Take Back America day one (pictures)

[proud2BlibKansan]

Take Back America Day One



The conference started with an inspiring video and comments by Robert Borosage. He talked about about trickle down economics that don't trickle down. He called conservatives "the Winn Dixie version of Chairman Mao". They failed because they get the world wrong. Borosage reminded us that Peggy Noonan, Reagan's speechwriter, once said "The wheels are coming off the trolley and the trolley is coming off the track." America is moving our way. He called for a bold agenda for America's future that includes: 1. Real security strategy 2. Shared prosperity agenda. 3. Revive the American dream. Borosage also said this year more women will declare bankruptcy than graduate from college. And our leading export to China is waste paper.



Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota also spoke. Ellison emphasized we need a way to resolve our conflicts within the progressive movement. He said it is the role of the activist to keep the pressure on Congress. Pressure fuels our elected reps. Ellison said that LBJ did NOT inspire Martin Luther King. No politician can claim responsibility for starting the Civil Rights movement. Ellison stressed "Politicians see the light when they feel the heat". He also said September is critical for ending the war.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger talked about social change. She said it is time to stop demonizing the idea of social engineering, as we are SUPPOSED to engineer social change; that is a responsibility of a government. She also credited the right with uniting the poor and the middle class. And she asked us to consider what is the role of corporate power and of government.
We went to an impeachment session today and I will write a more comprehensive report on that later. My friend and I got liberty crowns from the ACLU table and wrote "IMPEACH" on them. We have been getting lots of attention. (Hey, whatever it takes to get that message across!)

Eli Pariser of moveon:



My biggest impression of this day is all the notable people. We saw Robert Greenwald and watched his latest 2 minute film that debuts on youtube today. It's about the Don't Ask Don't Tell military policy. I had my picture taken with Al Sharpton. I saw Kristin vanden Heuvel, more bloggers than I can remember, Medea Benjamin (Code Pink), The Young Turks from Air America (we gave them Draft Gore buttons and they loved them!) and Guy James. David Swanson asked me to blog on his website ( democrats.org). We had dinner with Walter Mondale's brother and sister in law. And I just now met Mike Stark (Calling All Wingnuts).
More later - Day Two!

[babylonsister]

1. It's so great that DUers are there! Thanks for your update, proud, and

FWIW, isn't David Swanson's website http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

??

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Yes and also he has

democrats.com. That's where he put my little report yesterday.

[oldgrowth]

3. Is that waste paper to China our cash???

Just watched the young turks do there show from there they had some really good guests !!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. lol. actually paper to be recycled...

in the 5 years I spent in recycling, we went from selling all our shipments to local (well 3 state radius) paper mills, to selling over 70% to China. The only reason we didn't sell it all to them, was the problem of trying to find enough container spaces on outgoing ships.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/features/feature_template.cfm?ID=1191
China is a paper hungry tiger, consuming recovered paper from around the world. According to EU Consulting/ Moore & Associates, in 2002 China consumed nearly 21 million tons of recovered paper. By 2010, these consultants project consumption to top 43 million tons. This would represent recovered paper use of about one million more tons than that projected for North America in 2010.

The data on Chinese consumption is remarkable. China now uses half of the world's cement, one-third of the steel, one-fourth of the copper, and one fifth of the aluminum. China is also the world's second largest consumer of both energy and petroleum. Its economy is the sixth largest in the world and is the world's third largest trading nation behind only the U.S. and Germany. If current projections hold true, China will be consuming 19% of the world's recovered paper by 2010.

Demand for paper products, especially newspaper and packaging materials, is growing significantly in China as the country continues its march toward modernization. China has become the world's fifth largest product exporter behind the U.S., Japan, Germany and France. According to the New York Times, the six ports in Southern China alone now do almost as much business as all the ports in the U.S. China has been building very large state-of-the-art paper recycling based mills and will continue to do so for years to come.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. LOL Good point!

Yes, The Young Turks are fabulous! Two of the nicest people we have met here.