Action Point with Cynthia Black 11-25-2007: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• I TOLD YOU SO FILE (well, I didn't tell you but I told some friends in private): The Bush Administration knew that Pervez Musharraf planned to institute Marshall law: Yes, it does matter. Another American-sponsored dictator struggles in a post 911 world.

  "One of Gen. Musharraf's closest advisers said U.S. criticism was muted, which some senior Pakistanis interpreted as a sign they could proceed," the Journal said. "'You don't like that option? You give us one,' the adviser says he told his American interlocutors. 'There were no good options.”

• CAMPAIGN 2008: Muted Ad Messages Are in Style: As the season heats up you need to know the tactics being used on YOU!

  Mitt Romney talks about bringing up his five boys. Rudy Giuliani says he's not perfect, Hillary Clinton is praised by a grateful man for saving his son's life. In a recent spate of campaign commercials, the leading presidential candidates have tried to send reassuring signals, deflect criticism or denigrate their opponents by relying on code phrases and images, rather than explicit language. "It's the psychological mechanism known as inoculation," says Shanto Iyengar, a professor of communication at Stanford University. "You give people a small dose of the virus, in the hope that later on, when opponents start bashing you on family values or whatever, viewers will have enough of the defense to resist the incoming attacks."

  And then there's this: FOXNews Slips Picture Of Hillary Clinton Into Unrelated Anti-Immigration Story!

• BIG MEDIA: Don 'Nappy Headed Ho's' Imus Is Ba-a-ack -- and So Are His Enablers: No comment:

  It's no surprise that executives of major media corporations rushed to defend Imus by claiming, as did Citadel Broadcasting CEO Farid Suleman, "He's more than paid the price for what he did." After all, as recently noted in the New York Observer, "redemption and rehabilitation are secondary concerns" for Citadel. Phil Boyce, operations manager at the company's flagship station WABC, spelled it out in stark terms, explaining, "Obviously, there are a couple of reasons to look at him, but the biggest reason is the revenue opportunity. There's a lot of money to be made there. And we're in the business of making money."

• ELECTION INTEGRITY: Dirty tricksters caught on video at UC Santa Barbara:

  When Steven Attewell, an eagle-eyed member of the blog Daily Kos, alerted Courage Campaign staffer Erik Love that California Counts petition-gatherers at UC Santa Barbara were gathering signatures to help "children with cancer," he headed out to investigate. And, sure enough, Erik noticed that "children with cancer" was just a sneaky tactic to get people to sign the so-called "Electoral College Reform Initiative" -- what we call the dirty trick initiative.

• INTERNATIONAL: How Will Pakistani Conflict Impact the World?

  There are two distinct conflicts within Pakistan's polity. The first is between rebels along the Afghan border and the Pakistani state, and the second is between pro-democracy forces and Musharraf's military dictatorship. The outcomes of both struggles will affect the rest of the region, with some implications potentially being felt globally. Who is affected by Pakistan's turmoil, and why?

• MUST READ: "Corporate Interests Have Literally Taken Over This Government": another excellent piece from David Sirota (WARNING: Sirota product commercial inserted):

“Some folks have asked me why I have written so much about John Edwards in the past few months. The answer can be seen in this short clip.”

• ENVIRONMENT: North Carolina Student Climate Coalition Convinces State to Revisit Permit on New Coal Plant! When you Do Something, it's not all doom and gloom.

• UPDATE TO THE ANDREW MYERS FILE (aka police over-reactions in a post 911 World): Cop allegedly Tasers driver over speeding ticket: Watch the Youtube video yourself. Oh and by the way: “Signing a speeding ticket is not an admission of guilt, Roden said. He described it as a promise that a motorist “will take care of the citation.”

• SPEAKING OF TORTURE: Canadian terror trial kept secret, groups say: This is not surprising and just because we are not surprised does not mean we should not be outraged. I know about rage fatigue but how fatigued do you think you will be raging against this when it happens to your son? As Robert Greenwald's fabulous films conclude: “Do Something”.

  “The military commissions, which will be conducted at Guantanamo Bay, are the first to be conducted since World War II. It is important that the proceeding in the Khadr case not only be fair but that it be perceived as fair, and that cannot happen unless the public is able to follow and understand the events as they transpire, the five news organizations said.”

• THIS IS BAD (NO, REALLY BAD) FILE UPDATE: Saudi Arabia to Punish Survivor of Gang Rape with 200 Lashes and Prison Term: First, a woman who was raped by six armed men was originally sentenced to receive 90 lashes for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape," but after the woman went to the media Saudi Arabia's Higher Judicial Council more than doubled her punishment for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media." Now, what does Bush have to say about all this?

  “Yesterday, McCormack was asked if the administration’s silence was “driven by a desire not to offend Saudi Arabia as a close ally.” “No, it’s — no, that’s not it at all,” he claimed, but then acknowledged the administration has yet to convey its “astonishment” directly to the Saudis. “I am not aware of any direct contact with the Saudis on this issue,” he said.

• INCOMING: Firefighters taking new role as anti-terrorist eyes of the US government: Does firefighter Scott Ritter know (more importantly, does he 'do') this? “

  Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel need no warrants to enter hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, which puts them in position to spot behavior that could indicate terror activity or planning.

• PERSONAL SECURITY ALERT: Cellphone Tracking Powers on Request: So it seems that “Federal officials” are “routinely asking courts” to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can find people they say are bad guys, like drug traffickers, and in some cases judges grant the requests without asking for evidence there is probable cause (isn't that a law-- requiring evidence of probable cause?). If that's not disturbing enough (you knew that telecoms' setting the precedent would create privacy rights “creep”, yes?) there's also this:

  With Verizon's Chaperone service, parents can set up a "geofence" around, say, a few city blocks and receive an automatic text message if their child, holding the cellphone, travels outside that area."Most people don't realize it, but they're carrying a tracking device in their pocket," said Kevin Bankston of the privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation.