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President Obama Nominates New Librarian of Congress Who Supports Open Access (teleread.com)
Dr. Carla Hayden, CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore and a former president of the American Library Association, is President Obama's nominee for Librarian of Congress. What a contrast to long-time LoC Librarian James Billington, a stuffy old academic who hated e-books and was so far out of touch that he liked faxing more than e-mail. According to President Obama, "Dr. Hayden has devoted her career to modernizing libraries so that everyone can participate in today's digital culture." Dr. Hayden was a fierce opponent of the Patriot Act and believes strongly in speaking out against surveillance. What's more, she would be the 14th Librarian of Congress, in charge of the Copyright Office, and the first woman and first African-American to hold the position.
With NSF's public access policy in place, PubMed provides open-access to a lot of journal papers in a variety of formats, including EPUB.
I've found the PubMed site itself to be one of the best-laid-out reference web sites I've used, period -- its links to external journals, full and partial papers in various formats, and ability to bookmark items of interest, are all very functional and easy to access.
So you have to go back to the 80s? The Democratic Congress rejected Bork, and then confirmed Kennedy, Reagan's next nominee (well, the next one that didn't get disqualified for smoking pot, not such a disqualification nowadays), without a dissenting vote. I'm not saying that the Senate has to rubber-stamp Obama's pick, but that the Senate should not unduly obstruct the process. Some Senators have said they will refuse to confirm any Obama appointee, which is an entirely different thing.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Might want to lay off the Fox News drivel. Here's what he actually said:
"I believe that so long as the public continues to split its confidence between the branches, compromise is the responsible course both for the White House and for the Senate,” he said. “Therefore I stand by my position, Mr. President, if the President [George H.W. Bush] consults and cooperates with the Senate or moderates his selections absent consultation, then his nominees may enjoy my support as did Justices Kennedy and Souter."
And further clarified because partisan hacks like you keep taking his words out-of-context (Oh, Fox wouldn't do *that*, would they?):
"Nearly a quarter century ago, in June 1992, I gave a lengthy speech on the Senate floor about a hypothetical vacancy on the Supreme Court. Some critics say that one excerpt of my speech is evidence that I oppose filling a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year. This is not an accurate description of my views on the subject. Indeed, as I conclude in the same statement critics are pointing to today, urged the Senate and White House to work together to overcome partisan differences to ensure the Court functions as the Founding Fathers intended. That remains my position today."
Seriously, turn off Fox and grow a brain.