Cynthia McKinney became the first black woman ever to be nominated for the office of the President of the United States by a major political party at this weekend’s Green Party National Convention in Chicago. She also named her vice presidential pick at the convention, Rosa Clemente, a Puerto Rican political activist from the Bronx, with a high profile among politically active urban youth as one of the founders of the National Hip Hop Political Convention. You can hear her acceptance speech here... http://www.archive.org/details/CynthiaMckinneyAcceptanceSpeech

Ed McElroy – Out going president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) - gave a state of the union address at the opening of the AFT convention Friday. He starts the speech by acknowledging that Chicago was the birth place of the AFT in 1916. The Chicago Teachers Union is AFT Local 1. His speech focuses on the tremendous growth of the AFT at a time when most unions are shrinking. The AFT is the second largest union in the AFL-CIO, after AFSCME. He also discusses the union’s opposition to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the importance the union places on electing Barack Obama this fall. You can hear the full speech (minus some thank yous to family, friends and collegues at the begining) here... http://www.archive.org/details/EdMcelroyAtAftConvention2008