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Three people on the front lines of the fight for social and economic justice—John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO; Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus; and Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change—were honored Tuesday night at the America's Future Gala Awards Evening. Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., a rising progressive leader in Congress, was master of ceremonies.

Forging a strategy that brings the ideal of green energy and green-collar jobs into political and practical reality is the focus of a luncheon panel discussion with Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Kate Gordon, co-director of the Apollo Alliance; Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club; Mark Ayers, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, and Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, chief executive officer of Green For All.

Is Scott Roeder, the man who was charged today in the murder of Dr. George Tiller, best understood as a lone-wolf extremist or as a member of a community that supported and encouraged his actions? We discuss that question with Dave Neiwert, who chronicles right-wing movements on the blog Orcinus and Rick Perlstein, the author of "Nixonland" and a former OurFuture.org blogger who launched "The Big Con."

As progressive organizations meet in Washington for the America’s Future Now conference, Laura Flanders of GRITtv asks probing questions about the role of the left in American politics. Darcy Burner, executive director of the American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation; Isaiah J. Poole, executive editor of OurFuture.org; and Rick MacArthur, president and publisher of Harper’s Magazine, discuss what the progressive strategy should be vis á vis President Obama.

Gov. Howard Dean, who recently became chairman of the board of the Progressive Book Club, joined organizers to announce details of the largest grassroots mobilization of progressives ever on behalf of health care reform on Monday at a news conference sponsored by the Campaign for America’s Future. Progressive groups are poised to spend more than $82 million to support President Obama's goal of achieving quality, affordable health care for all this year. Also at the news conference was pollster Celinda Lake, Change to Win chair Anna Burger, Health Care for America Now national campaign manager Richard Kirsch and Campaign for America's Future co-director Robert Borosage.

The importance of enacting the Employee Free Choice Act and its prognosis in Congress is explained in a plenary session featuring Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; former congressman David Bonior, chairman of American Rights at Work; Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America; Kimberly Freeman, acting executive director, American Rights at Work; and Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Vice President Joe Biden's economic policy adviser, Jared Bernstein, is the featured speaker at a panel discussion that analyzes President Obama's response to the economic crisis. Other panelists were Robert Juttner, The American Prospect; Katrina vanden Hauvel, The Nation; and Emma Coleman Jordan, Georgetown Law School.