Around the Nation: September 19, 2007

The American Constitution Society Puget Sound Lawyer Chapter presents Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage, whose book, Takeover, goes behind the scenes with the Administration lawyers who secretly devised ways for Presidents to circumvent laws and treaties. Savage lifts a veil concealing the executive power motivations behind Bush's picks for the Supreme Court and paints an astonishing portrait of rising executive branch secrecy. Interwoven with this fast-paced, character-driven narrative, Savage provides clear explanations of the Bush team's radical theories about unchecked executive power and shows how they converted these theories into precedents that all future Presidents can cite. US Bank Room of Multnomah County Central Library, 801 SW 10th Avenue. RSVP

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The Twenty-First Century Foundation presents an interactive Funders' Briefing on the victories and challenges of rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Join five outstanding Gulf activists for an in-depth analysis of the challenges and opportunities of rebuilding, the effective approaches, and the strategies still needed. Presenters: Steve Bradbury, Louisiana ACORN; Judith Browne-Dianis, The Advancement Project; Derrick Evans, Turkey Creek Community Initiative; Derrick Johnson, NAACP of Mississippi; Patricia Jones, Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association; Jason Sanders, Tides Foundation; and Rev. John H. Vaughn, Twenty-First Century Foundation. Location: Tides Center, The Presidio. RSVP to Jason Sanders.

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Michael Hardt teaches in the literature program at Duke University in North Carolina. He is author most recently of Empire (2000) and Multitude (2004), both co-written with Antonio Negri. "The guiding hypothesis of this lecture will be that the metropolis is to the multitude what the factory was to the industrial working class. That means, at a first level of analysis, that the center of gravity of production is now located outside of the factory walls, on the social terrain of metropolitan encounters. But it also means, at a second, deeper level, that this is the terrain, on the one hand, of exploitation and antagonism and, on the other, of the generation of social alternatives through the production of common languages, networks and social relations. Such metropolitan encounters--between social multiplicity and the production of the common--are at the heart of the multitude." Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall, GSAPP, Columbia University. www.arch.columbia.edu/events Organized by Volume magazine and C-Lab. Free and open t0 the public.

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Join author and filmmaker Avi Lewis for a discussion and book launch of Sin Patron: Stories From Argentina's Worker-Run Factories, an inspiring account of the worker-run factories that developed out of the struggle against neoliberalism in Argentina. Bluestockings bookstore and cafe at 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington streets. Call 212.777.6028 for questions. Co-Sponsored by Haymarket Books.

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