Tuesday, January 6, 2004

From Street Tech MacWorld Highlights: Garage Band, iPod Mini. Steve Jobs presented the keynote speech as usual this year at the MacWorld expo, presenting a wide variety of new things available for the Mac system and even a few for Windows users. The most significant announcements were about a music creation application called Garage Band, included in iLife suite, and the announcement of the Mini iPod. For those who missed the webcast, read the full highlights below... [Street Tech] 1:07:56 PM

Libraries and Museums in the Digital World Fifth Annual Web-Wise Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital World, to be held March 3-5 in Chicago. The conference is sponsored annually by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and is co-hosted this year by the University of Illinois at Chicago. This year's theme is "Sharing Digital Resources." Sessions will focus on the different meanings and implications of "sharing" in the digital environment-from technical issues of interoperability to the formation of new partnerships to reach larger audiences. We will also highlight a number of innovative digital projects both in plenary sessions and in demonstrations during long breaks that provide opportunities for conversation and networking. The target audience is all those involved in the creation and use of digital resources, including library, museum, archives and public media professionals, systems scientists and educators. I hope very much that you can attend the Web-Wise Conference this year. The agenda and registration information are posted on the conference Web site at http://webwise2004.lib.uic.edu/. You will need to register early to ensure your place. A limited number of sleeping rooms have been reserved at the InterContinental Hotel. The group rate is $129.00 per night + tax in the main building or $154.00 per night + tax in the historic tower. The current tax rate on overnight accommodations is 14.9%. To make a reservation, please call reservations at (800) 628-2112 or (312) 944-4100. Please be sure to mention that you are attending the Web-Wise Conference. The cut-off date for reservations is Tuesday, February 10, 2004. If you have questions, please contact Matt Burdetsky, Capital Meeting Planning, Inc. at (703) 536-4993 or matt@cmpinc.net. We look forward to seeing you in March. Robert S. Martin, Ph.D. Director, IMLS [Chi Lib Rocks!] 8:27:09 AM

The Dean Grassroots Revitalizing Politics A thought of my own: Could the Dean campaign happen in any other country but the USA? It's pretty unlikely. In response to the attack ads rolling against Dean in Iowa, his campaign is one of the most American things going these days. - Gary Transcript of Bradley Endorsement Speech: The Dean Grassroots Revitalizing Politics. This is the transcript of Bill Bradley's endorsement in New Hampshire this morning, in front of over 300 cheering supporters: For 18 years as a U.S. senator, I stood on platforms like this one and talked about what public service was and what politics could become. Four years ago, I ran for president. It was a journey filled with hope and joy and the knowledge that if we succeeded we could make life better for all Americans. In 2000, many Americans in Iowa and New Hampshire and across the country gave me their support, and I continue to consider their confidence a sacred trust. This year many of them have asked me who among this very capable group of candidates I would recommend. My answer is Howard Dean. His campaign offers America new hope. His supporters are breathing fresh air into the lungs of our democracy. They're revitalizing politics, showing a way to escape the grip of big money and to confront the shame of forgetting those in need. When Governor Dean says that his campaign is more about his supporters than about him, he shows admirable modesty, but he sheds light also on why his campaign offers the best chance to beat George Bush. That is, he is tapped into the same wonderful idealism that I saw in the eyes of Americans in 2000 and he has nourished it into a powerful force. What is that idealism? It is the belief that good can triumph over bad, that principle can defeat expediency, that there's honor in working for a better world, that it's not naive to appeal to the better sides of our nature and it's all right to believe in the people, in your neighbor, in humankind. From thousands of volunteers, to hundreds of thousands of small contributors, to large enthusiastic crowds along the campaign trail, more and more Americans are awakening to the fact that we don't have to have four more years of George Bush and his cronies. In a world in which politics is a spectator sport and for many people campaigns mean sitting at home passively being manipulated by attack ads and half-truths, the Dean candidacy engages active participation, not from those who want special favors later, but from those who dream of building a better world now. And that is why the Dean campaign is one of the best things that's happened to American democracy in decades. He endorsed because of you. You brought him on board the same way you've brought half a million other Americans by taking back politics with your hopeful, powerful, people-driven engagement. Now BOTH leading Democratic Presidential candidates from 2000 have united with you and Dean to restore your democracy. Seize the building moment -- keep reaching out -- show the world what you've done to bring in Gore, and Bradley, and half a million other Americans, and bring in half a million more. Keep building the $100 revolution. Swing the bat for the seven February states. Thank you so much, and congratulations! [Blog for America] 8:23:57 AM

Another Shot From Chris Faux AFM. It looks like something scientific, huh? [101-365] 7:45:58 AM

'One of the Best Things to Happen to American Democracy in Decades' - Bill Bradley on the Dean Campaign Bill Bradley Endorses Dean. The AP is first with details from this morning's endorsement of Governor Dean by Bill Bradley. Former Senator Bradley was clear about the role your energy played in securing his endorsement: Bradley, who represented New Jersey in the Senate for 18 years, said voters in New Hampshire and Iowa had asked him whom he supported among the nine Democratic candidates. "My answer is, Howard Dean," Bradley said. "The Dean campaign is one of the best things to happen to American democracy in decades." Bradley said more and more Americans are awakening to the fact that they need not have four more years of the Bush administration, and he touted Dean as the alternative. "His campaign offers America new hope. His supporters are breathing fresh air into the lungs of our democracy. They're revitalizing politics, showing a way to escape the grip of big money and to confront the shame of forgetting those in need," Bradley said. "When Governor Dean says that his campaign is more about his supporters than about him, he shows admirable modesty, but he sheds light also on why his campaign offers the best chance to beat George Bush," the former senator said. "That is, he has tapped into the same wonderful idealism that I saw in the eyes of Americans in 2000, and he has nourished it into a powerful force." Yesterday, in Fargo, Governor Dean commented on what the endorsement means, according to the Washington Post: "If there is a candidate in the Democratic Party who can bring together the two candidates for president last time that fought like crazy, maybe we are not the weakest candidate, maybe we are the strongest candidate and the only one who can unite Democrats," [Dean] said in Fargo, N.D., where about 800 people braved below-zero temperatures for a rally Monday night. This is fantastic news. Help Dean continue to unite all Democrats -- and thank Bill Bradley for his incredible show of support -- by swinging the bat. Like no other campaign in history, we are changing the way politics is done -- and bringing people together. Act today. [Blog for America] 7:42:57 AM

Dean on Top, More Silly Attack Ads The PAC is Back. The last time the Club for Growth --a corporate-backed group whose goal is "to bundle campaign donations for pro-business Republicans" -- spent $100,000 against Dean, you whacked the PAC and raised more than $286,000 to help us respond. Apparently, you knocked the sense out of them. The Washington Times (ahem) reports that the Club is going up on TV again in Iowa: The Club for Growth Political Action Committee said the 30-second spot against the former Vermont governor will begin running in Des Moines today — two weeks before the Iowa Democratic caucuses. In the ad, a farmer says he thinks that "Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ..." before the farmer's wife then finishes the sentence: "... Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs." In a press release, Stephen Moore, the President of the Club for Growth, claims that "Howard Dean's liberalism may play well with latte-drinking, body-piercing, public radio listening crowd, but it won't play with hard-working Americans...." We're speechless. Do any of the hard-working Americans who built the greatest grassroots campaign in history have something to say? [Blog for America] 7:36:17 AM