Two years ago I attended the Take Back America conference in DC. I went originally to see Dean get an award from Wellstone Action. They were presenting him with a Backbone award for his behavior during the 2003/2004 primary season.
But though Dean was the highlite for me, the whole three days was an amazingly stimulating and motivating event attended by 2000 people, many many politicians, left wing pundits, scientists, Rock the Vote, voting rights activists etc etc etc
The plenary sessions were full of people who were experts in their fields. There was a group promoting an Apollo project for energy independence... and voila there were there again this year and had Robert Redford speaking for them amoung others.
There have been a rash of diaries about the evil Hillary Clinton silencing Code Pink. If you are interested in what the conference is really about
I dare you to watch it and if you are going to Hillary bash in this diary, you had better have watched it or be called a hypocrite.
Is it a leftest barn burner , nope, but you might be very surprised at what she does have to say.
Some of you won't like what she has to say about Iraq. I am not totally happy with what she had to say. She was booed by a small group of people a couple of times. But I give her a lot of credit for standing there and saying what she thought anyway.
Monday, June 12
9:00 Registration Opens
11:00-12:15 Opening Plenary
Our Time: Progressive Promise; Conservative Collapse
Robert Borosage, Co-Director, Campaign for America's Future
Stan Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and Co-founder of Democracy Corps
Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor & Publisher, The Nation
Biko Baker, National Hip Hop Political Convention
12:15-12:30 Book Signing
The Two Americas: Our Current Political Deadlock and How to Break It
Stanley Greenberg, author
The Dictionary of Republicanisms
Katrina vanden Heuvel, author
50 Simple Things You Can Do to Fight the Right
John Javna, author
12:30-2:00 Opening Lunch
Apollo: New Energy, New Jobs, New Independence for America
Jerome Ringo, President, Apollo Alliance
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada
Larry J. Schweiger, National Wildlife Federation President
Robert Redford, Actor, Environmental Activist to present Apollo Alliance "Right Stuff" Award to:
Leo Gerard, President, United Steelworkers
2:15-3:45 Progressive Agenda For the Common Good
An Economy that Works
Jeff Faux, author, The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back
Anna Burger, Chair, Change to Win, International Secretary-Treasurer, Service Employees International Union
Heath Care for All
Jacob Hacker, Professor of Political Science Yale University
Representative Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois
Common Sense on Security
Senator Gary Hart, Co-Chair, National Commission on Terrorism
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-CA
Revive the Gulf, Rebuild America
Representative Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi
Stephen Bradberry, Lead Organizer of ACORN New Orleans Chapter and 2005 RFK Human Rights Award Laureate
Representative Maxine Waters, D-California
John Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO
4:00-4:30 Book Signing
The Shield and the Cloak: The Security of the Commons
Gary Hart, author
Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy
Jacob Hacker, co-author (with Paul Pierson)
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future--and What It Will Take to Win It Back
Jeff Faux, author
4:00-5:30 Breakout Sessions, Progressives on the March
Taking Back the States
Gloria Totten, Executive Director, Progressive Majority (Moderator)
Lisa Turner, Turner and Associates
Jeff Blodgett, Minnesota Roadmap and Wellstone Action
Heather Booth, Strategic Director, Blueprint Project of Proteus Fund
William McNary, President, USAction
Senator Polly Baca, Member of Progressive Majority Colorado Advisory Council
Taking Back the Country: Building Progressive Capacity
Karen Nussbaum, Executive Director, Working America / AFL-CIO
Maggie Fox, President, America Votes
Dan Carol, Co-founder, The Cause
Lorena Chambers, CEO and co-founder of Chambers Lopez & Gait?n LLC
New Ballot Initiative Battlefield in the States
Kristina Wilfore, Executive Director, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and Foundation (Moderator)
Kay Coles, National Education Association on TABOR and the "65% Solution"
Daniel Gotoff, Lake Research Partners on Minimum wage campaigns
Will Robinson, MacWilliams Robinson & Partners on Initiatives as wedge issues
Alexander Robinson, National Black Justice Coalition on Marriage initiatives
Taking Back the Media: The Building of the New Progressive Media Infrastructure in the New Media Environment
Jay Harris, publisher, Mother Jones (Moderator)
Alexandra Walker, Executive Editor, TomPaine.com
Robert Greenwald, Filmmaker, Brave New Films
Julie Bergman Sender, The Cause: Progressive Echo Chamber
Roberto Lovato, New America Media
Tracy Van Slyke, In These Times: The Media Consortium
Cenk Uygur, co-host of The Young Turks on Sirius Satellite Radio
New Leaders, New Energy
Iara Peng, Young People For
Quinn Wilhelmi, Roosevelt Institution
Biko Baker, National Hip Hop Political Convention
Maria Teresa Petersen, Executive Director, Vota Latina
Elana Berkowitz, Campus Progress
5:30-6:00 Book Signing
Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of America Democracy
Jacob Hacker, Co-Author (With Paul Pierson)
6:15-8:00 Barbeque
7:00-9:00 Take Back America Concert: Take Back "The Party"
Co-Sponsored by Rock the Vote, Democratic GAIN, Air America Radio and Brave New Films
Emcee: Peter Rosenberg, Radio DJ, WJFK Free FM, Washington DC
Rana Mansour
"A large entourage of friends and family turned out to see Rana Mansour perform on Tuesday night and they--and the rest of the crowd--weren't disappointed. With a voice that one judge said reminded them of Tori Amos, Mansour captivated the room. The lone pianist to perform on this evening, Mansour proved a highly talented player and her soulful, romantic ballads put her on the top of all of the judges' scorecards." -On Tap Magazine
Flex Mathews
"Flex Mathews has been a rising star in the Mid Atlantic regional Hip Hop scene for much of the last 5 years. He was named one of URB Magazine's Next 100 Artists in 2005, and his transition from the local DC underground to national recognition has been the product of his dedication, quality live show performance, as well as his numerous victories in MC battles." -Virginiabeats.net
Honor by August
"Anyone who saw these guys open Bon Jovi's sold-out show at MCI Center knows why they're one of the most buzzed-about bands on the East Coast. Their award-winning songwriting, strong vocals, catchy melodies, and a dynamic live performance are not to be missed." -OnTap Magazine
7:00-11:00 Film Showings
With Free Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream courtesy of TrueMajority.org
The Big Buy: TomDeLay's Stolen Congress
Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films
Filmmakers Mark Birnbaum & Jim Schermbeck
Motherhood Manifesto - Film Based on Book by Joan Blades
Tuesday, June 13th
7:00-8:00 Breakfast: Regional Gatherings
8:15-8:45 Senator Hillary Clinton, D-New York
Watch video and download transcript (PDF)
8:45-9:15 Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-CA
Watch video and download transcript (PDF)
9:15-9:45 Senator John Kerry, D-Massachusetts
Watch video and download transcript (PDF)
9:50-10:45 Agenda for the Common Good
The Motherhood Manifesto:
Joan Blades, President, MomsRising and co-author, The Motherhood Manifesto
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director, Moms Rising and co-author, The Motherhood Manifesto
Quality Education for All
Wendy D. Puriefoy, President, Public Education Network
Representative George Miller D-California
Clean Out the Stables: Reform the Political Process
Eli Pariser, Executive Director, MoveOn.org Political Action & MoveOn.org Civic Action
Solange Bitol-Hansen, National Program Director, Public Campaign
Chellie Pingree, President, Common Cause
10:45-11:00 Book Signings
Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush
Eric Boehlert, author
Cultural Politics and Social Movements
Marcy Darnovsky
What Women Really Want: How American Woman Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live
Celinda Lake
How Would a Patriot Act?
Glenn Greenwald
11:00-12:15 Plenaries
Press Conference: Motherhood Manifesto: The Book, The Film, The Movement
The Emerging Progressive Majority
Celinda Lake, President, Lake, Snell, Pery, Mermin & Associates, Inc. and co-author, What Women Really Want : How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class, and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live
Dee Brown, President, Brilliant Corners Research and Strategies
Karen Ackerman, Political Director, AFL-CIO
Ruy Teixeira, Joint Fellow, Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation
Katrina: America's Test
Oliver Thomas, President, New Orleans City Council
Tanya Harris, Lead Organizer for the Lower 9th Ward, ACORN New Orleans Chapter/p>
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus and Institute for Policy Studies
Wyatt Closs, Director, SEIU Community Strengths Division
Blogs: The Insurgent Voice
Glenn Greenwald - Unclaimed Territory (Moderator)
Chris Rabb, Afro-Netizen
Jerome Armstrong, Co-author, Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots and the Rise of People-Powered Politics
Matt Stoller, MyDD.com
Liza Sabater, Culture Kitchen
Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake
Action Movies: Brave New Films Putting Movies Into Motion
Mark Birnbaum, Filmmaker
Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films
Rick Jacobs, Courage Campaign and Brave New Films
Chellie Pingree, President, Common Cause
..... and there is much much more, go take a look.
If you think that code pink being denied a chance to disrupt a progressive conference (by disrupting Hillary Clinton, because demonstrating during her speech would bring the most publicity for their group) was the big news of this conference then you might want to rethink.