The Obama campaign—and now the Obama administration—blazed a new trail in the use of Web 2.0 technology, featuring videos, social networking tools, and new forms of participatory and interactive technology. This event will feature government, technology, and new media leaders in addressing the special challenges and opportunities of doing Web 2.0 in the federal government. Please join this exciting discussion moderated by American Progress Senior Fellow Peter Swire, who also served as counsel to the New Media team for change.gov and the revision of whitehouse.gov. This event will also feature the release of three reports by Peter Swire:

• It's Not the Campaign Any More: How the White House is Using Web 2.0 Technology So Far
• New Media Challenges: Legal and Policy Considerations for Federal Use of Web 2.0 Technology
• How to Buy Free Software: Procuring Web 2.0 Technology for the Federal Government
• Video: White House 2.0
• Science Progress podcast: You Have a Friend Request from The White House

Together the United States and China account for approximately 40 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, and only through concerted and coordinated action can we meet the climate change challenge that, in the words of President Barack Obama, is "slowly killing our planet."

Please join us for a discussion with the Obama administration's Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern. He will be addressing the challenges and the opportunities of working with China in the context of our broader climate and clean-energy policy.

As Israelis and Palestinians consider reopening negotiations, the final status issues—such as Jerusalem, refugees, security, and borders—loom on the horizon. For over a decade, Palestinians, Israelis, and others have been working on creative solutions to these seemingly intractable challenges.

Middle East Progress at the Center for American Progress invites you to hear from three experts who have been looking at the issue of Jerusalem, the city at the heart of the conflict. The discussion will focus on the multiple challenges Jerusalem poses to any resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian and broader Arab-Israeli conflict and how they might be resolved.

The Obama administration portrayed its release of legal memos on torture and harsh interrogation, the closing of Guantanamo, and its reevaluation of military commissions as the first steps toward restoring our government's moral integrity and adherence to the rule of law. These steps also play an important role in rebuilding U.S. capacity to support human rights and democracy in the Middle East.

Please join the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), the Heinrich Boell Foundation, and the Center for American Progress for a panel of writers and scholars to discuss how the Obama administration's recent steps have improved U.S. credibility on human rights and democracy in the Middle East, as well as what steps are the most important for the United States and Europe to take to restore credibility on human rights and democracy in the region.

The United States has long prided itself on being a human rights leader. It has often called other countries to account for their abuses. But it has frequently been reticent to submit itself to the same strict standards to which others are held.

This panel will address how an international human rights framework that encompasses both civil and political as well as social and economic rights within the United States can advance American interests around the globe. Thus, in addition to addressing traditional notions of national security, civil liberties, and civil rights, panelists will also address how violations of social and economic rights implicate U.S. national security and how it is in the national interest of the United States to embrace a broader policy approach that emphasizes sustainable security.

The recession is taking a toll on most Americans and has resulted in job losses not seen in almost 25 years. There are less jobs available, but black men have long faced limited employment prospects and disproportionately high rates of unemployment. To address this crisis, policymakers are actively focused on creating more jobs, but the issues that impact black men go beyond job creation.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion that will explore the root causes of black men's difficulties in the labor market and examine policy solutions that will reduce inequities and promote equal opportunity. Speakers will address the current status of black men's labor market participation; race-based employment discrimination; barriers to employment posed by criminal records; and relevant legislative approaches to eliminating barriers to work.

Twenty-five years ago Congress established a regulatory regime to facilitate generic drug creation, and the availability of these drugs has resulted in substantial consumer savings. With Congress addressing the health care issue this summer, it is important that we now consider the potential public savings made possible from ensuring access to affordable medicine through increased generic competition.

Many are also concerned that patent settlements involving innovator and generic firms are delaying new generic drugs from entering the market. These settlements significantly increase health care costs, and some commentators estimate that they cost consumers billions annually in higher drug prices. Congress and antitrust enforcers are taking steps to address this problem.

Please join the Center for American Progress as Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz discusses recent developments on the issue. A panel of distinguished experts will also talk about generic drug competition and a report issued by CAP on competition in the pharmaceutical markets.

The secret is out: Current teacher evaluation systems in the United States are entirely inadequate. Evaluations bear little or no relation to student achievement, and they fail to provide teachers with information about what they do well and what they need to do better. Furthermore, as a condition for receipt of State Fiscal Stabilization Funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Governors may have to report the percentage of teachers rated in each evaluation performance category, district-by-district. Nobody should be surprised if the percentages of teachers rated below par are extremely low.

But why does this matter? Rigorous teacher evaluation systems represent an important tool for aligning teacher policies with the goals of improving instruction and student achievement. In particular, tenure policies meant to protect teachers from arbitrary dismissal, have developed a reputation for protecting incompetent teachers. In the absence of rigorous evaluation systems, tenure will surely continue to draw fire from critics of long-standing employment practices.