Action Point with Cynthia Black 01-27-2008 The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• ECONOMY: Stimulus Gone Bad:

  House Democrats and the White House have reached an agreement on an economic stimulus plan. Unfortunately, the plan — which essentially consists of nothing but tax cuts and gives most of those tax cuts to people in fairly good financial shape — looks like a lemon.

• CAMPAIGN 2008: Tools: Dr. King and the Cognitive Dimension of Leadership: In last week's show I commented on how I had realized that the kind of president I was seeking had “fallen in love” with what Dr. Martin Luther King had loved enough to fight and even die for: social justice. Seems I was not the only one in whom that understanding has taken root. From the excellent resource Rockridge Institute:

  Senator Hillary Clinton's remarks this month about the roles and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson provided fodder for countless blogs, opinion columns, and radio and television programs. While many have argued about the intent of Clinton's comments, the discussion has largely glossed over the unconventional nature of Dr. King's leadership and the type of change he sought. Without an understanding of the cognitive dimension of the leadership that Dr. King embodied, we cannot fully appreciate his achievements or hope to effect the lasting changes that our world demands.

  AND Past holds key to Democratic future: Excellent article on the actual differences between Barack and Hillary.

  During Clinton and Obama's shared service in the Senate, they have disagreed on multiple votes that may not have made headlines at the time but do shed light on how they would approach the presidency. In fact, the two self-styled progressive senators often diverged on policies that are particularly important to Democratic liberals.

• DIRTY TRICKS: One of Action Point's guests this week reminds us that if we think Senator Hillary can take whatever Republicans can throw her way, we have not yet begun to see exactly what Presidential candidate Hillary may have to face: Citizens United Productions Is Proud To Announce The Release Of "Hillary" The Movie.
  

• ENVIRONMENT: Huffington Post Gets Astroturfed: From Treehuuger.com:

  When Stats.org first popped up in my reader with its "The Worst Science Stories of 2007: STATS Dubious Data Awards" I immediately wrote it off as the rantings of a wingnut who hangs out with Steven Milloy or Terrence Corcoran in the junk science brigade; in just one article, author Trevor Butterworth dumps on San Francisco's Mayor Gavin for banning water bottles, calls fire retardants harmless, declares gender-bender chemicals like phthalates a statistical anomaly and other inanities. I didn't bother finishing it. Then I learned that it was published on the Huffington Post, a usually respectable blog that leans left and that Butterworth is a regular columnist. Butterworth is also the editor of STATS.org, "a non-profit, non-partisan organization"..."[whose] goals are to correct scientific misinformation in the media resulting from bad science, politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge."

  AND Plan to allow logging in Alaskan forest:

  More than 3 million acres in Alaska's Tongass National Forest would be open to logging under a federal plan that supporters believe will revive the state's struggling timber industry.

• MUST READ: The Politics of Hopelessness: another excellent piece from David Sirota:

  "You were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart." - Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton, 1/22/08 That exchange from the presidential debate last night lasted about 3 seconds - if you flipped the channel for a moment, you might have missed it. That was the amount of time the two leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for president spent talking about the corporate takeover of our government - the issue that almost singularly drives American politics and that is at the core of our country's most fundamental problems.

• PERSONAL SECURITY ALERT: Bush Order Expands Network Monitoring:

  President Bush signed a directive this month that expands the intelligence community's role in monitoring Internet traffic to protect against a rising number of attacks on federal agencies' computer systems.

  AND Senate Defeats 1st Try To Strip Telcos Of FISA Immunity:

  Lawmakers in the Senate defeated an initial attempt Thursday to strip immunity for telecommunications companies out of a bill reauthorizing the federal government's warrantless wiretapping program. Senators approved a motion to table an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would have removed the immunity provision in the bill. The vote was 60-34.