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Last night, thanks to Pete, I got to go see the Crashing the Gate Tour Kickoff Jerome Armstrong of my DD and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos at George Washington University . As I had to take notes on paper (ugh!) you’re better off reading pete’s post about the event.

It was essentially a brief Q & A session. It lasted about an hour and at least half of that time was dedicated to questions from the audience. I was impressed with both authors, but was really pleased with Marcos’ energizing, no-holds-barred kind of speaking style. He talked about the point in the book-writing process where they got drunk in a random hotel (in Montana?), discussed the project and as a result, reframed the topic to what the book turned out to be. He was very unabashed about the fact that for the most part he feels like the Dems are doing it wrong. But this is tempered with the fact that he feels that a good Democrat, whether a conservative Dem or a very liberal Dem stands up to defend important issues; and a Dem who does this is “supportable”, which I agree with.

Marcos also made the point that the “real”, important political stuff is going on outside of Washington. I know that he means washington as Washington, but I couldn’t help but think that people who live in The District are well acquainted with a special kind of disenfranchisement, obviously due to the fact that we’re underrepresented.

Finally, I find it both discouraging and exciting that the “silver bullet” that translates netroots activism into grassroots activism hasn’t been found yet. Both Jerome and Marcos indicated that “something happens” in this conversion process, but as Noriko and I found, we have no idea what that is yet. The reason it’s frustrating is clear, but it’s exciting that researching this process, figuring it out is still something that needs to be done. The researcher in me loves the undiscovered. But the longer it takes the more frustrating it gets. I feel this is exacerbated by the issue of the digital divide. If we think the key to changing things, especially in red states is “regular people” taking action, red states and rural areas tend to be poor areas. We know that lack of income presents internet and technology access issues, small libraries don’t have a big tech budget, rural schools don’t have a huge budget/tax base etc. This is compounded by the fact that many public libraries still don’t recognize the value of providing unfettered internet access to their patrons (which is a different issue all together). So if the “new” political revolution is happening online, and the people in crucial areas aren’t “connected”, how do we address this? Or is old-fashioned grassroots action enough in these areas? Will the more common cell phone be the link? Text messages instead of email? In “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” Joe Trippi talks about empowering people to act politically on their own - is this the silver bullet? How is this fostered en masse?

As i’ve previously mentioned, my computer is b0rked. i’m waiting for the mac shipping box so i can send my beloved navi in for repair. So, until i type up all my notes, i bring you highlights of the conference:

Thirty Search Tips in 40 Minutes - presented by Mary Ellen Bates of Bates Information Services.
This session was especially useful in terms of combining new tools and tips with familiar procedures. I would suggest any future sessions where she was speaking. A list of her recent presentations is located on her site.

Cool Tools Update for Webmasters - presented by Darlene Fichter and Frank Cervone.
This session was simply a fast-paced run through of neat tools. The power point slides are available.

Digitization Issues and Challenges - presented by Lloyd Davidson, Christopher Warnock, and Stephen Abram
The current SLA President-elect, Stephen Abram stole the show in this panel which presented three disparate views of digitizing documents and the present and future accessibility of this type of material. Abram acknowledged Warnock’s position that libraries and specifically scientific libraries are undergoing massive upheaval and will not function in the future as they do at present. However, unlike Warnock, Abram indicated that librarians will be just as, if not increasingly more, useful in the future as information iss’t getting easier to find, and “people aren’t getting any smarter”. I found his position to be especially enlightening and quite similar to the positions taken buy individuals working to create a viable semantic web. This presentation has compelled me to join SLA in the near future. Professional Library organizations need to be this forward thinking.

The Exploding Future of Social Communication - presented by Brian Pomeroy
The Web 2.0 Challenges to Libraries - presented by Paul Miller
These presentations looked to the future of electronic communication and the implementation of better and more collaborative endeavors in library technology. Pomeroy’s presentation provided more of a sweeping view of what’s going on now and Miller outlined a collaborative project that would allow libraries of all kinds to provide their users with a more rich on-line experience while at the same time compelling them to use the resources of their local library.
Related links:
- Miller’s slides from the talk
- The blog of Miller’s company, Talis.
- Pomeroy’s site, FutureWeb contains a link to the slides of the talk.

- how to doctor my cat’s food
- how to live with a toasted hard drive. and at present, an absent computer.
- how to deal with friends who are newly close and those who are moving even further away
- how to think about the employment of technology in both libraries and politics

…more to come

so my PB is toast and so is pete’s, so no liveblogging or even daily conference updates.

:(

what a bummer.

Saturday will be spent taking these sick puppies to the mac store which will probably result in sending mine in for work.

i’m on my way out the door to the Computers in Libraries Conference. According to the wiki, the wifi situation seems a bit on the iffy side. I’m still hoping to liveblog, but I may have to make one big end-of-day update.

enough time for a quiz!

via jackie

Today Pat Robertson has declard that radical muslims are “satanic.” Somehow this statement wasn’t included on the 700 Club Website.

Robertson’s public statements have become progressively bombastic. I know that he’s getting some flak from the right, but honestly, isn’t there someone who loves this prominent figure who can keep him from looking so foolish? I don’t agree with this man at all, but I find the whole embarrassing situation kind of sad.

for me?
Originally uploaded by l@in.

*please excuse me as i blatantly ignore politics*

today i bring you more fun food blogs.

- vegan lunchbox: two words - vegan corndogs. i am addicted to this site. yes, i check everyday, and read the comments. shut up. true confession - i’m waiting for my laptop lunchbox to arrive in the mail.

- A Veggie Venture: clearly the focus here is on vegetables which, for me is awesome. the occasional bit of meat is tossed in, but none of the recipes that i’ve seen seem focused on it, which is nice switch-up even if you’re a meat eater. At present the front page includes a recipe for, no shit, beet ice cream.

- The Yummy Banana: super-theamed food blog. guess what the focus is? hmmmm?

- The Unemployed Cook: omniverious food blog with great descriptions, pictures, and recommended changes to the recipe. check out the fondue recipe. (speaking of fondue, by frind ben makes a killer fondue. ben - start blogging about food, will ya?)

- Super Eggplant: both knitting AND food. how can you possibly go wrong?

- The Daily Tiffin: mostly lunches blogged in the vegan lunchbox style. the voyer in me likes to look into the lunchboxes of strangers.

- Mahanandi: indian food. lots of recipes and gorgeous picures. super extra bonus points for homemade paneer recipes and a recipe for idli. mmmm….

- Baking Sheet: all things baked. rolls, to pastry, to killer desserts. i’m hoping to try out the mozzarella stuffed dinner rolls this weekend

- Fat Free Vegan: eating fat free may not have all of the health benefits once thought, however if you use these recipes it’s not like you’re going to miss the dairy. honest.

speaking of food, we’re in the early stages of planning a cupcake party - so start looking around for recipes. :)

The extreme anti-abortion law in South Dakota, House Bill 1215, has been signed by Gov. Mike Rounds. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that this isn’t the start of a major and sweeping attack on Roe.

Sunday an opinion piece by William Saletan was published in the Washington Post entitled, “Life After Roe”. He argues in a very succinct fashion,

“It must be up to reproductive rights supporters to give the public what it wants: abortion reduction within a framework of autonomy.”

On it’s face this sounds reasonable. I’ve never met a woman who was like “Sweet! I just got an abortion!” but I have meet women who were unapologetic about the fact that they made the decision to have an abortion. Frankly that’s the way it should be. The problem comes later in the article when Saletan makes the claim that because of a combination of advances in contraception and the increased possibilities for abortions earlier in the first trimester, second-trimester abortion becomes less necessary. As it’s second and third-trimester abortions which are more difficult to support, these we can work to eliminate these abortions, preserving first trimester abortions.

I suggest you read the full piece to get a grasp on what he’s saying. His position is well argued and makes sense on a general level. My issues with this are threefold and begin with this paragraph of the piece:

“Technology can’t avert all our failings or tragedies. There will always be abortions. But when you look at the trends–more foolproof contraception, more access to morning-after pills, earlier and fewer abortions–you can begin to envision a gradual, voluntary exodus from at least half the time frame protected by Roe. That’s the half the public doesn’t support.”

1) the new technologies in contraception Saletan lists haven’t been used long enough to fully flesh out the potential health risks. The revolutionary contraceptive patch that was supposed to be so much better than the pill proved to have blood clot risks just a few years later. Even the beloved pill has it’s own set of issues. I don’t blame any women, young or otherwise that doesn’t raise her hand to try the new contraceptive implant. Sorry, I won’t be trying it either.

2) “more access to morning-after pills” - where? There have very recently been victories in this area with big box store Target. Even Wal-Mart has stated that they’ll carry Plan B but still won’t require that pharmacists fill the prescription if it violates their morals. That said, the morning-after pill (Emergency Contraception or EC) still has to be taken within 72 hours - and you must have a prescription. Good luck getting that in a red state on a Sunday morning. For this to really work EC must be available over-the-counter. As of now it’s not. So this doesn’t seem like a really compelling argument to me at present.

3) “you can begin to envision a gradual, voluntary exodus from at least half the time frame protected by Roe. That’s the half the public doesn’t support.” - no. not really. For me this is the problem with pro-choice supporters pulling back in this fashion. The most constant component of an abortion is that it is always a medical procedure. Anyone who has a clue knows that in medicine there are always exception and special cases, and many of those can’t be foreseen. Every person is different. Every fetus develops in a minutely different way. A pregnancy that looks like it’s going fine in the 3rd month can go awry in the 5th. A woman who has minor health issues before she becomes pregnant can have massive complications in the 4th. Mandating that these procedures are illegal steps in and makes a premature diagnosis for every single woman who might become pregnant in the US. I don’t think that there’s any other medical situation or procedure that we’re comfortable stepping in and making legal decisions about other than pregnancy.
Without massive exceptions to these kinds of sweeping bans these laws won’t work for real people. Clearly we don’t care about the law working for real people if we’re willing to support these kinds of regulations.

On some level I think the South Dakota bill, House Bill 1215, is really about something bigger. South Dakota Representative Bill Napoli confirms my suspicions when he talks about returning to traditional values within our society, and specifically within his own state

“When I was growing up here in the wild west, if a young man got a girl pregnant out of wedlock, they got married, and the whole darned neighborhood was involved in that wedding. I mean, you just didn’t allow that sort of thing to happen, you know? I mean, they wanted that child to be brought up in a home with two parents, you know, that whole story. And so I happen to believe that can happen again.”

When Rep. Napoli envisions a “life-of-the-mother exception” to the ban he explains it as the following kind of scenario:

“A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.”

Within the massive value judgements made in this scenario, I have to wonder if I, a married, atheist were raped and found myself pregnant and was unfortunate enough to be a South Dakota resident could I make an arguement for my own life?