 2008 election, no less than: 767,023 provisional ballots were cast and not counted; 1,451,116 ballots were “spoiled,” not counted; 488,136 absentee ballots were mailed in, but not counted. Add it up: in the last presidential election, no less than 2,706,275 ballots were cast—and never counted. I have not included a quarter million (251,936) provisional ballots counted only in part (that is, for…
The Return of Occupy: Beaten, but Not Down
You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming. ~Pablo Neruda My head hurts. Three months after my arrest during an Occupy Wall Street protest on #D17, and two days away from my meeting with the Assistant DA about said arrest, I got beaten just outside of Zuccotti Park. I wasn’t the only one, and I have no doubt I won’t be the last. The NYPD has complete authority in this town. I hate using the term “police state,” but when I saw a girl thrown from a bus and tossed to the ground, in handcuffs, having…
Vulture’s Picnic – My Home is Now a Strange Place (Installment 4)
Here is the next installment of Greg Palast’s new book Vulture’s Picnic. He has allowed The Mudflats to bring you Chapter 7 – My Home is Now a Strange Place in its entirety. This is an exclusive excerpt, just for Mudflatters. I find it absolutely riveting. If you need to catch up, here are links to the first three installments. Installment 1 Installment 2 Installment 3 ********************************** Chapter 7, continued By Greg Palast STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA We also needed witnesses. I needed insiders who would spill to outsiders. To find them, I needed a hound dog. I needed a blonde. I…
Vulture’s Picnic – My Home is Now a Strange Place (Installment 3)
[This is the third installment of Chapter 7, My Home is Now a Strange Place from Greg Palast’s Vulture’s Picnic. Many thanks to Mr. Palast for providing The Mudflats with an exclusive of this story that is so critical to the state of Alaska, and reveals so much about the corporate interests that still dominate here.] By Greg Palast PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND, ALASKA, 1989 State Inspector Dan Lawn, grabbing a fast launch from Valdez, was the first to reach the shipwrecked tanker, risking the ride through the sickening fumes and fountains of crude that could explode with the touch…
Vultures Picnic – My Home is Now a Strange Place (Installment 2)
By Zach Roberts It’s weird where life takes you. In 2006, I started working for Greg Palast. He was one of my heroes. Most people know him for breaking the story of the stolen 2000 election. That was how I was introduced to his work as well, but the story that made me want to work for him was one of the lesser known ones from his best-seller The Best Democracy Money Can Buy “A Well-Designed Disaster: The Untold Story of the Exxon Valdez.” It blew me away. Everything I knew about one of the most important events in American history…
Vulture’s Picnic by Greg Palast – A Mudflats Exclusive Excerpt
By Zach Roberts Hey Mudflatters – In addition to my duties as New York Bureau Chief of The Mudflats, I’ve taken on working with Greg Palast. You might have heard him on the Shannyn Moore Show talking about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He was a forensic economist for the Chugach Natives – kind of a Sam Spade, except with numbers (not as sexy… and no whips). He uncovered the fact that it wasn’t the drunk Captain, but Exxon being cheap that caused that man-made disaster. The story made him give up his day job and start working as a…