Wichita Eagle | 08/01/2004 | EDITORIAL: DREAM: "What kind of community will Wichita be 20 years from now? What kind of values do we want to live? What kind of improvements do we want to see?
The Visioneering Wichita process now under way seeks to answer these and other questions, and thereby create a master plan for Wichita's future.
Is that possible? It's hard to argue with the results in the scores of towns and cities across the nation that have conducted visioning exercises -- cities such as Memphis and Chattanooga, Tenn., and Spokane, Wash.
It makes sense: Individuals, households and businesses routinely take stock, brainstorm and develop long-range goals -- why not towns and cities?
Why allow something as important as our city's future to be left to the mercy of events or a handful of politicians?"

A nod to blogs: "As veteran Associated Press correspondent and beginning blogger Walter Mears puts it: 'Blogs are pamphleteers of a new age.'

These virtual pamphlets are a great equalizer, allowing recent college graduates 'with no connections' (as Taylor describes himself) as well as a cadre of other ordinary, articulate citizens unprecedented access to the national political proceedings...

'The presence of the Internet is changing democracy,' says Doc Searls, senior editor of Linux Journal and co-author of 'The Cluetrain Manifesto,' a book on Internet commerce. 'It's a place where the citizens actually have a chance to be involved,' he says, referring to the heated discussions that take place on blog message boards. 'You can't be involved in television.'"

CCA Grants Workshop: "Welcome to this online course in grant-writing . The Colorado Council on the Arts has partnered with the University of Massachusetts Arts Extension Service to provide this course free to the first 1,000 Coloradoans to use it. "

Contents: "9-11 Commission Report Online Searchable version provided by askSam Systems, Inc" Really helps use the report, which was published without an index.

JibJab "This Land is Your Land" with Pres. George Bush and John Kerry. Takes a few minutes to load, but worth the wait!