2006 Membership Conference Speakers
Speakers at the 2006 Membership Conference inlcuded activists and luminaries who contribute daily to the fight for civil liberties and the national debate over government abuse of power -- from retired Ambassador Joe Wilson, to Antonin Scalia, to ACLU clients in our challenges to government abuses since the 9/11attacks, to residents of Dover, Pennsylvania, who sued over the teaching of "intelligent design" as science in their schools, and won, to spoken-word artists Steve Connell and Sekou (tha Misfit) who stand up for freedom with their original slam poetry on civil liberties and what it means to be American.

SPEAKERS

David Bender currently hosts "Politically Direct With David Bender" on Air America. The show serves as "as an antidote to the deadly and deadening diet of neo-cons, theo-cons and the journalists who enable them..." When the late John Kennedy Jr. launched George magazine in 1995, he chose Bender as its first west coast contributing editor. Citing Bender's more than 30 years of experience in politics, government and entertainment, Kennedy said, “As long as I've known David Bender, he has been involved in public issues. I think what he's been able to do, rather uniquely, is kind of meld a lot of different worlds and channel them into public issues… I can't really think of anyone who has done it longer or as well as he.” In 2003, Bender returned to politics as a senior advisor in the presidential campaign of Vermont Governor Howard Dean before joining Air America Radio as its political director during the 2004 election. He is also the author or co-author of four books, including Stand and Be Counted, a chronicle of artist activism in the music industry, written with musician David Crosby.

Donna Brazile made history as the first African-American woman to lead a major presidential campaign when she managed Al Gore's 2000 race against George W. Bush. She was named one of Washingtonian magazine's 100 Most Powerful Women and is the recipient of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Award for Political Achievement. Currently Brazile is a weekly contributor and political commentator on CNN. She also appears regularly on ABC's “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” and is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio's “Political Corner.” Brazile chairs the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute, and contributes to Roll Call newspaper and Ms. Magazine. She serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and the University of Maryland and is the founder and managing director of Brazile and Associates LLC, a political consulting and grassroots advocacy firm based in the District of Columbia. She is also the best selling author of Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics. Firmly grounded in her humble Louisiana roots, Donna Brazile is a fierce advocate for the poor and minorities. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the guiding agency charged with addressing the state's recovery after Hurricane Katrina.

Tucker Carlson is the host of Tucker, which can be seen on MSNBC. Previously, he was the host and managing editor of PBS's Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered. Carlson started in television on CNN, where he was the youngest host in the network's history, first on The Spin Room, and then on the long running political debate program, Crossfire.  A longtime newspaper and magazine writer, he is a regular contributor to Esquire. His writings have also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, Reader's Digest, Forbes and GQ.  He was a finalist for a 2004 National Magazine award for an Esquire article chronicling his trip to Africa with the Rev. Al Sharpton. 

Steve Connell is a powerful and inspiring artist who comes alive on stage and captivates crowds with his performances. Both the Hollywood and L.A. Grand Slam Champion (2002 and 2003 respectively) and National Champion at the National Poetry Slam Competition (2003), he is also the winner of the 2003 New Word Series National Poetry Slam. His work has been featured on such diverse media/stage outlets as ABC World News , MSNBC's Hardball, Good Morning America, HBO's Def Poetry, Showtime's Crossover, MTV's World AIDS Festival, BET's Lyric Cafe, Artisan Films' Belly DVD, Oprah Winfrey's celebration of Maya Angelou's 75th birthday, P-Diddy's Annual White Party and several national commercial spots. He participated in two national spoken word tours, including Declare Yourself, the voting initiative founded by Norman Lear. His work is also published in an anthology called Why Freedom Matters. Steve recently concluded the initial run of his own hit one-man show, 40 Days, to rave reviews and was named Best Solo Performance of 2005 by Entertainment Today . He was listed in URB Magazine's "100 Faces To Watch" in 2005. Steve and partner Sekou (tha misfit) will perform an original piece, written for ACLU members, on Sunday night.

John Dean is a former Nixon White House counsel John W. Dean is alarmed by conservative Republicans and concerned about where they are taking America. In his new book, Conservatives Without Conscience , Dean explores how authoritarian conservatism has taken control of Republican politics and become moralistic, negative, arrogant, condescending, and self-righteous. Dean is also the author of Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush , in which he addressed the excessive secrecy of the Bush Administration and its consequences. Dean was legal counsel to U.S. president Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s, and his testimony before Senate investigators convinced many Americans that Nixon was closely involved in the criminal activities that eventually led to his resignation from the presidency. Dean started his legal career in Washington in the late 1960s, as the chief minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee. He then served as an associate deputy in the Attorney General's office before being appointed as White House counsel. Dean is a native of Akron, OH and received his law degree from Georgetown University in 1965.

Decadancetheatre, founded in Brooklyn, N.Y. by Jennifer Weber in 2000, Decadancetheatre is made up of female dancers from the U.S. and Japan. Decadance creates hip-hop ballets, utilizing the “vocabulary of hip-hop” to tell the stories of the hip-hop generation. Decadance was established to create a new outlet for hip-hop performance, and was created, in part, because women have not yet established a serious presence in hip-hop culture, particularly in hip-hop dance culture. Decadance is out to change that by taking hip-hop – the style, the attitude, the energy, and the female dancers – out of the background of music videos and into the forefront of the actual performance. The group performs various underground dance styles, including B-girl (floor power moves), popping (small articulated, movements of the arms and legs making the dancer look robotic), locking (big, cartoon-like steps), and commercial hip-hop (big, sharp movements). Decadance also incorporates graffiti, D.J.-ing and M.C.-ing into their work. In 2004, the group received an award for Excellence in Choreography from FringeNYC, and was nominated for the “Audience Choice Bessie Award” by Time Out New York . Decadance will be one of the featured performers during “Artists Perform for Civil Liberties” on Sunday night.

Cecelia Fire Thunder was elected as the first female leader of the Oglala Sioux in 2004. In response to the March 2006 passage of state legislation banning virtually all abortions within South Dakota, Fire Thunder fought to create a Planned Parenthood clinic on her own land, knowing that under the sovereign independence of Indian reservations in the United States, the territory would not be subject to state laws. The following May, Fire Thunder was suspended from her duties as president by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council for her role in this matter, and in June was impeached from her duties as Tribal President. In addition to Fire Thunder's impeachment, the Council issued a ban on all abortions on tribal land and made seeking an abortion, or helping someone seek an abortion, punishable by banishment from the reservation. Fire Thunder was one of the original founders of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS), and she is also the founder of Sacred Circle, which addresses domestic violence. Throughout her career, she has been active in efforts to recover and revive use of the Lakota language.

Philip Glass is a composer and a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School. Glass' repertoire includes music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. His film work for Stephen Daldry's The Hours earned Golden Globe, Grammy, and Academy Award nominations, along with winning a BAFTA in Film Music from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. More recent film scores include Errol Morris' Academy Award winning film The Fog of War, David Koepp's Secret Window, DJ Caruso's Taking Lives, and David Gordon Green's Undertow . In 2004, Glass premiered the new work Orion – a collaboration between Glass and six other international artists opening in Athens as part of the cultural celebration of the 2004 Olympics in Greece. Premieres in 2005 include Glass' new opera, Waiting for the Barbarians , libretto by Christopher Hampton, based on the book by J.M. Coetzee and his Symphony No. 8 with the Bruckner Orchestra. Upcoming in 2006 are film scores for George Butler's Roving Mars IMAX project, Neil Burger's The Illusionist, and Stephen Hopkins' The Reaping. Glass continues to tour with his ensemble, performing live to the films of Godfrey Reggio's ‘Qatsi Trilogy' -- Naqoyqatsi, Powwaqqtsi, and Koyaanisqatsi.

Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. The original Blondie was formed in 1974 by art student/guitarist Chris Stein and vocalist/songwriter Deborah Harry. Drummer Clem Burke and keyboard player Jimmy Destri joined in 1975. The band amassed a major following before recording their first album Blondie in 1976. Blondie emerged as the great pop icons of New York's celebrated late ‘70s new wave punk scene by defying easy categorization. Blondie had their first #1 record in the U.S. with “Heart of Glass,” which also sold over a million copies in the U.K., with the album moving more than 20 million copies worldwide. Over the years, Blondie has had numerous other hit songs including: “Sunday Girl,” “Atomic,” “Call Me,” “The Tide Is High,” “Island of Lost Souls” and “Maria.” After the band disbanded in 1982, Debbie went on to appear in numerous films and plays, and to create music in various contexts. In recent years, she has been the featured vocalist of the Jazz Passengers. Chris produced various bands in New York. Sixteen years later, they reformed to play a concert and had so much fun that they decided to try to make some new music. With a prestigious nomination to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and an upcoming 30th anniversary to celebrate in 2006, the group has established itself as a musical legend.

Daniel Heyman, painter and printmaker, and has had over 20 solo exhibitions around the country, and his work has been included in numerous group shows. Heyman's prints and paintings are in collections throughout the U.S. including the Yale University Art Gallery, The New York Public Library, The Free Library of Philadelphia, the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, and the Portland (ME) Museum of Art. In 2006 Heyman was invited to go to Amman, Jordan and Istanbul in Turkey with the law firm of Burke-Pyle, LLC to conduct interviews and draw the portraits of Iraqi former detainees from Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad. Heyman's work was featured in “Male Desire: Homosexual Desire in American At,” and has been reviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer , City Paper , Philadelphia Weekly , Artblog , The New York Times , The Hartford Current , France Ouest , and The Sydney Morning Herald , among others. Heyman holds an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania ('91) and a BA cum laude from Dartmouth College ('85). He currently teaches at RISD, and Swarthmore College.

Tammy Kitzmiller

The courageous parents who stood up for their right to keep teaching their children religion a personal matter are: Tammy Kitzmiller, Beth Eveland, Steven Stough, Bryan and Christie Rehm, Joel Leib, Deborah Fenimore, Barrie and Fred Callahan and Cynthia M. Sneath.

James Lawson, a key figure in the American Civil Rights Movement, was dubbed "the leading non-violence theorist in the world" by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Lawson enrolled in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1960, where he organized sit-ins by African-American students, leading to the end of racial segregation of lunch counters in downtown Nashville. He was expelled from Vanderbilt for his role in these activities, but nearly four decades later, the university recognized Lawson's contributions to "the promotion of the nonviolent world view," naming him a Distinguished University Professor for the 2006-07 academic year. Lawson continues in the struggle for equality, working to train activists in nonviolence and advocating for immigrants' and workers' rights. Lawson served as pastor emeritus of Holman United Methodist Church in L.A. for 25 years before retiring in 1999. This year, Lawson was elected as Chair of the ACLU National Advisory Council, and is currently allied with other members of the clergy, civil libertarians, scientists and grassroots activists to defend the Constitution against religious extremists and their attempts to attack the separation of church and state.

Rachel Maddow hosts "The Rachel Maddow Show" on Air America Radio (6 to 8 p.m. EST in most markets). She has a doctorate in Politics from Oxford and a background in progressive activism -- including a couple of very happy hardscrabble years working with the ACLU National Prison Project to overturn the segregation of HIV-positive prisoners in Alabama and Mississippi. Maddow lives in Western Massachusetts and in New York City. She thinks Tucker looks better without the bow tie, and that she is an even worse dancer than he is.

Alberto Mora served as General Counsel of the Department of the Navy in Washington, D.C., a position requiring presidential appointment and Senate confirmation, from 2001 through 2005. As the Chief Legal Officer and Chief Ethics Officer of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, Mora managed the Office of the General Counsel and wielded a broad range of other legal and non-legal supervisory responsibilities, relating to the Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps, the Marine Corps Staff Judge Advocates, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and naval intelligence activities. He reported to the Secretary of the Navy and, on occasion, served as Acting Secretary. In May 2006, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation honored Mora's service as Navy General Counsel by awarding him the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award , in recognition of his opposition to governmental policies and practices permitting detainee abuse.

Jim Morris is a living political cartoon who brings the real West Wing to comedic life! Satirizing, teasing and roasting our nation's leaders, he captures them vocally, physically and above all hilariously with flair, wit and intelligence. The NEW YORKER Magazine recently hailed Jim Morris as “the country's leading political impressionist.” Morris' critically acclaimed Presidential News Conference showcases “ President Bush” taking questions from audience members standing in for the White House Press Corps. Morris has starred in specials airing on ABC, CBS and HBO, appeared on the Tonight Show and Larry King Live , and he provides the voices for “The Ex-Presidents,” the critically acclaimed cartoon on Saturday Night Live .

Jackie Northam is a veteran journalist and NPR's National Security Correspondent, covering international affairs, defense and intelligence policies, military affairs, terrorism, and other national security issues. Her pieces can be heard on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition , as well as NPR newscasts. Since 2003, Northam has regularly traveled to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, reporting on the U.S. military detention center, and efforts to try detainees held there. Northam was the lead reporter for NPR's coverage of the abuse scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and the administration's policies on torture and the Geneva Conventions. She has also traveled through the Mideast, covering the recent war in Lebanon, and the early days of the war in Iraq. Over the years, Northam has received many awards for her reporting, including three Edward R. Murrow Awards, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, a Unity Award, a Gabriel Award, and several Associated Press Awards.

Maxi Priest has unleashed a one-world music that heals, rejuvenates and uplifts. Priest has enjoyed tremendous success as a singer with popularity and recognition around the world. In fact, he is the most successful reggae solo artist in the world, second only to legend Bob Marley. He has enjoyed numerous worldwide hits as well as a number one pop chart smash and is widely credited with helping spread reggae and Caribbean music. In 1990 Priest became the only UK reggae act to score an American Billboard Number One, with the song “ Close To You.” Over the course of his career, Priest has worked with legendary musicians like Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Willie Londo, Roberta Flack, Shabba Ranks and Shaggy. Priest will be performing at the “Tribute to Civil Libertarians” gala dinner on Monday night.

Greg Proops is perhaps best known for his appearances on the British and American versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, but his talents extend well beyond that popular show. Proops has sold out the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 28 years running; won The Weakest Link, Ben Stein's Money and Rock n' Roll Jeopardy ; and performs his stand up comedy all over the world. Additionally, he contributed voices to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace . Some of his other television work includes appearances on 3 rd Rock From The Sun, Men Behaving Badly, Family Matters, The Bigger Picture with Graham Norton on BBC, Mock the Week, The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Drew Carey Show, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, Just Shoot Me, The Jimmy Kimmel Show, Veronica's Closet, The Wayne Brady Show and the Best Damn Sports Show . Proops can also be heard as the voice of Bob the Builder on the popular children's series seen on PBS. He has performed stand-up comedy on NBC, A&E, Comedy Central, MTV, VH-1 and Showtime. Proops will be a panelist during the “Artists Speak Out on Civil Liberties” plenary Monday afternoon, as well as performing at the “Tribute to Civil Libertarians” gala dinner on Monday night.

Tariq Ramadan occupies a unique place among leading Islamic thinkers. Named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important innovators of the 21st century, Ramadan represents a new generation of Islamic reformers. Ramadan advocates the exploration and application of Islamic traditions and values within a modern pluralistic context, calling on Western Muslims to embrace Western culture rather than reject it. Ramadan has written more than 20 books exploring the difficult issues of reinterpretation and reform within Islam itself and between the Islamic world and its neighbors around the globe, and has published a total of 700 contributions or articles in collective books, academic reviews, and magazines. Ramadan serves as an expert in various commissions linked to the Brussels Parliament and is a member of several working parties concerned with Islam.

David Rose is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and also writes for The Observer. A reporter for 25 years, he is the author of five books, including Guantánamo: The War on Human Rights (just out in paperback from The New Press), and lives in Oxford, England. His next book, The Big Eddy Club , the result of an eight-year investigation into a notorious Deep South serial murder case, will be published next year.

Antonin Scalia has been an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court since 1986. He previously served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; was a law professor at the Universities of Virginia and Chicago; and served as Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. Justice Scalia graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. A leading proponent of an originalist approach to constitutional interpretation, he is known as a witty and incisive writer, and an enthusiastic speaker who relishes sparring with his critics. The New Yorker has described him as the rock star of the Supreme Court and the Justice "most likely to offer the jurisprudential equivalent of smashing a guitar on stage." Justice Scalia is a favorite in the legal blogsphere, featured on such blogs as Ninomania and SCOTUSBlog. While he has written some key opinions strongly rejecting positions that the ACLU advocates -- for example, in the areas of abortion, gay rights, and the government's relationship to religion -- he also has written other important opinions forcefully upholding positions that the ACLU advocates -- for example, in some major cases concerning freedom of speech, search and seizure, and rights of criminal defendants.

Sekou (tha misfit) is a two-time champion of the National Poetry Slam Competition (2002 and 2003), as well as the winner of the 2003 Word Up! National Poetry Slam, Sekou's work has been featured on such diverse media outlets as ABC World News, Good Morning America, MSNBC's Hardball, twice on HBO's Def Poetry, Showtime's Crossover, MTV's Battlegrounds, BET's Lyric Café, Artisan Films' Belly DVD, NIKE's Hooptown, Oprah Winfrey's celebration of Maya Angelou's 75th birthday, P-Diddy's Annual White Party and several national commercial spots. He participated in two national spoken word tours, including Declare Yourself , the voting initiative founded by Norman Lear, which traveled with an original print of the Declaration of Independence and registered more than one million new voters. Sekou is also an accomplished actor, voice-over artist, songwriter, and music producer, who has received an impressive array of regional and national music awards, including Best Spoken Word Album, Best Hip-Hop Album, and Best Producer from Just Plain Folks, the largest music organization in the nation. In addition, he received the Los Angeles Music Award for Outstanding Music Video and nominations for Best Hip-Hop Artist. Sekou and partner Steve Connell will perform an original piece written for the ACLU members on Sunday night.

Hilary Shelton presently serves as Director to the NAACP's Washington Bureau. In this capacity, he is responsible for advocating the federal public policy issue agenda of the NAACP. Shelton was integral in the crafting and final passage of such crucial federal legislation as the Civil Rights Act of 1991, The Civil Rights Restoration Act, The Violence Against Women Act, The Hate Crimes Statistics Act, The Native American Free Exercise of Religion Act, The National Voter Registration Act, The National Assault Weapons Ban, The Brady Handgun Law, Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, the Help America Vote Act and many other crucial laws and policy measures. Shelton has received a number of awards and recognitions for his unwavering dedication to civil rights and the mission and goals of the NAACP. Among those awards, he is most grateful for receiving the National NAACP Medgar W. Evers Award for Excellence, one of the highest honors presented by the national NAACP for Outstanding Service, Sincere Dedication and Commitment to the Mission of the NAACP.

Nadine Strossen, who has been ACLU President since 1991, is a professor at New York Law School with expertise in constitutional law, civil liberties and international human rights,. Strossen makes more than 200 public presentations annually on civil liberties issues, including on many campuses, and is a frequent media commentator. The New York Times named her book, Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights, a "notable book" of 1995. The National Law Journal has named Strossen one of "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America," and she has been named one of "America's 100 Most Important Women" by the Ladies Home Journal . In 1986, Strossen became one of the first three women to receive the U.S. Jaycees' "Ten Outstanding Young Americans" Award. Strossen graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review . She made her professional theater debut in 2001, in a week-long run of "The Vagina Monologues" at the National Theater in Washington, D.C.

Chris Van Hollen was elected to Congress from Maryland in 2002 and has quickly earned a reputation as a “rising star” in Congress and the Democratic Party.  He is the Vice Chairman of the bipartisan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, Co-Chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force and Vice Chairman of the Democratic Task Force on Budget and Tax Policy.  He serves on the House Education and Workforce Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and the Government Reform Committee. He has been recognized for his leadership in the areas of education, foreign policy, the environment, healthcare, energy policy, protecting the rights of federal employees and civil rights. Van Hollen has received numerous awards including the Outstanding New Member of the Year award from the non-partisan Committee for Education Funding; the Community Health Superhero Award from the National Association of Community Health Centers for his efforts on behalf of uninsured and medically underserved Americans; the Outstanding Leadership Award from the American Lung Association; and the Outstanding Service Award from the Blinded American Veterans Foundation for his legislative efforts on behalf of veterans. Before his election to the U.S. Congress, Van Hollen served 12 years in the Maryland General Assembly. 

Katrina vanden Heuvel is the publisher and editor of The Nation, America's oldest weekly magazine, established by abolitionists in 1865. She is also a blogger, award-winning writer, book editor, political commentator, Princeton alum and New York City resident. Among her literary achievements, she is the co-editor of Taking Back America -- And Taking Down The Radical Right and, most recently, editor of The Dictionary of Republicanisms . She is also editor of the collection A Just Response: The Nation on Terrorism, Democracy and September 11, 2001 . She received Planned Parenthood's Maggie Award for her article, "Right-to-Lifers Hit Russia." She has received awards for public service from numerous groups, including the 2003 New York Civil Liberties Union's Callaway Prize for the Defense of the Right of Privacy, and the American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee's 2003 "Voices of Peace" award. Vanden Heuvel is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the board of The Institute for Women's Policy Research, The Institute for Policy Studies, The World Policy Institute, The Correctional Association of New York and The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute.

Pete Williams is an NBC News correspondent based in Washington, D.C. He has been covering the Justice Department and the U.S. Supreme Court since March 1993. Prior to joining NBC, Williams served as a press official on Capitol Hill for many years. In 1986 he joined the Washington, D.C. staff of then Congressman Dick Cheney as press secretary and a legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, Williams was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. While in that position, Williams was named Government Communicator of the Year in 1991 by the National Association of Government Communicators. Working with the Radio-Television News Directors Association, for which he served as a member of its board of directors, the Casper, Wyoming native successfully lobbied the Wyoming Supreme Court to permit broadcast coverage of its proceedings and twice sued Wyoming judges over pre-trial exclusion of reporters from the courtroom. For these efforts, he received a First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Joseph Wilson, President George H. Bush once dubbed former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson “a true American hero” for his efforts in helping to free more than 100 American hostages in Iraq after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. More recently, Wilson was assigned by the current Bush administration to investigate reports that Hussein was seeking to acquire uranium for the purpose of advancing Iraq's nuclear program. Wilson reported back to Washington that he found no such basis for the claims. In a 2003 New York Times piece, Wilson opined that the Bush Administration had exaggerated the threat of the Iraqi nuclear program. Soon after, the employment of his wife--CIA Operative Valerie Plame-Wilson--was revealed, leading the former ambassador to charge that White House officials leaked his wife's covert identity as retaliation for his NYT denouncement. This allegation has lead to today's historical investigation into possible violations of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act--in addition to sparking a running debate regarding journalism ethics. Wilson, the author of The Politics of Truth , recently received the Ron Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling. Additional honors include: the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards and the American Foreign Service Association William R. Rivkin Award.

Witold ("Vic") Walczak, the son of Polish Holocaust survivors, came to the United States at age three. He graduated from Colgate University and Boston College Law School. Before attending law school Vic traveled to martial-law Poland, where he experienced the deprivation of civil liberties, including police brutality, wiretapping and a strip search. Vic joined the ACLU in 1992, after five years of prisoners' rights work at Maryland's Legal Aid Bureau. He served for 12 years as the Pittsburgh Chapter's Executive Director. In 2004 he became the ACLU of Pennsylvania's Legal Director. Besides specializing in free-speech and religious-liberty cases, Vic has handled nationally significant cases involving challenges to widespread police misconduct, substandard public-defender services, and the Secret Service's use of "protest zones" to shield President Bush from demonstrators. In 2005, Vic was one of three lawyers who tried Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District , the first case challenging the teaching in public schools of "intelligent design" (ID), which the ACLU claimed was creationism repackaged. After a six-week trial, the federal judge agreed with the ACLU's arguments. Vic has received many honors, including the 2003 Federal Lawyer of the Year award from the Federal Bar Association's Western Pennsylvania Chapter.

Roy Zimmerman has been writing satirical songs for 20 years. He's shared the stage with George Carlin, Bill Maher, Kate Clinton, Dennis Miller, Sandra Tsing Loh, kd lang, Andy Borowitz and Paul Krassner, and played a series of shows swapping songs with The Pixies' Frank Black. Zimmerman founded and wrote all the material for the satirical folk quartet The Foremen, who recorded for Warner Reprise throughout the Nineties. As a solo artist, he's released four albums, and there's a fifth, “Faulty Intelligence” due out in September. “I hope it gets good reviews,” he says, “but mostly I hope it gets denied under oath by Karl Rove.” Listen to his song "Hello, NSA" >> (mp3)