[Oe List ...] Register by Sat. to get best rate on NSP/Tikkun conference June 11-14 in D.C.

Thu Apr 8 10:01:24 CDT 2010

Dear Colleagues,
I'd love to meet any of you at this conference of the Network of Spiritual Progressives.  Here's what I wrote to Dick West when he e-mailed yesterday asking for more info:

What difference can it make?  What I know is that the presenters/panelists 
who are going to be there are amazing.  (See the list below.)  I've 
heard many of them speak, a few in person, more on public radio or on DVD.  They have 
passion, expertise in various areas, and varied faith backgrounds that help 
inform them - Buddhist, Jewish, Christian Catholic & Protestant.  It looks 
like the workshops are going to push for strategies.  It won't be easy to 
get national agendas changed - if you're a little familiar with the recent 
health care debate you know that.  But this is a prophetic bunch of people - 
and that can change history.  We both know that.

Our colleagues the late Dick and Amelia Kroger were active with the NSP- 
Network of Spiritual Progressives - founded by Rabbi Michael Lerner - and 
I'm a member.  I think Dick hoped that ICA USA might partner with them on 
some things - but at that time the ICA USA organization was in near-terminal 
disarray.  It's a whole new ballgame now - lots of hopeful things happening.

I'm looking forward to the Archives Sojourn in Chicago week of May 24.

All best wishes,
Janice Ulangca

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rabbi Michael Lerner 
To: aulangca at stny.rr.com 
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 9:54 PM
Subject: JANICE, 3 more days to get reduced registration cost at the NSP/Tikkun conference June 11-14 in D.C.

      Dear JANICE,

           I really hope you will come to the strategy conference of the NSP/Tikkun (cosponsored by The Nation, Common Cause, Progressive Democrats of America, Yes!Magazine, The Shalom Center, and many other groups) June 11-14.

      If you are coming, the best time to register is right now, because the sliding fee scale goes up after April 10th! Just click here and you can read more details, see our very tentative agenda, and register for the conference!!!

      Titled: Liberals and Progressives Need a Strategy for the Obama Years, the conference will not only address Obama, but also develop strategies for how to overturn the Supreme Court's recent overturning of legal restaints on corporate spending during elections, and we will be presenting our draft of an Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment (ESRA) to the U.S. Constitution that would significantly reverse the expansion of corporate dominanation of our politics and economic life by expanding democratic rights for all of us. You can read some current drafts of the proposals at                                                 www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php/20100216121716334. 

      We are working with Dennis Kucinich and others in Congress to get a shorter and more elegant presentation of the ESRA, but you can get a feel for our thinking by reading what is up there now. We'll also be calling for an end to the war on terror and discussing how our Global Marshall Plan might be advanced in the coming years (it was introduced into Congress this year by Keith Ellison as House Res. 1016).

      We will also address the current realities of Israel/Palestine and the best strategies for bringing peace with justice to both Palestinians and Israelis. 

           Some issues: 1. You can usually get cheaper hotel prices by going to hotels.com or www.priceline.com/hotels. When I went to D.C. a few weeks ago and didn't have a place to stay, I found that these websites allowed one to state a price one was willing to pay and then they see if they can find anything in the area you want and the class of hotel you want. I bid $200 a night for a 3.5 star hotel (they said the average price for such a hotel was $350/night so I low-balled them with my bid). They responded by giving me that lower price I bid and at a 4 star hotel. Of course, it might be more in June when it's truly lovely to be in D.C. (I was there in March). The location you want is anywhere near Capitol Hill, the White House, or near the Mt. Vernon Square and Washington Convention Center area. 

                                 2. The one day you really should NOT miss is the first day of the conference, June 11th, starting at 9 a.m. Of course, all the days are going to be exciting, and the demonstration at the White House on Sunday particularly so--though with the speakers we have lined up, I wouldn't want to miss a minute of it. However, Monday is basically dedicated to meeting with Congressional reps, so if that doesn't turn you on, you could just be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On the other hand, if it does turn you on, it would help a great deal if you'd register soon so that we could determine which Congressional people we need to arrange for you to meet long enough in advance that such a meeting might become possible!!

                                 3. It would also help a great deal if you would read some of our thinking about the conference and about the fabulous speakers we have lined up (it's below). But the whole thing will have far less credibility if you are not there--this is a moment when you vote with your feet, and BEING THERE is already a major political act on your part. 

                                4. If you really can't decide now, but think it is likely you'll decide later to come, please send pete at tikkun.org a letter saying: "I'll probably come, but not yet sure." That will make it so much easier on us for planning purposes (we have a church that fits 500 people, but is that big enough? We can't know unless you let us know. That's a major reason we have reduced prices right now--so that if people who are planning to come register now, we can figure out what our space needs really are).

             So please act NOW! Go to www.spiritualprogressives, click on the nice picture of Obama in the left hand column on that page, and boom you are on your way to registering! Or click here!  Or call us at 510 644 1200 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific Daylight time Mon-Fri.

              Warm regards and many blessings,

            Michael 

      Rabbi Michael Lerner  Editor, Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org   Co-chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives (with Cornel West and Sister Joan Chittister) and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue, Berkeley, California.  RabbiLerner at Tikkun.org

               Among the presenters June 11-14:  Congressmen Keith Ellison and Dennis Kucinich, Bill McKibben (author, The End of Nature), Sister Joan Chittister (author, Welcome ot the Wisdom of the World & The Gift of Years, co-chair the Network of Spiritual Progressives)  Rev. Brian McLaren (author, A New Kind of Christianity & Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis, and a Revolution of Hope), Medea Benjamin (Code Pink), Rev. Noemi Parrilla-Mena (Pastor of Hispanic Ministries to the National City Christian Church Disciples of Christ) ,  Robert McChesney (author, The Political Economy of Media), Marianne Williamson (author, Healing the Soul of America, A Return to Love, The Gift of Change), Rev. James A. Forbes (Pastor emeritus of The Riverside Church, director of Healing of the Nations Foundation), Margaret Flowers MD (Physicians for a National Health Program) Robert Thurman (author, Inner Revoluiton & The Jewel Tree of Tibet: The Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism) Riane Eisler (author, The Chalice and the Blade & The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics) John Dear S.J. (activist Jesuit priest, author, A Persistent Peace & Put Down Your Sword), Rev. Jim Winkler (General Secretary of the General Board of Church & Society of the United Methodists of America), Jonathan Granoff (President of the Global Security Institute, and a Senior Advisor of the American Bar Association's Committee on Arms Control and National Security),  Sharon Welch (provost of Meadville Lombard Theological School, author, A Feminist Ethic of Risk & Real Peace, Real Security: The Challenges of Global Citizenship), Rev. Graylan Hagler ( Senior Minister of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ), Jeremy Ben Ami (president, J Street), Bill Moyer (chair, The Backbone Campaign),Svi Shapiro (author,Educaiton and Hope in Troubled Times: Visions of Change for our Children's World & Losing Heart: The Moral and Spiritual Miseducation of America's Children), David Loy (author, Money, Sex, War, Karma: Notes for a Buddhist Revolution & The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory), Rabbi Arthur Waskow (chair, The Shalom Center, author, Godwrestling & Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, and the Rest of Life) , Peter Gabel (Associate Editor, Tikkun Magazine, a founder of Critical Legal Studies, and author The Bank Teller and Other Essays on the Politics of Meaning) , Rabbi Michael Lerner (Editor, Tikkun Magazine and author, The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right, The Politics of Meaning, & Healing Israel/Palestine), Paul Wapner (Director, Global Environmental Politics Program, American University and author, Living Through the End of Nature: The Future of American Environmentalism, David Korten (author, Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth & The Great Turning) , Sherry Shapiro ( professor of dance and director of Women's Studies at Meredith College, Raleigh North Carolina, author, Pedagogy and the Politics of the Body: A Critical PRAXIS),   John Nichols (edits The Beat blog column for The Nation), Shaul Magid (Professor of Jewish Studies and Religious Studies, Indiana University & author, Hasidism on the Margin), Rev. Ama Zenya (a co-chair of this conference and of the NSP Bay Area chapter), John Cavanagh (director, The Institute for Policy Studies), Josh Weiner (poetry editor of Tikkun magazine, and author of The World's Room (2001) and From the Book of Giants (2006), & more. 

      So REGISTER NOW. Click here, or call 510 644 1200 Mon-Fri 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. 

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