Ralph Nader Radio Hour

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RALPH NADER RADIO HOUR EPISODE 129: Going Nuclear!
September 3, 2016

"One of the most important surprises for me was to discover Greg Jaczko's story and to see that nobody knew what was happening to him, that the industry orchestrated the take down of this guy as he was actually becoming the regulator that we all want, that we all need."
-- Ivy Meeropol director of "Indian Point," on the ousting of the former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko

"Why are we fooling around with cap and trade and taxes and all kind of cockamamie schemes when all we need to do is pass a simple one-sentence law: "Everything new has to be greenhouse gas free and renewable?" Why don't we outlaw any new power plant other than the solar and the wind? And why don't we mandate that the railroads electrify over ten years? Why don't we pass some damn laws that require what the public interest demands?
-- S. David Freeman, author of "All-Electric America"

Filmmaker Ivy Meeropol tells us what it’s like inside a nuclear power plant with her documentary “Indian Point.” And S. David Freeman tells us about how activists convinced the power company PG&E to shut down the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in central California.



Ivy Meeropol is a documentary filmmaker, whose works include “Heir to an Execution,” about the life and times of her grandparents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and the six-part documentary series on the Sundance Channel, “The Hill,” which followed the day to day lives of four young staffers of Florida congressman Robert Wexler in 2004. Her latest work is entitled “Indian Point,” which had its premier at the Tribeca Film Festival. “Indian Point” is an examination from all sides of the issues surrounding the controversial nuclear power plant located just thirty miles from midtown Manhattan.



S. David Freeman is an engineer, an attorney and an author who’s been called an Eco-Pioneer for his environmentally conscious leadership of both the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. He’s also a noted anti-nuclear activist, and one of the leaders of the effort to shutdown the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in Central California. He’s the author of a number of books on energy policy, including Winning Our Energy Independence and All-Electric America. His recently released autobiography is entitled The Green Cowboy: An Energetic Life.

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RALPH NADER RADIO HOUR EPISODE 128: The Stop Act; Robbing Banks
August 29, 2016

"In any other profession, if you spent half your time doing something other than what you were hired to do, you'd be fired. It's called cheating. And I believe that members of Congress today are cheating taxpayers. And it is a first rate scandal of this generation."
-- Rep. David Jolly (R-FL), sponsor of the Stop Act, which would prohibit members of Congress from personally soliciting campaign donations.

"Not a single one of the people we prosecuted (felony convictions of over 1000), in the Savings and Loan debacle came back in any material role in the current crisis. Whereas, nowadays we have zero prosecutions of any of the people that led the three fraud epidemics that drove this crisis. And now they are highly skilled and have seen that they can get away with financial murder. And so they are already back in the business, already selling other toxic stuff, and they're going to produce the next crisis."
-- Professor William Black, author of "The Best Way to Rob a Bank is To Own One"

Ralph talks to Representative David Jolly (R: FL) about The Stop Act, which would prohibit members of Congress from personally soliciting campaign donations. And Professor William Black tells us that the best way to rob a bank is from the inside.



Congressman David W. Jolly represents Florida’s 13th Congressional District, which is a peninsula on the west coast of Florida that includes St. Petersburg. Mr. Jolly was first elected to the House in 2014 and is now in his second term. He serves on the House Appropriations Committee and sits on three Appropriations Subcommittees: the Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs; the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science. This past year, he introduced legislation called “The Stop Act,” which would ban members of Congress from personally asking for money.



William Black is an associate professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, where he teaches white-collar crime, public finance, antitrust, law and economics, and Latin American development. Professor Black is a former financial regulator, who is an expert on the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s, the precursor to the 2008 financial crisis. He is also a founding member of Bank Whistleblowers United that seeks to restore the rule of law to Wall Street and the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One. His TED Talk on this topic has close to a million and a half views.

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RALPH NADER RADIO HOUR EPISODE 127: Cuddling/Triumph Goes to the RNC & DNC
August 20, 2016

"Loneliness is a very serious problem in a modern industrial society ... it has serious physical consequences, mental health consequences, civic consequences, and at the extreme it may have stability consequences."
-- Ralph Nader, introducing Adam Lippin of Cuddlist.com

"What cuddling offers -- what safe, non-sexual touch with a professional, who knows how to keep boundaries and be there for the client and help them discern what they need and what they're looking for in the context of the rules -- offers an incredibly intimate way to communicate with each other that goes beyond words. And through that form of communication, a lot of healing can take place."
-- Adam Lippin, CEO of cuddlist.com

Ralph talks about the importance of human touch in our industrial and virtual society with entrepreneur, Adam Lippin, CEO of the cuddling service Cuddlist.com. Plus, David comes back to report on his foray into both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.



Adam Lippin is an entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Cuddlist.com as well as Cuddlist Training Academy. That’s Cuddlist as in the word “cuddle.” At Cuddlist, his mission is to offer a safe way to engage the healing power of intimate, non-sexual touch in a touch-isolated society. Mr. Lippin has also been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune. He is also a Cuddle Party Facilitator and holds monthly Cuddle Parties in NYC. Prior to Cuddlist, Mr. Lippin has been the Founder and CEO of a successful chain of restaurants called “Atomic Wings.”

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RALPH NADER RADIO HOUR EPISODE 126: Waging Peace/Tax Havens
August 13, 2016

"Every bit of anthropological evidence suggests that there is no hard wiring for violence and warfare, and that it's our true human nature that we're appealing to just as Gandhi did. This is the inner essence of humans, to be loving and collaborative and sharing and caring."
-- Charles Keil, activist and author of "Waging Peace."

"Obama really had an opportunity in the wake of the financial crisis to take the lead on reforming this practice, but he basically dropped the ball ... And he also appointed a Chief Counsel for the IRS who was a former registered rep for the Swiss Bankers Association."
-- Economist James S. Henry on the practice of American companies hiding money in offshore tax havens.

Ralph talks to activist Charles Keil about his work trying to encourage a Department of Peace and economist and journalist James S. Henry tells us how the wealthy hide trillions of dollars in offshore tax havens.



Charles Keil is a peace activist and Professor Emeritus of American Studies at the State University of New York- Buffalo, who is a contributor to the book We Need a Department of Peace . Mr. Keil is also a poet and a musician and has written several books about music and society, including one entitled “Urban Blues.”



James S. Henry is an economist, attorney, and investigative journalist, who has written extensively about global banking, debt crises, tax havens and economic development. He has worked in the corporate world, most notably as chief economist for McKinsey & Co. and as Managing Director of Sag Harbor Group, a strategy consulting firm. He has served as a pro bono cooperating attorney for the New York Civil Liberties Union on First Amendment issues and is the author of the acclaimed investigative economics book The Blood Bankers about the dark side of globalization. He is also a senior advisor at the Tax Justice Network.

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RALPH NADER RADIO HOUR EPISODE 125: Rebroadcast: Jonathan Martin, David Cay Johnston
August 6, 2016

"Donald (Trump) is one of the biggest welfare kings in the history of America. And whatever his fortune is -- a lot of it derives from that."
-- David Cay Johnston, author of "Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich -- and Cheat Everybody Else

"The abolition of child labor, limitation of work hours, establishment of minimum wages, graduated income taxes, broadcasting of access to public education, expansion of suffrage to groups that had been excluded, institution of direct election of U.S. Senators ..."
-- Jonathan Martin on some of the reforms wrought by third parties in American history.

Ralph talks to professor Jonathan Martin about the role of third parties in America and how they can be empowered. Then Pulitzer Prize winner, David Cay Johnston, tells us what we are likely to see in Donald Trump’s tax returns.

Due to technical difficulties we had recording this week’s show, we are unable to bring you a new episode of the Radio Hour. So instead we present an encore edition of a show we recorded in April, which seems even more relevant today. It features third party advocate Jonathan Martin and Pulitzer Prize winning author and tax expert David Cay Johnston. This week, Warren Buffet called upon Donald Trump to release his tax returns, and David Cay Johnston will tell us why that is not likely and even if Trump did what we would expect to see. And now that both the Democratic and Republican national conventions are over, some disaffected people are turning to third party candidates like Jill Stein of the Green Party and Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party. Professor Jonathan Martin will tell us the important role of third parties in American politics over the years. We will be back next week with a brand new episode of the Ralph Nader Radio Hour. In the meantime enjoy this encore presentation.



Jonathan Martin is Professor of Sociology at Framingham State University and a longtime progressive third party activist. His teaching focuses on the role of power and inequality in social problems and their solution. Professor Martin’s articles on progressive politics and political consciousness in the U.S. have appeared in “Humanity and Society,” “Equity and Excellence in Education,” “New Political Science,” and other academic journals. In recent decades, he has assisted Green and left-independent candidates at the local, state, and national level. His latest project is entitled Empowering Progressive Third Parties in the United States, which is a collection of writings that explores which electoral conditions and strategies are truly capable of sparking critical breakthroughs by minor parties on the U.S. left.



David Cay Johnston is an investigative reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize while at The New York Times for his work reporting on the US tax code. He teaches Business, Tax and Property Law of the Ancient World at the Syracuse University College of Law. Mr. Johnston is also the best-selling author of Perfectly Legal, which prompted the only major policy change by President Bush, who dropped a stealth plan to give a quarter trillion dollar tax cut to the richest Americans. Mr. Johnston also revealed how the very highest income Americans received a much bigger tax cut under President Clinton than from all of the other Bush tax cuts combined. Today, he is going to talk to us about what Donald Trump’s income taxes are likely to reveal about him.

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Listener Questions, Breaking Through Power 2
October 1, 2016

On SF 49er Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest: "I think he's standing up for the Constitution."

On the role of third parties in the 2016 election: "Jill Stein is not Trump's secret weapon. Hillary Clinton is Trump's secret weapon."

On the North Dakota pipeline protest: "It's a great solidarity movement."

Ralph answers a whole slew of your questions, ranging from the Colin Kaepernick protest to voting your conscience to living off the grid. And we also feature two clips from the Breaking Through Power Conference, featuring Janine Jackson talking about the nature of corporate media and Robert Weissman, who tells us how the country is not as divided as the pundits would have you believe.

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BREAKING THROUGH POWER - 23, 24, 25, 26 MAY 2016


DAY 2, MAY 24, 2016


DAY 3, MAY 25, 2016


DAY 4, MAY 26, 2016


Michael Jacobson on Nutrition Advocacy


Michael McPhearson on Veterans for Peace


Karen Friedman on Protecting Pensions


Clarence Ditlow on Auto Safety


Robert Fellmeth on Children's Advocacy


Shawn Armbrust on the Conviction of Innocent People, and Making the Justice System More Just


Robert T. Coulter on Indigenous Rights


Sidney Wolfe on Consumer Health


F. Paul Bland on Corporate Cheating and Predatory Lending


Jamie Love on Ending Drug Monopolies


Lois Gibbs on Challenging Corporate Dominance in the EPA


Harvey Rosenfield on the Unconditional Bailout of Wall Street


Ralph Nader on Civil Society

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BREAKING THROUGH POWER - 26, 27, 28, 29 SEPTEMBER 2016
Washington, DC


DAY 1, PART 2, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016


DAY 2, PART 2, SEPTEMBER 27, 2016


DAY 3, PART 2, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016


DAY 4, PART 1, SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

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BREAKING THROUGH POWER - 26, 27, 28, 29 SEPTEMBER 2016
Washington, DC

OCTOBER 1ST, 1PM AT POLITICS AND PROSE
Ralph Nader discusses BREAKING THROUGH POWER: IT'S EASIER THAN WE THINK

OUR SPEAKERS


MARY ALEXANDER
Attorney

Most lawyers take on a case – a few take on a cause. Over the past 30 years, Mary Alexander has earned a national reputation for her work protecting consumer rights, winning the respect of clients and colleagues alike. A past president of both the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the Consumer Attorneys of California, Mary’s career – both in and out of the courtroom – has focused on one thing: ensuring that those who have been harmed by the negligent, preventable actions of others get their day in court – and get the answers, and justice, they deserve.

But it’s not just the results that have made Mary one of California’s most sought-after trial attorneys. It’s also a unique combination of capabilities and compassion that few lawyers can bring to their cases – or their clients. A scientist before she studied law, Mary leverages her technical background in every matter she takes on, and is well known for her ability to explain complicated theories to juries – and for using high-tech courtroom exhibits that help make difficult points easy to comprehend. She’s taken on cases other lawyers won’t, or can’t – such as child sex abuse cases – and assisted clients from all walks of life.

Along the way, Mary, a graduate of Santa Clara University Law School, has been recognized repeatedly by her peers, and the press, for her work.

http://www.maryalexanderlaw.com/

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 2:10 pm - 2:50 pm
Trial Lawyers for Justice
Constitution Hall

TODD ANDERSON
Father, Victim Advocate, Writer, Corporate Executive

Todd Anderson is father of Skyler Justice Anderson-Coughlin, an amazing young man who succumbed to a preventable tragedy. Todd Anderson has advocated for improved vehicle recall processes, including speaking at National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) public hearing on vehicle safety defects. He has appeared in numerous newspapers, TV news reports and documentaries, in an effort to increase vehicle transportation safety, and in particular, the recall process.

Todd Anderson has an extensive business background with a BA in Business-Economics (SUNY Oneonta) and MBA in Marketing (University of New Haven). Todd has over 30 years’ experience in the corporate world, primarily in logistics for large multi-national corporations. Todd launched a number of entrepreneurial ventures with his son, Skyler. Currently, Todd is developing a nonprofit which is dedicated to fine art preservation, education and charity.

Todd is an avid writer. He has contributed to multiple books, including Imagine: The Spirit of Twentieth-Century American Heroes, and American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 11:00 am - 11:40 am
Plantiffs for Justice
Constitution Hall

SAMAN AZIMI
PIRG Student Leader, UConn

Saman is a sophomore dual degree in finance and the classics at the University of Connecticut. Hailing from Mansfield, CT, he is UConn born and bred, and is working to improve the place that’s so long been a part of his life through UConnPIRG. His primary interests (apart from soccer) are environmental sustainability, political engagement, and campaign finance reform. Being only in his second year, he’s optimistic that significant positive change will come to UConn in the coming years.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 9:20 am - 9:40 am
Empowering Students
Constitution Hall

LAURA BARRETT
Executive Director, Center for Health, Environment and Justice

Laura Barrett became the Executive Director of CHEJ in 2015. Previously she served as the campaign director for Gamaliel, an international community organizing training network, where she headed the Transportation Equity Network. Laura worked as a field organizer for the Center for Community Change, and served as director of Housing Comes First, the Missouri Public Interest Research Group (MoPIRG), and the Campaign for Jobs and Housing. She was the campaign manager for a ballot initiative that resulted in the passage of the largest per capita housing trust fund in America, the St. Louis Housing Trust Fund. She has helped groups to win millions of dollars in public transportation funding and negotiated community benefits agreements and positive workforce development policies at the local, state and federal levels. Laura is the recipient of the Women Who Move the Nation from the Council of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO). She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Washington University.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 11:20 am - 11:40 am
How Events Spark the Creation of Organizations
Constitution Hall

WILLIAM BLACK
University of Missouri- Kansas City School of Law

William Kurt Black (born September 6, 1951) is an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator. Black’s expertise is in white-collar crime, public finance, regulation, and other topics in law and economics. He developed the concept of “control fraud”, in which a business or national executive uses the entity he or she controls as a “weapon” to commit fraud.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?opt ... umival=795

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 3:00 pm - 3:20 pm
Turning the Lights Out on Major Financial Fraud
Carnegie Institution of Washington

F. PAUL BLAND
Executive Director, Public Justice

Mr. F. Paul Bland, Jr. is the Executive Director of Public Justice, which fights injustice and ensures equal access to the courts. Paul has argued and won more than 30 cases that led to reported decisions for consumers, employees or whistleblowers in six of the U.S. Courts of Appeals and the high courts of nine different states. Paul has testified in both houses of Congress, several state legislatures and administrative agencies; has been quoted in more than 100 periodicals throughout the country and has appeared in several radio and TV stories.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 2:10 pm - 2:50 pm
Trial Lawyers for Justice
Constitution Hall

JOHN BOGLE
The founder and former CEO of The Vanguard Group

John C. Bogle, 87, is Founder of The Vanguard Group, Inc., and President of Vanguard’s Bogle Financial Markets Research Center. He created Vanguard in 1974 and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until 1996 and Senior Chairman until 2000. He had been associated with a predecessor company since 1951, immediately following his graduation from Princeton University, magna cum laude in Economics. He is a graduate of Blair Academy, Class of 1947.The Vanguard Group is the largest mutual fund organization in the world. Headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Vanguard comprises more than 160 mutual funds with current assets totaling more than $3.4 trillion. Vanguard 500 Index Fund, the largest fund in the group, was founded by Mr. Bogle in 1975. It was the first index mutual fund.

http://johncbogle.com/wordpress/

FIDUCIARY DUTIES AS IF SHAREHOLDERS MATTERED
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 1:20 pm - 1:40 pm
Fiduciary Duties as if Shareholders Mattered
Carnegie Institution of Washington

CARL T. BOGUS
Professor of Law at Roger Williams University

Carl T. Bogus is a Professor of Law at the Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island. He teaches Torts, Products Liability, Antitrust Law, and other courses. He has held visiting positions at the Rutgers-Camden, Drexel, and George Washington University law schools. Professor Bogus has written and spoken extensively about torts and the civil justice system, gun control and the Second Amendment, and political ideology. He is the author of Buckley: William F. Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism (Bloomsbury Press) and Why Lawsuits Are Good for America: Disciplined Democracy, Big Business, and the Common Law (NYU Press), and the editor of The Second Amendment in Law and History: Historians and Constitutional Scholars on the Right to Bear Arms (The New Press). In addition to many professional journals, his writings have appeared in newspapers including USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Washington Times, and the Providence Journal; in The Nation, American Prospect, American Conservative, and Tikkun magazines; and on the National Review and CNN websites.

http://law.rwu.edu/carl-t-bogus

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 10:10 am - 10:30 am
Why Lawsuits are Good for America
Constitution Hall

DAVID BOLLIER
Co-founder of the Commons Strategies Group, Senior Fellow at the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication

David Bollier is an author, activist, blogger and consultant who spends a lot of time exploring the commons as a new paradigm of economics, politics and culture. His work on the commons takes many forms — as an author and blogger; frequent international speaker; conference and workshop organizer; contributor to book anthologies; designer of courses on the commons; and advisor and strategist. He taught “The Rise of the Commons” course at Amherst College as the Croxton Lecturer in 2010; and served an expert witness for the “design commons” in a trademark lawsuit. He was Founding Editor of Onthecommons.org and a Fellow of On the Commons from 2004 to 2010.

http://www.bollier.org/

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 2:20 pm - 2:40 pm
Controlling What We Own—Defending the Commons
Carnegie Institution of Washington

BERT BRANDENBURG
President, Appleseed Network

Bert became President of Appleseed in August 2015. For more than a decade he was the Executive Director of Justice at Stake, a national, nonpartisan partnership to keep courts fair, impartial and independent. Bert was the U.S. Justice Department’s Director of Public Affairs and chief spokesperson under Attorney General Janet Reno, where he supervised media strategy and press relations for the Department, the FBI, DEA, INS, and 93 U.S. Attorney’s offices. He served in policy and communications positions for the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, the National Performance Review, the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign and presidential transition team, Congressman Edward Feighan, and the Progressive Policy Institute. Bert also serves as President of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, on the board of the Loth Roth Endowment, and as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He holds a J.D. and B.A. from the University of Virginia.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 9:40 am - 10:00 am
Building Alumni Civic Organizations
Constitution Hall

ELLEN BROWN
Founder, Public Banking Institute

Ellen Brown is the founder of the Public Banking Institute and the author of a dozen books and hundreds of articles. She developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In the best-selling Web of Debt (2007, 2012), she turned those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and “the money trust,” showing how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves and how we the people can get it back.

In The Public Bank Solution (2013) she traces the evolution of two banking models that have competed historically, public and private; and explores contemporary public banking systems globally. She has presented these ideas at scores of conferences in the US and abroad, including in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Iceland, Ireland, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Malaysia, Mexico and Venezuela.

Brown developed an interest in the developing world and its problems while living abroad for eleven years in Kenya, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 3:20 pm - 3:40 pm
Public Banking
Carnegie Institution of Washington

MICHAEL BROWN
DC Senator

Michael Donald “Mike” Brown is a shadow senator from the District of Columbia.As a shadow senator, Brown receives no pay from the government, receives no budget from the government, and cannot vote on matters before the Senate. While he does not have an office in the United States Senate, the Government of the District provides the position with an office. Brown lobbies the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives on behalf of the citizens of the District in their attempt to gain full representation in Congress, self-determination, and eventually admittance to the Union as a state. As shadow senator, Brown also works with the District’s delegate, mayor, and council to advance the interest of local residents on Federal issues.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 1:35 pm - 2:05 pm
The Case for Statehood—Ending the Colony
Constitution Hall

CONT'D BELOW

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JOSH BURCH
Neighbors United for DC Statehood

Josh Burch is a native Washingtonian who was raised in the Brookland neighborhood of NE DC where he presently lives with his wife and two children. After graduating from Virginia Tech with a degree in public and urban affairs, Josh served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, West Africa for two years. Upon his return to the District, Josh worked for several small non-profits where he led job training, leadership development, and environmental stewardship activities for out-of-school young people in underserved communities. Josh presently works in the environmental protection field to restore waterways in the District. Josh co-founded a citizen group, Neighbors United for DC Statehood, which focuses on organizing citizens of the District and the country to create a sustained grassroots movement which will bring statehood to fruition.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 2:05 pm - 2:55 pm
Mobilizing for Action in The District of Columbia and the Nation—When, How and With What
Constitution Hall

EDGAR CAHN
Professor of Law, University of District of Columbia

Professor Cahn teaches Law and Justice, and directs the Community Service Program. A co-founder with his late wife Jean Camper Cahn of the Antioch School of Law, UDC-DCSL’s predecessor; the first law school in the United States to educate law students primarily through clinical training in legal services to the poor.

In an effort to involve communities in promoting systems of self-help in the late 1980s, Professor Cahn began the Time Dollars project, a service credit program that now has more than 70 communities in the United States, Great Britain and Japan with registered programs (http://www.timebanks.org). His use of “time dollars” as an economic strategy for addressing social problems is described in his books, Time Dollars (1992) and No More Throw-Away People: The Coproduction Imperative (2004), showing how to mobilize a non-market economy that recognizes and rewards reciprocal contributions of service and caring.

http://www.law.udc.edu/?ECahn

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 10:00 am - 10:20 am
Building Community through Bartering Time Dollars
Constitution Hall

BETSY CAVENDISH
DC General Counsel

Elizabeth (Betsy) Cavendish is the General Counsel to the Executive Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser, where she has worked on both budget autonomy issues as well as Statehood. She has a background in field organizing, law, and policy. She was the president of the Appleseed Foundation from 2007 to the end of 2014. She served as interim president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, an American pro-choice advocacy group, during the 2004 electoral cycle, and previously, she served as NARAL’s legal director and on the staff of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department under Attorney General Janet Reno, as well as in the Civil Frauds section of DOJ. Cavendish has worked in all three branches of government and in academia. She was an assistant professor of law at the University of Illinois College of Law. Cavendish was a law clerk for Judge Gerhard Gesell on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on United States v. Oliver North. She graduated summa cum laude from Yale University and also earned her law degree at Yale.

http://mayor.dc.gov/

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 3:45 pm - 4:15 pm
The Best DC Constitution, The US Constitution and DC Statehood
Constitution Hall

LAURA CHRISTIAN
Auto Safety Advocate

Laura, a former government consumer advocate, became a voice for victims of automobile safety defects after her birth daughter Amber Marie Rose died in 2005 when the airbags in her Chevy Cobalt failed to deploy. Amber’s death was one the first of at least 174 deaths linked to series of accidents (and subsequent deaths) due to a faulty ignition switch in General Motors’ vehicles. General Motors failed to protect drivers and passengers, yet were let off with nothing more than a fine and some meaningless oversight penalties – setting a terrible safety precedent for the auto industry in this country.

Laura, through GM Recall Survivors, works to change how the auto industry operates to ensure safety problems are never swept under the rug again by creating greater consumer protections on a federal and state level. The group had its first legislative victory this past year in Maryland and will be working with advocates in other states to promote policy changes.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 11:00 am - 11:40 am
Plantiffs for Justice
Constitution Hall

JOAN CLAYBROOK
President Emeritus, Public Citizen

Joan Claybrook is an American lawyer who served as President of Public Citizen from 1982 until December 9, 2008. Previously, she was head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the Carter administration from 1977 to 1981.

While working in Washington, she met Ralph Nader, and the two became close friends as they both worked on improving highway and auto safety. In 1966, she teamed up with Nader to successfully lobby for passage of the nation’s first auto safety laws – the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Highway Safety Act. These acts empowered the government to establish safety standards for new vehicles and issue recalls for defective vehicles and parts.

Prior to her time with NHTSA, Claybrook ran Congress Watch, worked for the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), the National Traffic Safety Bureau, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. She earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1973 and currently serves on its Board of Visitors. She also holds positions on the boards of Consumers Union, Citizens for Tax Justice, Trial lawyers for Public Justice, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Goucher College Board of Trustees, and the California Wellness Foundation Advisory Board.

http://www.shesource.org/experts/profile/joan-claybrook

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 11:40 am - 12:00 pm
How Professions Can Advance the Public Interest
Constitution Hall
SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 10:10 am - 10:30 am
How Congress Really Works
Carnegie Institution of Washington

JEFFREY CLEMENTS
President of American Promise and co-founder of Free Speech for People

Jeff Clements is president of American Promise and co-founder of Free Speech for People. He works with Americans all over the country for a 28th Amendment to secure the American Promise: Constitutional rights for all human beings; voting rights and representation as equal citizens; and our responsibility for effective self-government. He is the author of Corporations Are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy From Big Money And Global Corporations, and his articles and opinion pieces have appeared widely (US News & World Report, The Hill, The Boston Globe, Fox News, American Constitution Society, Salon, among others). Jeff also is president of Whaleback Partners, LLC, which invests in entrepreneurial businesses building a sustainable local food economy. Previously an Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Public Protection Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, Jeff led more than 100 staff in the enforcement of environmental, healthcare, financial services, civil rights, antitrust and consumer protection laws. Jeff graduated with distinction in History and Government from Colby College, and magna cum laude from the Cornell Law School.

https://corporationsarenotpeople.com/jeff-clements/

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 11:10 am - 11:30 am
The Perils of Corporate Personhood
Carnegie Institution of Washington

LLOYD CONSTANTINE
Attorney

Lloyd Constantine is the Counsel of Constantine Cannon LLP, a commercial litigation firm in New York , Washington, D.C. and London with an internationally acclaimed antitrust practice. Lloyd was Senior Advisor to the Governor of New York from January 2007 until April 2008. Lloyd was lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the landmark Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation, which resulted in a $3.4 billion monetary settlement and an historic injunction, which the court valued as providing upwards of $87 billion in benefit for U.S. merchants and consumers. Lloyd is the author of two books: PRICELESS: The Case That Brought Down The Visa/MasterCard Bank Cartel, and JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR: An Insider’s Chronicle Of Eliot Spitzer’s Short And Tragic Reign. Both books were published by Kaplan, 2009 and 2010 and by Skyhorse in revised paperbacks, 2012. He is a frequent contributor to numerous newspapers and periodicals and a regular contributor of legal, political and social commentary to Hearst’s Albany Times Union. Lloyd received his undergraduate degree from Williams College and his J.D. from Columbia Law.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 12:10 pm - 12:30 pm
A New Approach to Mobilize Shareholders—the Penny Brigade
Carnegie Institution of Washington

JOHN CONYERS, JR.
Congressman

Congressman John Conyers, Jr. represents Michigan’s 13th Congressional District which encompasses the Detroit metropolitan area. In 2014, Congressman Conyers was elected to his 26th consecutive term, making him the the first African-American to hold the distinction as Dean (most senior member) of Congress.

Congressman Conyers is the current Ranking Member and a former chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary . Previously, he served as Chair of the Committee on Government Operations (now the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform). Congressman Conyers is a Founding Member and Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus.

In Congressman Conyers’ 50 years of public service, he has been a major proponent of more than 100 pieces of critical legislation including the original Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, the Motor Voter Bill of 1993, the Alcohol Warning Label Act of 1988, and the Jazz Preservation Act of 1987. Congressman Conyers was also the driving force behind the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

On April 8, 1968, four days after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. passed away, Congressman Conyers introduced the original Martin Luther King Holiday Act of 1983. After 15 years, the bill would eventually pass into law, making the third Monday of January as an official Federal holiday.

Congressman Conyers, born in Detroit, MI, attended Northwestern High School. Upon graduation, he matriculted to Wayne State University for his undergraduate and legal studies. Congressman Conyers served in the National Guard and the United States Army Corps of Engineers during the Korean War. Congressman Conyers is married to Monica, and they have two sons John III and Carl Edward.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 4:15 pm - 4:45 pm
Making Statehood a Presidential Priority—Mobilizing for Statehood Nationwide
Constitution Hall

HARRY DEITZLER
Attorney

Harry Deitzler has been a practicing attorney since 1976. For the past 25 years he has been a partner in the Charleston, West Virginia law firm Hill, Peterson, Carper, Bee & Deitzler, PLLC. Mr. Deitzler previously served as president of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys’ Association, president of the West Virginia State Bar, and president of Public Justice. In 2001 he founded and funded the Deitzler Foundation, Inc, a 501(c)(3) charitable family foundation.

Mr. Deitzler and his co-counsel were recognized as “Trial Lawyers of the Year” by Public Justice for work in a precedent setting case involving recovery for victims of DuPont Corporation’s perfluorooctanoic acid (C8) groundwater pollution in areas surrounding Parkersburg, West Virginia. The class action settlement immediately resulted in cleanup of six community water systems and the creation of a comprehensive medically verified community health study which gathered medical histories and blood samples from nearly 70,000 affected residents. The data from that study revealed that DuPont and other corporate giants were effectively poisoning the world. Toxic C8 is now in the blood of virtually every human being on the planet.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 2:10 pm - 2:50 pm
Trial Lawyers for Justice
Constitution Hall

ANDRE DELATTRE
Executive Director, U.S. PIRG

Andre Delattre is Executive Director of U.S. PIRG and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, and the National Campus Director for the Student PIRGs. He oversees all aspects of the PIRGs’ programs, including program implementation and administration.

Prior to becoming the U.S. PIRG Executive Director in 2007, Mr. Delattre was the National Campus Director for the Student PIRGs. During his tenure, the campus program grew in both scope and impact. Ninety staff currently work with more than 1200 student interns and 12,500 volunteers on more than 100 campuses. Since 1997, the PIRGs have added new chapters at nine new campuses, increased funding for the program through student membership dues, and attracted grant support from such foundations as The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Open Society Institute.

Mr. Delattre has also played an integral role in training and working with new staff for the organization. Among them: Dave Rosenfeld, who started with MASSPIRG in 1995 and now serves as executive director of OSPIRG; Allison Cairo, who started with Massachusetts Community Water Watch, worked as the executive director of NJPIRG, and now serves as deputy director of USPIRG; Sarah Bennett, who started with NJPIRG and is now the Recruitment and Training director for Corporate Accountability International; Kathleen Barr, who started with the Student PIRGs’ Hunger campaign, was the Campaigns Director for MoveOn.org, and is currently the Chief of Staff for UltraViolet; and Tiernan Sittenfeld, legislative director for the League of Conservation Voters.

Mr. Delattre is a 1989 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. While attending the school, he volunteered with CALPIRG and was elected chair of CALPIRG’s student board of directors in 1986.

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 9:20 am - 9:40 am
Empowering Students
Constitution Hall

JOANNE DOROSHOW
President and Executive Director of the Center for Justice & Democracy, New York Law School

Joanne Doroshow is President and Executive Director of the Center for Justice & Democracy at New York Law School, which she is an Adjunct Professor of Law. CJ&D is the only consumer organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to fighting attacks on the civil justice system. She is also co-founder of Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR), a coalition of 100 consumer groups from around the country working to strengthen oversight of liability insurance industry practices.

Joanne is an attorney who has worked on civil justice issues since 1986, when she first directed a project for Ralph Nader on liability and the insurance industry. In that capacity, she developed some of the first educational materials used to fight tort reform around the country. At CJ&D, Joanne has written or co-authored several major CJ&D studies, including Premium Deceit: The Failure of “Tort Reform” to Cut Insurance Prices, The CALA Files: The Secret Campaign by Big Tobacco and Other Major Industries to Take Away Your Rights, Repeat Offenders: How the Insurance Industry Manufactures Crises and Harms America, The Racial Implications of Tort Reform (25 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol’y 161, 2007), Tort Litigation and Juries: By the Numbers, and Medical Malpractice: By the Numbers. She also edited Lifesavers: CJ&D’s Guide to Protect Us All, and co-wrote numerous other CJ&D studies and White Papers. She has testified many times before Congress and state legislatures.

Joanne is the recipient of the AAJ Partnership Award, 2016; the Distinguished Service Award, Kansas Association for Justice, 2012; Consumer Advocate of the Year, Consumer Attorneys of California, 2009; Esther Weissman Award, Worker Injury Law and Advocacy Group, 2008; Consumer Education Award, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, 2005; Certificate of Recognition, California State Assembly, 2005; Consumer Advocacy Award, Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, 2003; Consumer Advocate of the Year, Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, DC, 2003; and the Hoosier Freedom Award, Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, 2000.

Joanne was a member of the New York State Medical Liability Advisory Task Force in 2007. In 1991, Joanne was a member of the Steering Committee of the Brookings Institute/American Bar Association’s Advisory Committee on the Future of the Civil Jury, and was an invited participant in the American Judicature Society’s Conference on the Future of the American Jury System in 1999. She was also selected by the Stern Family Fund as the Public Interest Pioneer for 1999, and honor that was accompanied by two $100,000 grants.

Joanne has extensive film and television experience, as well. She was an Associate Producer of the highest grossing documentary in history, Fahrenheit 9/11, winner of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival Palme D’or. She was also Associate Producer of the 2007 Oscar-nominated documentary, Sicko. And she was a producer of The Panama Deception, which won the 1993 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. She has worked on the theatrical, broadcast and video distribution of this and other films. In 1994 and 1995, she was Coordinating Producer and a segment producer for TV Nation, the Emmy Award-winning humorous political magazine show with Michael Moore.

THE AGENDA FOR ADVANCING JUSTICE
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 4:50 pm - 5:10 pm
The Agenda for Advancing Justice
Constitution Hall

JULIAN DOTSON
President and CEO, D.C. Urban Debate league

Julian Dotson is the President and CEO of the D.C. Urban Debate league; he coaches several debate teams in the public and private schools in the DC area. He taught English and Debate for 14 years until he fully devoted his time to expanding the debate league in the Metropolitan region. He is a screenwriter, graphic designer, lyricist and poet, and avid fisherman who loves to tackle tough ideas and approach education with a world view. This Jack of All trades credits his father for forcing him to do what it takes to be self sufficient, his mother for teaching him how to honor his wife, and his wife of 12 years, Rana Dotson for seeing the good in the human spirit. He has three children, Isaiah, Caleb and Jaina, who all attend the Maya Angelou French Immersion School in Temple Hills, Maryland.

http://www.dcudl.org/

MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 2:40 pm - 3:20 pm
Teaching Civics—A View from the Classroom
Carnegie Institution of Washington

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