Taming the Giant Corporation

I had the good fortune to attend a conference in Washington this past weekend sponsored by the Public Citizen and the Center for Responsive Law. It was overfull (they expected 250 people and there were about 380 registrants). As such, I didn't get to attend all of the seminars and forums and discussions but I saw much that was invaluable.

Bernie Sanders and Denis Kucinich spoke at the conference and I was able to interview James Ridgeway (the man who first broke the "GM is tailing Nader" story) and also Medea Benjamin of Code Pink fame for Hudson-Mohawk Independent Media Center.

I spent some time with Ralph discussing the 2008 elections. My friend Jay had the opportunity to film the last event of the conference (Amy Goodman interviewing Ralph about corporate power). It was amazing and he gave Amy the tape to use on Democracy Now this week so keep an eye out for it.

For more information on the "Taming" conference, go to "tamethecorporation.org". Tyson Slocum was particularly inspirational (www.citizen.org/cmep/index.cfm). He is the Director of Energy Policy at Public Citizen.

I also had dinner with Clint Coppernoll, a lifetime activist currently working to grow and organize "Congress Watch" for Publioc Citizen (http://www.citizen.org/congress/). We agreed to try and get a Congress Watch organized for CD 20 and to keep an eye on Hillary walking into 2008's election cycle.

I would reccomend taking part in such a conference to anyone whose batteries need recharging. It can really rejuvenate you to see how many other capable inteligent people are working towards social justice without thanks or other meaningful remuneration. It made me feel much less jaded about my own investment of time and effort.