Action Point with Cynthia Black 02-03-2008: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• PERSONAL SECURITY: Copy a CD, owe $1.5 million under "gluttonous" PRO-IP Act:

  Not content with the current (and already massive) statutory damages allowed under copyright law, the RIAA is pushing to expand the provision. The issue is compilations, which now are treated as a single work. In the RIAA's perfect world, each copied track would count as a separate act of infringement, meaning that a copying a ten-song CD even one time could end up costing a defendant $1.5 million if done willfully. Sound fair? Proportional? Necessary? Not really, but that doesn't mean it won't become law.

• RESOURCE (ARMS CONTROL): THE CENTER FOR ARMS CONTROL AND NONPROLIFERATION: For those seeking the best up-to-date Iraq/Iran coverage and comment on US government security issues (note: think about subscribing to the newsletter)!

• POLITICS: NATIONAL: CAMPAIGN 2008: Super Tuesday with Brave New Films and the Young Turks: Can't get out to Super Tuesday house party? No sweat. Join Brave New Films and The Young Turks. Send tips, breaking news, and comments and “...make this coverage the best around”!

• DIRTY TRICKS: Americans United Urges IRS To Investigate Two Religious Right Groups For Biased Voter Guides:

  The Internal Revenue Service should investigate two prominent tax-exempt Religious Right groups that produced biased voter guides for the presidential election, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

  In complaints filed today with the IRS, Americans United charged that voter guides produced by the American Family Association and WallBuilders are clearly designed to promote Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

  The guides, posted on the groups’ Web sites, list the Republican candidates and their alleged stands on a range of issues, such as support for a human life amendment, “traditional marriage,” “business freedom” and “moral education” and opposition to “gay pride.” Only Huckabee is assigned a “yes” stance on all of the issues.

  AND: 3 US workers face investigation over Obama e-mail:

  Three federal employees are being investigated for unlawful political activities after they allegedly sent an e-mail falsely accusing Barack Obama of being a "radical Muslim," the Globe has learned.

• ELECTION PROTECTION: Republican NH Primary Candidate Demands Secretary of State Allow Unvoted Ballots to be Counted in Ongoing Election Contest:

  Albert Howard Hand Delivers Letter to SoS Gardner, Reiterates Demand For Reconciliation of All Uncast Ballots ALSO: Diebold Machine Errors Reported in 21 Towns, Democrat John Conyers Calls Howard, Expresses Support...

  AND Blackwell could be subpoenaed:

  Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has been asked to testify next Friday in Washington, D.C., by the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. The topic: "Voter Suppression," according to this letter sent Tuesday to Blackwell, who now works for the Family Research Council, Buckeye Institute and other conservative policy groups.The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, is investigating election irregularities, including long lines and challenges to voter registrations. Blackwell, a Republican from Cincinnati, said he received the invitation, "however, my schedule will not permit me to attend the hearings."

  AND: Binomial analysis: Was the New Hampshire Primary Stolen on Behalf of Hillary?

  Many election-integrity activists with good mathematical intuitions looked at the returns and exclaimed, “That just couldn’t have happened by accident.” What they were speaking of, of course, was the fact that Barack Obama led Hillary Clinton by 53.25% to 46.75% in the 35,864 votes cast for one or the other of them on hand-counted paper ballots (HCPBs), whereas he lost to her by 47.27% to 52.73% of the 81,753 computer-counted votes cast for one or the other of them on optical scanners (op-scans).

• ENVIRONMENT: Does carbon trading really work?: Larry Lohmann, editor of Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, critiques cap-and-trade.

• NO COMMENT: Another Election Season, Another Political Prosecution in Alabama:

  So why would a federal prosecutor put such tremendous resources into arresting and prosecuting a retired social studies teacher? Schmitz is an irresistible target. She’s a Democratic member of the state legislature.

• NATIONAL SECURITY: Taliban threaten US/NATO supply lines in Pakistan: Aijaz Ahmad: Musharraf reluctant to fight Pakistani tribes - serious crisis developing.

• MUST READ: Can't Pay Your Mortgage? Trash Your House and Leave:

  "There's been a change in social attitudes toward default," Mr. Lewis told the Journal. "We're seeing people who are current on their credit cards but are defaulting on their mortgages. I'm astonished that people would walk away from their homes." While Lewis may scratch his head in disbelief, employees of the bank Wachovia have an explanation that might work for him: Homeowners have crunched the numbers and decided their houses are worth less than their mortgages. According to a recent conference call, many of Wachovia's current losses in California are originating not from subprime buyers fallen on financial hardship, but from homeowners who can pay their cleverly structured loans but are just choosing a different fate. "They've been from people that have otherwise had the capacity to pay," a Wachovia spokesperson said on the call, "but have basically just decided not to because they feel like they've lost equity, value in their properties.

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.