Action Point with Cynthia Black 04-20-2008: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• POLITICS: NATIONAL: CAMPAIGN 2008: William Ayers and the Weather Underground:

  Maybe this has less to do with 2008 and more to do with 1968 ('69, '70, '71 and so on). Regardless, what I want to know is why do attacks on Obama's Reverend Wright engender The Man to stirring race speeches while truth about joblessness and despair merits back-pedaling and far-stretched attacks on William Ayers engender rapid disclaimers and distancing? Is it really the “violence” both Clinton and Obama disdain, or is it the anti-war left?

  AND: Clinton Backer Distributes Essay On How GOP Would Link Obama To '70s Radicals:

  Sloan argues that Rove will use Ayers and Dohrn for 'red-baiting' attacks on Obama. Rove's "target is Barack Obama's signature slogan 'Change We Can Believe In.' Rove wants to redefine it as revolutionary change, change driven by an alien ideology, change no patriotic American could stomach. And he intends to do so by channeling Senator Joseph McCarthy."

• MUST READ: The Ludlow Legacy, Part II: Colorado: from David Sirota:

  The Ludlow Massacre's tiny monument off I-25 in Southern ColorAdo is easily missed if you don't know where to find it. Though the nearby coal mine garnered international attention in 1914 after a government militia slaughtered union organizers there, the minimalism of the memorial is predictable. History books venerate Rockefellers # the union-busting mine owners # and disregard agents of progress like the labor movement. But remember the parable about those ignoring history repeating it, particularly on April 20 # the anniversary of the atrocity. As noted in last week's column, the methods of Ludlow are being celebrated in our foreign policy. But they are also being trumpeted at home.

• NATIONAL SECURITY: IRAN: Iran Provision Added to Debt Cancellation Legislation:

  Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on H.R. 2634, legislation "to provide for greater responsibility in lending and expanded cancellation of debts owed to the United States and the international financial institutions by low-income countries." There was a motion to recommit the bill back to the Financial Services Committee with instructions to include a provision that no country that has a business relationship with Iran can receive debt cancellation. The motion carried.

  Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), chair of the Financial Services Committee, later returned to the House floor, to state that the Committee accepted the language. The debt cancellation bill then passed with the Iran language. What are they thinking? Oh, yes, SANCTIONS are a form of negotiation! We squeeze the lifeblood out of their economy and they will “comply”. See how well that worked in IRAQ?!