Norman Lear's "Born-Again American" speech from the TBA conference

[Mabus]

I was very fortunate to be at the Take Back America conference earlier this week. I attended the conference with SharonRB but saw a number of other DU'ers there as well.

Yesterday morning, we heard Norman Lear speak. It was a great speech and something that more people should hear. He spoke about his childhood, the founding of PFAW, patriotism and being a Born-Again American. He words choked me up and reminded me of how I felt about this country when I was a child. I just finished listening to it again and I have tears in my eyes. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The following video is long, about 44 - 45 minutes long but it is worth it. I hope you take some time from your day and give it a listen.

http://www.ourfuture.org/video/tba-2008-norman-lear-plenary-presentation

[housewolf]

1. Thanks!

From what I could see, it looked the conference was teriffic, wish I could have been there. So glad you and some other DU'ers were able to attend. I hope to read more about the conference and everyones experiences there in the days to come.

[Mabus]

2. The big topic was health care

but there was also a lot of focus on the environment. Most of the main plenaries are online at TBA's website ourfuture.org (click on the conference and then the multimedia tab). I took some pictures and a lot of notes. I'll try to get them online this weekend.

I was disappointed that, in an election year, there were few discussions about voting or election reform. I was also disappointed that it was held so early this year. They usually hold them in June and the attendance is a lot better then. This year both the radio and blogger rows were a little thin. But overall I was impressed with the guests and speakers. Every year I learn about someone new that has done marvelous things. This year I was really taken with Majora Carter and her work in the Bronx (Sustainable South Bronx at http://www.ssbx.org/).

You should really check out http://remixamerica.org/ It is Norman Lear's new project. The site has speeches from history that you can remix into your own message and post on youtube, the remixamerica website or wherever you want.

The website will be fully operational in about a month. Here's the description from http://remixamerica.org/about

This country is a remix, it's what we do. What did Jefferson and Paine and Adams do but mashup history, take a little from the Magna Carta, a little from John Locke, and a whole lot of rebellion. Now, thanks to the web and digital technology, everyone can join in.

This is a unique moment in our history -- We can rediscover the promise of the Declaration of Independence next to the music of Louis Armstrong next to the beats of the Beastie Boys and clips of our candidates talking about "Changes." Every one of us can own our best expressions of liberty, democracy and freedom, remix them as they see fit, and share them with the world.

RemixAmerica.org is a multi-partisan, non-profit website that uses digital technology to give everyone the chance to own the words, the music, the images and sounds of America in digital form; to remix those expressions and ideas with their own; and to send the products of our community's creativity out to the world... where others will come back to us and start it all over again...

http://remixamerica.org/about