Action Point with Cynthia Black 12-23-2007: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• ELECTION INTEGRITY: Pima County Election Integrity Trial Home: Attorney Michael Bryan posts this latest development:

  Judge Michael Miller has issued his ruling granting the plaintiffs access to the final databases for the 2006 Primary and General elections, but denying without prejudice wider access to all database files for the election in the possession of Pima County until and unless they are able to demonstrate the wider access will not compromise election security. This means that the mid-year RTA election and the backups made during the multi-day process of counting ballots remain out of reach for now.

• Campaign Issue 2008: Phoenix furniture store becomes center of immigration debate: Thanks to Nativists, racists and yes, average concerned moderates, this year the Immigration of workers who seem to be mostly Hispanic will likely come to be the wedge issue “gays” were for Republicans in 2004. In Phoenix Arizona a living tableaux of the polarized biases on both sides plays out weekly. Stay tuned to Action Point for updates:

  Salvador Reza started bringing protesters here to pressure the store's owner to stop paying off-duty Maricopa County sheriff's deputies to patrol his parking lot. Sheriff's deputies, some of whom are trained as immigration officers, are a special affront to the Hispanic community that surrounds the furniture store. Reza said the off-duty deputies have arrested and deported 65 illegal immigrants in the area so far.

• ENVIRONMENT: A website I am so far enjoying, TreeHugger.com routinely presents products wedding international modern design with sustainability. Along those lines a recent French development reflects not only French whimsy but health and green practicality. Oh, were Americans such cultural funlovers:

  Parisians curious about the quality of the air they're breathing will soon be able to get their daily fill by looking to the sky. A balloon that's been floating above the city's André-Citroën park since 1999 will be modified by its creators, Aérophile, to monitor the level of air pollution on an hourly basis starting in early 2008.

  And there's also some Good News: Japan Halts Humpback Hunt:

  Giving in to U.S. pressure and worldwide criticism, Japan's government on Friday announced a whaling fleet now in the Southern Ocean for its annual hunt will not kill the threatened species as originally planned. The fleet will, however, kill some 935 minke whales, a smaller, more plentiful species, and 50 fin whales (ed- *sigh*).

• BIG MEDIA: The FCC Vote: from The Bill Moyers Journal and PBS.org it is just one of many decrying the FCC's decision to ignore the majority of Americans desires for multi-cultural ownership in lieu of a multi-ownership culture! The question is, what are we going to do about it?

• MUST READ: Fear, Loathing & the Crisis of Confidence: another excellent piece from David Sirota:

  Just a few weeks ago, Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University released a little-noticed study showing that one-third of Americans now "believe in a broad smorgasbord of conspiracy theories" revolving around government complicity in everything from the 9/11 attacks to the Kennedy assassination. The same survey last year found that "anger against the federal government is at record levels."

  It would be easy to chalk up these troubling findings to the unending propaganda of fear. America has been experiencing the searing blast of politicized terror warnings and breaking news graphics for the better part of six years now, and populations living under such constant government and media shock treatment can go a wee bit berserk.

  But while many of these conspiracy theories are offensive and factually unsupported, the underlying paranoia and loathing are not surprising, and the feelings are not motivated merely by a fear of the next bogeyman around the corner. The sentiments are symptoms of a deep crisis of confidence in our public institutions — a crisis that is a predictable reaction to a government that now all but admits it breaks laws, hides information and disregards the public.

• INCOMING Meets THE ANDREW MYERS FILE (aka police over-reactions in a post 911 World): FBI prepares vast database of biometrics:

  Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. SNIP The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who worry that people's bodies will become de facto national identification cards. Critics say that such government initiatives should not proceed without proof that the technology really can pick a criminal out of a crowd.

• "I Just Want to Tear Out My Hair" NEWS UPDATE: CIA COVER-UP OF TORTURE TAPES, JAMIE LEIGH JONES CONTRACTOR RAPE, SIEGELMAN PURGE including these unbelievable Siegelman video files.

• JOE ARPAIO WATCH: I never did find out who paid for the weird contest sting he ran in the fall (I'll update that for you next week) but this at least should keep you "amused" Inhumanity Has a Price: Corpses, a flesh-eating virus, the most-sued sheriff in America. Lawsuits against Joe Arpaio have cost us $41 million, so far:

  Maricopa County law enforcement violated the constitutional rights of this newspaper's readers in October. Using secret grand jury subpoenas, County Attorney Andrew Thomas sought records that would reveal the identity of anyone who'd looked at New Times online in the past four years. When the paper's leaders revealed the grand jury probe in a cover story, sheriff's deputies arrested them.

  Little wonder Arizona spends half its budget on education but still ends up in the bottom three nationally for educational scoring. Joe is sucking it up to pay for his weird-ass stings to keep the PR machine humming-- as long as Idjit news writers keep touting him as "tough" the Idjits from the educational system that can't tell any better (i.e. can't think critically) will keep putting him in office.