Librarian's Rant

My former classmate, John Newmark, was commenting on his blog about a series of reference books he purchased in electronic format, giving him a "portable library". I suppose as a librarian, I should be frightened of the concept of a ‘portable library’, but I know that the actual books are only a tiny portion of the value of my profession. And as a bibliofile (bibliomaniac?), I find the concept very sexy…

I've taken to watching The Daily Show with pen in hand, as lately there have been more than a few zingers worth noting. A sampler:

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: In the Clinton administration, we served snacks.
Jon Stewart: Chocolate chip cookies--that's the way to do diplomacy! (May 2, 2006)

Stewart: "There's no 'magic wand'. There's no 'silver bullet'. It's like our President is just a Level Three Wizard." (May 3, 2006)

So I get emails from my various government representatives, esp. the Dems. I like this service, as it keeps me informed. So today I get an email from my Congressman, the ONLY Democratic Congressman from the state, about his latest 'fight':

My fellow Iowans,

Today, I and Members of the House Transportation Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation heard from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials and other industry representatives at the subcommittee’s hearing on mishandled airline baggage...

In 2005, it is estimated that some 3 billion bags were checked worldwide and 30 million were mishandled or lost. With higher airfares and less convenience at airports today, passengers deserve better than 30 million lost bags.

On March 22, 2006, I requested a hearing on this matter...after SITA, a cooperative venture owned by the airline industry, estimated that over 30 million bags were lost or stolen from airline passengers in 2005, with over 200,000 of those bags never reunited with their owners.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like Congressman Boswell, he's a nice guy and a decent public servant (not to be sneezed at). And I agree that 30 million bags lost (30 million!) is worth doing something about...but shouldn't this be handled by the airline industry, not Congress? I don't know, I guess I just feel like this is a bit far down my priority list.

Then again, I'm flying overseas in a few weeks, and I would very much like to arrive with my soap and socks intact. ::shrug::

There's been a lot of buzz about Colbert's White House Correspondent's Dinner appearance over the weekend.

Google Current has a nice roundup of what the buzz was about, on both sides. They mention the new website Thank You, Stephen Colbert.

Daily Kos has made available the entire monologue, plus the script of the Helen Thomas video. I've met Ms. Thomas, and I can imagine her being a good sport with all this.

According to a post on my brother's blog, Colbert was given Buzzflash's Wings Of Justice award for his guts in "speaking truth to power".

I just find the whole thing amusing--not least of which because clearly the folks running the dinner didn't know what they were asking for. Or maybe they did. Which would show a certain bravery which has been largely lacking in our national press.

Among other things, I'm waiting for the electorate to rise up. If they all had a primary voting day like my brother did today (link is to his blog), they just might.

A follow-up blog post.

For a moment, I thought that my NYTimes email and my Onion dispatch had gotten mixed up:

From: NYTimes.com
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 03:32:06 -0500
U.S. Says It Fears Detainee Abuse in Repatriation
By TIM GOLDEN
The release of suspects from Guantánamo Bay has been stymied by concerns that the prisoners may not be treated humanely by their own governments.