This morning we welcome Teddy to the show to discuss his latest book, A Particle of God, as well as Beyond Reason, his talk show with on-air partner Karlen Evins.

We also will get his take on the return of hate in American, the state of talk radio today, and what he perceives as the country’s top priority - healthcare reform.

Listen live from 9 to 10 am (CT) at BlogTalkRadio.com/liberadio.

The federal lawsuits, according to attorney Gary Blackburn, are based on the 1st & 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and Article 1 Section 4, of the Tennessee State Constitution, which states that “no political or religious test, other than an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of this State, shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this State.”

Named defendants are Republican Party appointees to the county election commissions in Cannon, DeKalb, Henry, Loudon, Putnam, Rhea, Rutherford, and Weakley counties.

Click to download the full complaint and the press release [pdf].

The planning of election processes and the administration of elections should not be partisan yet as soon as Tennessee Republicans win control of the General Assembly they attempt to do way more than what the law allows.

By law, the party which controls the General Assembly can install a majority to the state and county election commissions. Republicans quickly moved to do just that and it is lawfully within their right to do so.

But, apparently, they’ve moved just as quickly to violate the law by firing county employees in non-policy-making positions for partisan reason.

And it would be bad enough if this attempt to circumvent the law was simple blatant patronage, but it’s so much more than that. It’s part of a “it’s-not-the-votin’-that’s-democracy-it’s-the-countin’” full court press on free and fair elections in Tennessee that includes:

1) An attempt to delay implementation of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act (Paper Ballot Bill)
2) An attempt to require proof of citizenship to register to vote, a well-worn voter suppression tactic.
3) An attempt to require picture IDs to vote, another well-worn voter suppression tactic.
4) Forcing through legislation using some pretty suspect horse-trading which added two new Republican members to the State Election Commission thereby giving the GOP a majority two years earlier than they would have had otherwise.
5) Violating the state’s Sunshine Laws by banning the press from a county election commission meetings.
6) An attempt to intimidate an election integrity activist with a suspicious visit from the TBI.

Stay tuned for caging, voter-roll purging, election day voter challenges, the demonization of voter registration drives,voter intimidation, and other known voter-suppression tactics coming to a county election precinct near you!

This morning, we take the conversation one step further and speak with two Tennessee Democrats who are in the trenches and working to implement some of the strategies outlined in Moser’s book.

Guests include Maria Brewer, chairperson of the Sumner County Democratic Party and Jordan Huffman, Vice-Chairman of the Washington County Democratic Party and the Vice President of the Tennessee Federation of College Democrats.

Also joining the show today will be Eric Boehlert of Media Matters for America, to talk about Almost-One-Term-Governor Sarah Palin and her “No Mas” moment.

Uh-huh. I’m not sure what Tennessee Voter Confidence Act Mr. Hargett is looking at, but the one in my Tennessee code is not at all specific.

I’ve been through the Voter Confidence Act (and so can you!) and I cannot locate this language anywhere.

Again, there is no mention of requiring counties “to use only certified equipment that meets the security and reliability standards adopted by the federal Election Assistance Commission in 2005.”

Mr. Hargett is being very disingenuous in his press release. Instead of wanting to follow the law and give the voters of Tennessee secure and verifiable elections by implementing the very thorough Voter Confidence Act, he’s offering every excuse available - as he did during the last legislative session - to keep from complying with the law.

UPDATE: Election Integrity Activist Bernie Ellis responds to Mr. Hargett’s release:

When Secretary of State Hargett says that it will be “impossible ” for him to implement the Voter Confidence Act by 2010, the truth is that the only thing that is impossible in Tennessee these days seems to be to get our secretary of state to respect the law.

The 2005 EAC standards are the 2002 EAC standards in the main. The only differences between them deal more with accessibility issues for disabled voters, not with basic vote-counting or security procedures. Besides, these EAC are completely voluntary standards — there is no federal requirement that any state follow these voluntary standards.

More important, SoS Hargett does not tell us that none of the equipment now in use in Tennessee has been certified to either the 2002 or 2005 EAC standards. So if his principal concern was meeting some voluntary standards (which is what the EAC standards are — voluntary), he would have to do away with all of our existing voting equipment.

That is not the issue. Tre Hargett is less concerned about our voting on equipment that is not certified to some national voluntary standards just so long as the uncertified equipment we vote on is also untrustworthy and unverifiable. His principal goal seems to be to prevent us (at all costs) from voting on paper ballots counted by optical scan equipment, a voting system that will meet the Tennessee standard — the only meaningful standard in this state today. Why is that, exactly?”

Put another way: “There’s only one standard that matters now, and that’s the Tennessee standard — paper ballots and hand-counted audits, a standard that our General Assembly has affirmed not once, but twice. Everything else is just smoke-and-mirrors from a secretary of state who, for some reason, don’t want elections in Tennessee that we can trust and verify.”

Part 1 - Freddie Quits Liberadio(!) Freddie may be joking, but Sarah Palin isn’t. We get right into the current news droppings, both national and local, then onto the to-do list. [17.11MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090706part1.mp3)

Part 2- Governor Quitty McQuittersons Once upon a time, Freddie was on the Al Franken Show and had a brush with greatness. But did he quit? No! Not like Sarah Palin who is a big quitter. [20.33MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090706part2.mp3)

Part 3- Interview with Councilman Mike Jameson Mike Jameson joins us as we continue our discussions on zoning and development in Nashville including the Convention Center, the Downtown Plan, and the May Town Center. [29MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090706part3mikejameson.mp3)

Part 4- Hear It From Sarah PalinWe play a few interesting clips of Almost-One-Term-Governor Sarah Palin explaining herself…kinda sorta. [15MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090706part4.mp3)

Part 5 - Interview with Wendell Potter After a 20-year career as a corporate public relations executive, Potter left his job last year at CIGNA to try his hand at helping socially responsible organizations — including those advocating for meaningful health care reform — achieve their goals. He’s blowin’ the whistle and you gotta hear it. [22.6MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090706part5wendellpotter.mp3)

Part 6 - We Take Your Calls On Healthcare We take your calls on your experiences with healthcare in America. Its getting so bad that other countries wouldn’t want to deal with our system if they had it. We also talk about the surprising differences between healthcare in England/Cananda and France/Netherlands. We end the show with a little more Palin talk, and we’ll see you next week. [39.59MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090706part6.mp3)

Guest host Betsy Phillips, author of the blog Tiny Cat Pants, contributor to the Nashville Scene’s blog, Pith in the Wind, and upcoming guest blogger at Feministe joined me to talk about Governor Sanford’s sex life, being a Dem in TN, Robin Smith, Al Franken, and, along with our guest, Councillady Emily Evans, the controversial May Town plan for Bells Bend.

From NTS Media Online:

During an appearance on Dial-Global’s nationally syndicated Bill Press Show this morning, newly elected U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) spoke out about recent comments made by fellow Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) who called the former Saturday Night Live comedian and Air America Radio host “a clown.” Suggesting perhaps the Oklahoma Senator might be a fan of clowns Franken told Press, “I don’t know how Senator Inhofe regards clowns, but it might be an incredible compliment.”

Wait. Scratch that.

Al Franken won his Senate in Minnesota because every vote could be counted.

You see, Minnesotans get to vote on something called “paper ballots.” And these “paper ballots” can be recounted when there is a close election. Crazy, I know. For those of us in Tennessee who can only vote on electronic black boxes with secret vote counting (flipping?) software, the Franken victory seems mythic.

Election Integrity journalist and BradBlog.com writer/producer Brad Friedman explains:

Although the victory was sealed today, the Republican claims of “voter fraud” became impossible to support long ago, because hand-marked paper ballots – nearly three million of them – as cast by the voters in the squeaker of an election, were actually being counted, in full view of the media and any interested citizen alike. To a ballot, they were all accounted for, and any disagreement about voter intent on those ballots was adjudicated in an open process by a bipartisan state canvassing board. All but a handful of those votes were determined unanimously by the board to have been cast either for Franken, for Coleman, for a third party candidate or for nobody at all.

The only question remaining after the weeks-long, painstaking, public hand-count was whether a number of uncounted absentee ballots, rejected as per the state’s strict standards for counting, should, in fact, be counted.

Minnesotans and their damn-near perfect elections are the envy of Election Integrity activists everywhere. What with their “paper ballots,” audits, a mandated automatic hand-counted recount of the “paper ballots” if an election is close, an open counting process, citizen vigilance over the ballot chain of custody, etc. etc..

What’s a Tennessean gotta do to get some secure and verifiable elections? Learn to ice fish?

It's not all about the benjamins.

On Monday, Tony Cani and Michael Chapman of Change That Works campaign, a project of the Service Employees International Union which is focused on building a grassroots network across the country in support of healthcare reform, joined us to talk about healthcare. Michael, a registered nurse, told us one particularly harrowing story of a man who, along with his family, was living the American dream until a healthcare crisis took it all away.

You can listen to our interview with Michael and Tony here or by clicking on the arrow below.

Download audio file (liberadio20090629part5canichapman.mp3)

Tomorrow, you can join Michael, Tony, and other Nashvillians in support of healthcare reform as they gather at 12 noon at Congressman Jim Cooper’s office on Church Street to sign a “Declaration for Affordable Healthcare” and to present personal mementos demonstrating what they have had to give up in order to afford health insurance coverage.

This event has been coordinated with other events organized nationwide by the SEIU and Change That Works to call on Congress “to make healthcare more affordable, give people the freedom to choose their coverage, and offer the working people the same quality healthcare that members of Congress receive.”

Congressman Cooper’s office is located at 605 Church Street (at the downtown public library).

Part 1 - A Showstopper! Well, Maybe Just a Surprise Call John Spragens, soon to be ex-communications director for Coop!, calls us early in the show and updates us on what went on in Washington with Healthcare reform and with Congressman Jim Cooper. Wait…ex? [31MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090629part1johnspragens.mp3)

Part 2- Interview with Councilman Jason Holleman The councilman joins us to talk about the exciting world of zoning (no really, its interesting!) and the Bells Bend redevelopment plan - also know as May Town Center. We learn about the origins of the plan, where it is now, and if it ever go away. [25MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090629part2jasonholleman.mp3)

Part 3- Celebrity Deaths Aren’t the Only Thing That Comes in Three’s After a brief remembrance of some recently passed celebrities, its time to highlight the complex dynamics of the extramarital affairs of our elected officials. [11.3MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090629part3.mp3)

Part 4- Its Back! Media Matters for America Smackdown MMFA research fellow Elbert Ventura returns to tell us all the shenanigans swirling around the healthcare and energy policy legislations. [18MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090629part4mmfa.mp3)

Part 5- Healthcare: The Next Frontier Toni Cani of SEIU’s Change That Works campaign and RN Michael Chapman have returned from a trip to Washington, where they met with the staff of the Tennessee congressional delegation on the subject of healthcare. Toni Cani talks about the efforts to keep “public option” in the foreground of the discussions and Michael Chapman lets us in on the harsh realism of our present healthcare system. The stories will curl your hair. Later we take your calls about your own healthcare concerns and experiences. [54MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20090629part5canichapman.mp3)