Month: January 2009

Bob Creamer: has been a political organizer and strategist for almost four decades. He and his firm, the Strategic Consulting Group, work with many of the country’s most significant issue campaigns.

Bob Borosage: president of the Institute for America’s Future and co-director of its sister organization, the Campaign for America’s Future.

Rep. Bill Pascrell: was first sworn in to the United States House of Representatives, representing the Eighth Congressional District of New Jersey, in November of 1996 and was sworn into his sixth term in January of 2007. 

David Cobb: an American activist and was the 2004 presidential candidate of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS).

Eric Boehlert: Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America. He is the author of “Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush”.

Mark Brzezinski: is an American lawyer and foreign policy expert. He is the son of Polish-born former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and the grandson of Polish diplomat Tadeusz Brzeziński. He is co-host of the morning talk show Morning Joe.

Dwayne Hunn: Executive Director of People’s Lobby and sponsor of the non-partisan American World Service Corps (AWSC) Congressional Proposals.

Earl Bender: has been involved in strategic planning, campaign management and public policy for the past 20 years. Bender is widely acknowledged to be one of the nation’s leading strategists on initiatives and referendums. He is a Founder and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center in Washington, DC and is a contributor to the Initiative and Referendum Almanac.

John conyers: is a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Michigan’s 14th congressional district, which includes all of Highland Park and Hamtramck, as well as parts of Detroit and Dearborn.  (Was unable to make it today)

Robert Parry: founder of ConsortiumNews.com.  His new book is called “Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush”.

Ari Melber: is The Nation’s Net movement correspondent and a writer for the magazine’s blog. Article archive and contact information available at www.arimelber.com.

Jeff Gerth: is a former investigative reporter for The New York Times who has written lengthy, probing stories that drew both praise and criticism.  Gerth is also the co-author (with Don Van Natta Jr.), of Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton, published last year.

Ray McGovern: is a retired CIA officer turned political activist.

Brad Friedman: self-described election integrity muckraking journalist jerk. You can read his blog at Bradblog.com.

Ryan Powers: is a Research Assistant for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Yonatan Shapira: Former Captain in the Israeli Air Force Reserves. In 2003 Yonatan initiated the group of Israeli Air Force pilots who refused to fly attack missions on Palestinian territories. He is the co-founder of Combatants for Peace.

Scott Dick: regular contributor on Military/Vets issues. Dick hosts his own radio broadcast called The Scott Dick Show.

R J Shulman: political satirist. You can read Shulman’s blog at ptsd1.blogspot.com.

Dr. Paul Larudee: co-founder of FreeGaza.org.

Sameh Habeeb: Photojournalist, Humanitarian & Peace Activist in Gaza Strip reports live.

Mike Lux: is the founder of Progressive Strategies LLC and a director of the Center for Progressive Leadership, the Proteus Fund and the Arca Foundation.

Richard Rapoport: is a leading San Francisco Bay Area freelance writer.

Cliff Schecter: political commentator and journalist. His blog is called The Political Carnival. His latest book is called “The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don’t Trust Him and Why Independents Shouldn’t”.

Johnny Steele: a former winner of the San Francisco International Comedy Competition, is a popular radio and TV host in the Bay Area.

Caroline Fredrickson:  is the director of the Washington Legislative Office of the American Civil Liberties Union, the nation’s oldest, largest and most vital civil liberties organization.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer:  State Treasurer of California.

Bruce Raynor: is the General President of UNITE HERE, the union representing nearly half a million workers in the hospitality, gaming, apparel, textile, retail, distribution and laundry industries in North America.

Jason Leopold: investigative journalist. He writes for the online publication The Public Record.

Melanie Sloan: serves as CREW’s Executive Director. Prior to starting CREW, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia where, from 1998-2003, she successfully tried cases before dozens of judges and juries.

David Cay Johnston: was an investigative journalist for The New York Times now focusing on the subject of taxation. He accepted a buyout offer from the Times in April 2008 and is now an independent reporter. He most recently published Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With The Bill, about hidden subsidies, rigged markets, and corporate socialism.

Chris Toensing:is editor of Middle East Report and director of the Middle East Research and Information Project.

Bob Fertik: is a life-long progressive and Democratic Party activist, as well as a blogger, journalist, author, systems analyst, candidate, local party chairman, political consultant, and entrepreneur.

Kate Hanni: soldier in the fight for airline passenger rights!

Chris Hedges: currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute and a Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans.

Dr. Paul Larudee: co-founder of FreeGaza.org.

Robert Parry: founder of ConsortiumNews.com.  His new book is called “Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush”.

Prof William Spriggs: professor of Economics at Howard University.

C. Ronald Huff: is Dean of the School of Social Ecology and Professor of Criminology, Law and Society as well as Sociology at the University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Katherine Forrest: is one of the co-founders of the Commonweal Institute and currently serves as president of the Board of Directors.

Brad Friedman: self-described election integrity muckraking journalist jerk. You can read his blog at Bradblog.com.

Lori Grace: founder and director of Celebrations of Love and has been studying and teaching communication and conflict resolution for over 10 years.

Faiz Shakir: Research Director at The Center for American Progress and serves as Editor-in-Chief of ThinkProgress.org.

Mel Goodman: is senior fellow and director of the national security program at the Center for International Policy.

Scott Dick: regular contributor on Military/Vets issues. Dick hosts his own radio broadcast called The Scott Dick Show.

Rabbi Michael Lerner: is an American rabbi, political activist, the editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish and interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California, and the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue of San Francisco.

R J Shulman: political satirist. You can read Shulman’s blog at ptsd1.blogspot.com.

Karl Frisch: serves as director of media relations at Media Matters for America, a not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting alleged conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

Jonathan Hafetz: is an attorney with the ACLU. He is the author of a forthcoming book on post-9/11 detentions, to be published by NYU Press.

Lt. Gov John Garamendi: 46th Lieutenant Governor of California. He brings to the office 32 years of public service.

Tim Carpenter: a Democratic member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing the 3rd District since his election in 2002. He is currently President Pro Tempore of the Wisconsin State Senate as well as the national director of Progressive Democrats of America.

Free Speech Zone

Bruce Fein: lawyer in the United States who specializes in constitution and international law. He is a pro-impeachment republican. His latest book is entitled Constitutional Peril.

Anna Baltzer: is a 28-year-old Jewish American Columbia graduate, Fulbright scholar, and the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.

Dahr Jamail: is an award-winning freelance journalist. His reporting from Iraq has earned him numerous awards, including the prestigious 2008 Martha Gellhorn Award for Journalism, the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage, and four Project Censored awards.

Billy Sunshine: the iconoclastic baby boomer bad boy of the left — is on a quest to make this country better.

Dan Weiss: is a Senior Fellow and the Director of Climate Strategy at American Progress, where he leads the Center’s clean energy and climate advocacy campaign.

Jon Eisenberg: partner in the law firm of Eisenberg and Hancock.

Ray McGovern: is a retired CIA officer turned political activist.