DNC Links

from http://resourceshelf.freepint.com/



DNC: Selected Lists and Compilations

List of Past Conventions (1832-2000)

List of Keynote Speakers (1900-2000)

Most Notable Convention Speeches of the past

2004 Platform Report (PDF)

Review of Past Conventions

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States released its final report July 22, 2004.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission), an independent, bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation and the signature of President George W. Bush in late 2002, is chartered to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks. The Commission is also mandated to provide recommendations designed to guard against future attacks.



The Commission has released its final report, available at http://www.9-11commission.gov  in PDF format. The report is also available in bookstores nationwide and from the Government Printing Office.

REPORT ON THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY'S PREWAR INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTS ON IRAQ

REPORT ON THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY'S PREWAR INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTS ON IRAQ

Ordered Reported on July 7, 2004

SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE

UNITED STATES SENATE

108th CONGRESS



This version of the report is hosted in the MIT's web site, its size is about 16 MB and it is possible to search text using the Acrobat reader.



http://web.mit.edu/simsong/www/iraqreport2-textunder.pdf



The original report is available at http://intelligence.senate.gov/

July 4 Materials and Articles for Republication

This year's July 4 site, with material for posts to draw on for their Independence Day observances, is available as a link from Society and Values. The site features copyright cleared articles that posts may republish. In addition, the site features a new photo gallery, census feature and links to information on the celebration, the U.S. flag, music and historical resources. It highlights related IIP electronic journals and publications and will feature the President's July 4 proclamation and other official texts as soon as they are available.



July 4: Celebrating Independence Day in the United States

U.S. Society, Culture & Values

High resolution photos

Cape Town IRC compiles brief overview of how Congress works

Too many reporters in South Africa have been writing stories that indicate their utter ignorance of how Congress works, especially how laws are made.



Many of the websites we found that explain this topic are just too detailed for busy journalists, and we weren't sure how their (usually quite big) egos would react to being referred to a kid's site such as http://bensguide.gpo.gov/9-12/lawmaking/index.html.



In the end, we simply put together our own page on the U.S. Congress. Take a look: http://pretoria.usembassy.gov/wwwhit40.html.



Mark Dobson

IRC Director--South Africa

[Free e-book] Writing Tricksters: Mythic Gambols in American Ethnic Fiction

Dear IRC Colleagus,



Maybe this e-book can be useful for American Corner or for IRC users.



Best



- IRC Jakarta



Writing Tricksters: Mythic Gambols in American Ethnic Fiction

by Jeanne Smith

http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft7199p0zh/



Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter One— The Trickster Aesthetic: A Cross-Cultural Feminist Theory

Chapter Two— Monkey Business: Maxine Hong Kingston's Transformational Trickster Texts

Chapter Three— Comic Liberators and Word-Healers: The Interwoven Trickster Narratives of Louise Erdrich

Chapter Four— Tar and Feathers: Community and the Outcast in Toni Morrison's Trickster Novels

Chapter Five— Conclusion

Notes

Works Cited



Suggested citation:

Smith, Jeanne Rosier. Writing Tricksters: Mythic Gambols in American Ethnic Fiction. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1997.

http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft7199p0zh/



IRC Jakarta, Indonesia

email: irc@usembassyjakarta.org

Some public diplomacy items

Bruce Bawer, an American writer resident in Norway for the past few years, has written an article in the latest issue of the Hudson Review called "Hating America." It is a meditation on what he considers to be a prevailing attitude in Norway and W. Europe of irrational belligerence towards the U.S.



Farish Noor, a political scientist and human rights activist, has written a review of Helena Finn's article in Foreign Affairs last year about the importance of cultural diplomacy (The Case for Cultural Diplomacy: Engaging Foreign Audiences)



Interesting reading from two very different perspectives!

Arab Human Development Report 2004

Arab.pdf



I am very late to post this, but anyway let me do it.

ARAB HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2003

Building a Knowledge Society

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

ARAB FUND FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

more on CRS reports

From Gary Price's www.resourceshelf.com... there's a selection of new CRS reports available from the Franklin Pierce Law Centre. The reports are current but the selection is not comprehensive; most reports have to do with Internet law. Also, ignore the text on the front page to do with the availability of CRS reports -- most of it is sadly out of date. Still, we have to take what we can get! Kyle Malone, IRC Ottawa

Excerpted from Scout Report, May 14, 2004



Military Campaign Maps

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/milhome.html



Created as part of the American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress, this fine digital archive brings together thousands of maps that offer great detail about major military conflicts, including such information as troop movements, defensive structures and groundworks, campsites, local buildings, topography and vegetation. On the site, visitors can also learn about how the maps were digitized, along with specific information about the various technical equipment used to capture the full content of each document. The archive of documents here is not solely historically focused, as there are maps of more contemporary conflict sites, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. The entire contents of the archive may be searched in a variety of methods, including through the use of keywords, browsing through a subject list, a creator index, and a geographic location index. From some rather interesting maps of the Brandywine to a Dutch map showing locations of military importance in Pennsylvania and New York, this site will be of interest to historians, cartographers, and many others.

National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism

Excerpted from: Scout Report, May 14, 2004


"...The MIPT is currently funded by a special Congressional appropriation, and is mandated to conduct a host of research programs, including those that examine the social and political causes and effects of terrorism, along with the development of technologies to counter biological, nuclear and chemical weapons of mass destruction. Visitors to the site may check out the online virtual library, which includes documents, reports, and public testimony offered on such areas as anthrax, border security, biological weapons, and dozens of other thematic areas. Additionally, there is a conference calendar, a terrorism database, and a special section on publications specifically undertaken by the MIPT."

Firstgov for Kids: The U.S. government interagency Kids' Portal

FirstGov 4 Kids: The U.S. government interagency Kids' Portal

URL:

http://www.kids.gov/



Welcome to the U.S. government interagency Kids' Portal. This site was developed and is maintained by the Federal Citizen Information Center. It provides links to Federal kids' sites along with some of the best kids' sites from other organizations all grouped by subject. Explore, learn, have fun and don't forget to bookmark us!



Warmest Regards,

IRC Jakarta, Indonesia

irc@usembassyjakarta.org

The New Nonprofit Almanac In Brief

This brief overview done by the Independent Sector provides a quick look at the size and scope of the nonprofit sector and the giving and volunteering that support it. You can find facts and figures needed to understand the size, scope, and nature of this sector.

Titles from ADSURLS no.64, 2004

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eGovernment Leadership: High Performance, Maximum Value.  May 4, 2004.
http://www.accenture.com/xdoc/en/industries/government/gove_egov_value.pdf  [pdf format, 112 pages]
Item# 04AD597            MPP Theme: 12DEL                       Geo: Global


Globalizing Cooperative Threat Reduction: A Survey of Options.  [RL32359]  April 15, 2004.
http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/crs/RL32359.pdf  [pdf format, 47 pages]
Item# 04AD602            MPP Theme: 02                  Geo: Global


Handbook of Federal Librarianship, 2nd Edition.  2004.
http://www.loc.gov/flicc/pubs/federalhandbook.pdf  [pdf format, 74 pages]
Item# 04AD604            MPP Theme: 12ICG                       Geo: USA


Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 2001.  May 2, 2004.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/jeeus01.pdf  [pdf format, 10 pages]
Item# 04AD600            MPP Theme: 12LE                        Geo: USA


The Lessons of the Asian and Latin American Financial Crises for Chinese Bond Markets.  Web-posted May 6, 2004.
http://www.rand.org/publications/OP/OP117/OP117.pdf  [pdf format, 15 pages]
Item# 04AD596            MPP Theme: 4K                  Geo: Asia


Living Together: A New Look at Racial and Ethnic Integration in Metropolitan Neighborhoods.  April 2004.
http://www.brookings.edu/urban/pubs/20040428_fasenfest.pdf  [pdf format, 20 pages]
Item# 04AD603            MPP Theme: 12DID                       Geo: USA


Rebuilding the Supply Chain of Foreign Affairs Leaders.  Web-posted April 29, 2004.
http://www.rand.org/publications/IP/IP244/IP244.pdf  [pdf format, 6 pages]
Item# 04AD601            MPP Theme: 1E                  Geo: USA


Science and Engineering Indicators 2004.  Web-posted May 4, 2004.
Table of Contents:
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind04/start.htm  [sections in html and pdf formats, various pagings]
Full Report, Vol. 1:
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind04/pdf/volume1.pdf  [pdf format, 496 pages]
Full Report, Vol. 2:
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind04/pdf/volume2.pdf  [pdf format, 454 pages]
Item# 04AD598            MPP Theme: 14H                 Geo: USA


Situation of Human Rights in the Darfur Region of the Sudan.  Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.  [Advance Unedited Version]  May 7, 2004.
http://www.unhchr.ch/pdf/chr60/ECN420053.doc  [Microsoft Word format, 24 printed pages]
Item# 04AD595            MPP Theme: 12HR                        Geo: Africa


World's Worst Places to Be a Journalist.  May 3, 2003.
http://www.cpj.org/enemies/worst_places_04/worst_places_04.html  [html format, 4 printed pages]
Item# 04AD599            MPP Theme: 12MJ                        Geo: Global

Excerpted from Resource Shelf:



U.S. Military

Source: DOD

Military Casualty Information

"The Department of Defense site lists United States war casualties from the Revolutionary War up through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also lists all active military deaths from 1980 through 2002. The data for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom includes the names of those killed as well as other personal information."

Other sites with military casualty information:

+ America's Wars (fact sheet from the V.A.)

+ State Summary of War Casualties from World War II for Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Personnel (NARA)

+ State-level Lists of Casualties from the Korean Conflict (1951-1957) and the Vietnam Conflict (1956-) (NARA)

+ Statistical Information About Casualties of the Vietnam Conflict (NARA)

+ World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing -- Army and Army Air Forces Personnel (NARA)

See also: Military Assistance Program: Casualty and Mortuary Affairs (DoD Directives, links to related resources, etc.)

OCLC Opens WorldCat Pilot

Courtesy of Eileen Deegan at IIP/G/IR:



I wanted to bring your attention to an item -- "OCLC Opens WorldCat Pilot

Project" -- in the March/April Fedlink Technical Notes newsletter that was

just posted online at -- http://www.loc.gov/flicc/pubs/tn0403.pdf.



This article outlines the current project in which OCLC has given Google

2,000,000 abbreviated WorldCat records. This means that by searching

Google, anyone can find out which libraries own each of those 2,000,000

books. The article is especially useful because it tells you what syntax to

use to search the WorldCat records on Google. The article says the pilot

project ends June 2004, and OCLC will decide whether to implement an ongoing

service on Google. I found it interesting to try out.



Regards,

Eileen

Trafficking in Humans

The US Embassy Pretoria Information Resource Center has prepared a useful "infopack" on trafficking in humans: http://pretoria.usembassy.gov/wwwhit20.html. The package gives an overview of U.S. legislation and includes a selection of factsheets, reports, journal articles and websites.

Internet Resources for Translators

This is a very interesting compilation of Internet resources for translators made by Michelle de Raaij: http://www.deraaij.com/irt/

It includes links to various translation schools, associations, dictionaries, softwares and many other tools necessary for those who do translation.

D-DAY 60th Anniversary

We would like to invite you to visit the U.S. Embassy France website for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day.

http://www.amb-usa.fr/DD/INDEX.HTM

On this website you will find information for journalists and veterans, as well as a list of related associations.

Caregiving in the U.S.

(excerpted from http://research.aarp.org/il/us_caregiving.html ) "The purpose of this study – a joint project of the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP and funded by MetLife Foundation – is to update and expand knowledge about the activities caregivers say they perform, the perceived impact of caregiving on their daily lives, and the unmet needs of this population. Its findings are based on a national telephone survey of 1,237 caregivers age 18 or older, including approximately 200 African-American, 200 Hispanic, and 200 Asian-American caregivers. Interviewing was conducted from September 5 through December 22, 2003."

US Public Beliefs on Iraq and the Presidential Election

According to this new survey, conducted by the University of Maryland's Program in International Policy Attitudes, a majority of Americans (57%) continue to believe that before the war Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, including 20% who believe that Iraq was directly involved in the September 11 attacks. Forty-five percent believe that evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda has been found. Sixty percent believe that just before the war Iraq either had weapons of mass destruction (38%) or a major program for developing them (22%).

Ms.Lebeau's Homepage

Teacher Sue Lebeau has done an impressive job of compiling web resources for students and teachers - see Ms.Lebeau's homepage.

Nancy Snow's website

Nancy Snow is a former intern at USIA and State, was a Fulbrighter in Germany, and is currently an Assistant Professor in the College of Communications at California State University. She has written extensively about public diplomacy, with a focus on "U.S. foreign policy, American persuasion, influence, and propaganda, entertainment and media culture in American society, communications in the public interest, and the impact of global communications theory and practice on democratic participation and community development" - relevant stuff for our line of work, in other words! Her website, www.nancysnow.com contains much interesting reading.

NAFTA Dossier updated

The Benjamin Franklin Library announces that the electronic compilation NAFTA Dossier has been revamped.



All key policy statements were replaced by newer items, current evaluation papers added, as well as more recent hearings and government reports. It links to the latest versions available for every document, with an abstract for each record and, in addition, it has a new design.



English: http://www.usembassy-mexico.gov/bbf/bfdossier_NAFTA.htm

Spanish: http://www.usembassy-mexico.gov/bbf/bfdossierS_NAFTA.htm

U.S. Blue Pages - USG Phone

(excerpted from the "About" section) "The U.S. Blue Pages project is devoted to helping you connect with your federal government agencies and services. The U.S. Blue Pages are funded by the federal government and administered by the U.S. General Services Administration. The U.S. Blue Pages are a multi-agency effort that establishes a standard, easy-to-use format for acquiring key federal telephone listings. The effort includes gathering, validating and formatting information for publication in local telephone directories and this website."

New Biographical Searches (Excerpted from ResourceShelf.com)

A & E Biography



This collection of biographies got not only a facelift but also a "brainlift," resulting in enhanced content and slightly better software that can finally perform full-text searches instead of just searching the name in the header of the biographic articles. It, however, still can't stop if there is no real match. For more details, see: Péter's Digital Reference Shelf - April 2004 .



-------------------------------------------



Ask.com (Ask Jeeves) Adds New "Smart Search" Feature: Famous People Search



The Smart Search program was introduced by Ask.com last year. What's new? Jeeves has introduced a new box at the top of the results page containing direct links to "bios, pictures, news, products and links to official web sites" when you search for celebrities and newsmakers. A prefix is not needed to activate this feature; simply enter the name and click the Ask button. Biographical info comes from Who2.com.

New FindLaw for the Public Launches

FindLaw, a Thomson business and a provider of client development services for the legal profession, has launched a new version of its “FindLaw for the Public” Web site (http://public.findlaw.com/) with many new features, including a redesigned look-and-feel and state-specific legal content. It also offers users improved access to lawyers through searching the West Legal Directory (with one million lawyers listed) to find and research lawyers in their areas.



The new user interface offers tab-based site navigation and expanded topic-specific navigation for more than 40 legal topics. Other new features include expanded content on legal topics, such as bankruptcy law and criminal law and procedure, as well as links to national and state crime-prevention resources.

Brookings Launches Center on the United States and Europe

To build on its longstanding interest in the evolving transatlantic relationship and to address the serious differences that have emerged between America and Europe after the September 11 terrorist attacks and throughout the ongoing war on terrorism, Brookings today announced the launch of its new Center on the United States and Europe. The center will offer a forum for research, high-level dialogue, and public debate on issues affecting U.S.-Europe relations.



Read the press release: http://www.brookings.edu/comm/news/20040405cuse.htm



Visit the CUSE homepage: http://www.brookings.edu/fp/cuse/center_hp.htm

Historical newspapers

For the occasional historical/genealogical reference query, www.newspaperarchive.com is impressive...although you have to pay to view the articles themselves, it's a great tool for finding references (a lot of inaccuracies however, as is generally the case with OCR generated datbases)

Gateway to Education Materials

"The Gateway to Educational Materials is a Consortium effort to provide educators with quick and easy access to thousands of educational resources found on various federal, state, university, non-profit, and commercial Internet sites." This site, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, will be a valuable resource for teachers teaching about the U.S.