It was quite a sight to see. A waiting room filled with a diverse group of religious leaders, Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, and everything in between, gathered at a nondescript government building in downtown Washington, D.C., on a cold Wednesday afternoon. We may have come from different faith traditions, but we shared a certain spirit and a common goal. We were there as members of the National Religious Coalition Against Torture (NRCAT), one of UUSC's program partners, to encourage President-elect Obama to sign an executive order banning torture as his first order of business.

Once we passed the security checkpoints, we were escorted through the Presidential Transition Team's temporary home to another nondescript room. I mostly remember being surprised to find the chairs arranged in a circle. You don't see that very often in official D.C. meetings. It seemed, and in fact it was, very welcoming.

The highest level transition staffer there to greet us was Mike Strautmanis, the director of public liaison and intergovernmental affairs. His job is to stay in touch with groups and officials working on priority issues. His job is to take our information and concerns into the rooms where decisions will ultimately be made.

Strautmanis has known the Obama family for years in Chicago. He served as chief counsel in Obama's senate office. Perhaps most important, Strautmanis plays basketball with the President-elect, so he has lots of access. Mark Linton, the transition team liaison for the faith community, was also there.

The meeting itself was very positive. The staff and leadership of NRCAT did a great job laying out the coalition "asks," or requests, which include:

• A day one executive order banning torture and inhuman and degrading treatment
• Closing the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
• Ending extraordinary rendition and enhanced interrogation
• Closing secret prisons and ensuring the International Red Cross has access to any detention facilities.

We asked that the United States establish a uniform code of conduct for the CIA and other forces and to establish a Golden Rule that the United States will treat people the way we would hope to be treated if detained by another country.

Members of the different faith traditions offered insights on the issues. Transition staffers were very interested to hear from Sayyid Syeed, of the Islamic Society of North America, and receive the Statement of Conscience of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. They will likely post it and the other NRCAT materials on the transition website www.Change.gov.

A young man from the evangelical movement suggested ways to talk about the issues to build support (or amens!) from people who are not typical Obama supporters.

Strautmanis said that high-level meetings are going on right now, discussing all of the possible executive orders the new administration could issue. Torture and closing Guantanamo are seen as separate issues, and both are under serious discussion. He said he would take the materials NRCAT delivered into those meetings so the breadth of the support and the suggested language/messaging could be taken into account.

Strautmanis reminded everyone that President-elect Obama taught constitutional law and will do everything he can within the law. He described the methodical way that Obama went about learning about the torture issue when he got to the U.S. Senate and the clear, unwavering stand he took throughout the campaign.

I reminded the staff that the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was another important reason to take swift action to end torture. I prepared a little packet of UUSC material for the transition team. It included our UDHR book, our booklet on the Sharps and UUSC history, our brochure, and my business card.

I had met Strautmanis at an earlier meeting, where we discussed the economic recovery package and our hopes that Gulf Coast Civic Works projects are included. As you can imagine, the transition team is handling a wide array of issues and running from one meeting to the next. We are lucky to have access to emerging leaders who are smart, dedicated, and down to earth to serve as our liaison to the new Obama administration.

In a few more days, these folks will emerge from their nondescript bunker buildings to celebrate the inauguration and set up shop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. They will continue to need our presence and our prayers as they set out to make the changes our country so desperately needs.

As UUSC's Manager of Public Policy, your eyes and ears in Washington, D.C., I feel duty bound to report that it is getting better here by the day.

The future first family arrived over the weekend, and the 111th Congress was sworn in on Tuesday. The last few days have been a whirlwind of activities, from an inspiring bipartisan interfaith service with congressional leaders to briefings on the economic recovery to strategy sessions on Darfur and upcoming confirmation hearings.

It has been a time of reconnecting with old colleagues and meeting some of the new members of congress.

Last November, voters spoke loud and clear, and now I can see the changes begin to happen. The presidential transition team has been hard at work for weeks. I have been impressed by the way they reached out to the public-interest community to listen to our concerns and ask for input. Visit the transition website www.change.gov to monitor new developments and share your own thoughts. Do it soon. The transition phase ends in less than two weeks.

Congress and the new administration face enormous challenges in the coming days, months, and years. They also have amazing opportunities to use their power to repair the damage and address the unmet needs of the last eight years.

It won't be easy, but it is starting to feel very real.

The world lost a real human-rights defender yesterday when U.S. Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA) passed away. While I didn't agree with every vote he cast, I knew that, unlike many lawmakers, he always had a principled position. His ideals were forged in the fires of the Holocaust, when he was a teenager in Hungary, escaping Nazi forced-labor camps and working in the resistance.

In The Last Days, a film by Steven Spielberg and Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, Lantos reflected on the way his world began to change:

"My Christian classmates reacted to Hitler's invasion in different ways. Some remained good friends. Some made me feel that they continued to be my friends, but they didn't want to be seen in public with me, particularly not after we had to wear the yellow Star of David, which was one of the Hungarian government's edicts after Hitler came into the country. Some turned against Jews in general and me in particular....While a handful of Hungarian Christians were helpful, a vast number were bystanders -- some with regret and sorrow, some with very different feelings....Most people did not participate actively, but they allowed it to happen."

Tom Lantos did not stand by when he saw injustice. In 1983, he cofounded the bipartisan Congressional Human Rights Caucus. As the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in the U.S. Congress, he used his moral authority to lift up the plight of the oppressed around the globe. In April 2006, I was there when he and a handful of other members were arrested outside of the Sudanese embassy while protesting the genocide in Darfur.

When UUSC founders Martha and Waitstill Sharp were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Memorial in Israel, Rep. Lantos introduced a resolution with Rep. McGovern (D-MA) to honor them. He told his staff that it was especially important to recognize the Sharps' bravery because their actions were purely motivated by their religious beliefs. He noted that they were not European bureaucrats who happened to be in a position of power to fix passports or provide safe haven. They chose to put themselves in harm's way because they could not in good conscience stand by and let Nazi terror go unchallenged.

I will miss seeing Rep. Lantos walking around Capitol Hill with Annette, his childhood sweetheart and wife of 50-plus years, and their little dog almost always at his side. I hope that others in Congress will be inspired to become human-rights defenders because our work is far from done.

It takes many different ingredients to make a good gumbo. The same can be said about making good public policy -- especially when we want to create a just and equitable recovery for the Gulf Coast. Some of the key ingredients are coming together this week on Capitol Hill. Delegations of Hurricane Katrina and Rita survivors are in Washington, D.C. to share their experiences and insights with policymakers, the press, and the national organizations that want to help.

Earlier this year, Representatives Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Barney Frank (D-MA) held field hearings in the Gulf Coast region. They learned that one of the greatest unmet needs was affordable housing -- an essential first ingredient for recovery. Out of that testimony, they drafted and passed the Gulf Coast Hurricane Recovery Act (H.R. 1227). The Senate companion bill, the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act (S. 1668), introduced by Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Chris Dodd (D-CT), authorizes even more resources that would help renters and public housing residents to return home. But the bill is stuck in committee. A hearing was held earlier today thanks to the presence of the Gulf Coast delegation. They are helping to get things cooking again!

Nobody knows how to fix a good gumbo better than folks from the region. We need to follow their directions and help stir the pot. Let's make the phones ring off the hook while the Gulf Coast delegation is on Capitol Hill. Take action with UUSC today!

Anniversaries are filled with memories. For me, it's been 25 years since I moved away from New Orleans and this was my first time back since the brutal storm. I'd come with my colleagues to commemorate the second anniversary of Katrina and to meet our partners who are rebuilding their lives and their communities.

On our first day, we attended the "Recovery and Renewal for the Gulf Coast" policy conference held at Dillard University. The goals for the day were to close the "access gap" between those who know the Gulf Coast's reality and national policymakers, and to go beyond telling individual stories to analyze public policies and their impact.

Unfortunately, few policymakers attended. The ones who did were those who have already been active on Capitol Hill on Gulf Coast recovery -- Representatives Maxine Waters (D-CA), Bill Jefferson (D-LA), and Bennie Thompson (D-MS). Senator Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) chair sat empty throughout the afternoon, and no one representing the governor's office, the state house, FEMA, or HUD attended. None of the presidential candidates were to be found.

They missed hearing an earful.

Local advocates described how, by failing to deliver the necessary resources, the Road Home program has not lived up to its name. Congress has appropriated money, but it doesn't seem to get to those most in need. When UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast partner Tyronne Edwards got his chance to speak, he gave the policymakers and the audience a real civics lesson. He said, "putting FEMA in charge of investigating the toxic trailers is like putting Dracula in charge of the bloodbank!" One advocate from Mississippi had grown so frustrated with the state's insurance policies that he is now running for state insurance commissioner. These are folks who are not complaining about the obstacles they face; they are doing everything in their power to fix them.

Our second day started with a sunrise service in Waveland, Miss. This community took a direct hit when Katrina came ashore on August 29, 2005, and was literally blown off the map. The STEPS Coalition, a UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast partner, organized an inspiring interfaith, multicultural service to reflect on their losses and to plant a Magnolia tree to sustain their hope in the future. It was fitting that we began in darkness and moved into the light.

We ended our day 15 hours later at another memorial service organized by our friend Tyronne Edwards and the Zion Travelers Cooperative in Plaquemines Parish. The gathering was held in a church restored by the community with the help of Unitarian Universalist volunteers and support. Martha Thompson, UUSC's Rights in Humanitarian Crises program manager, and UUSC President Charlie Clements were given certificates of appreciation and asked to say a few words to the standing room-only crowd.

It was hard to compete with the six Baptist ministers who also preached that night, but the sentiments were clear: whatever help we have been to this community in no way compares to the inspiration they are to all of us.

Did you know that the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing will begin at exactly 8:08 p.m. on 08/08/08? Evidently, eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture. As the hosts of the Summer Olympics, they are hedging their bets in the hope that their moment in the world spotlight will be a good one.

Today, at exactly 2:08 p.m., I walked up to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., hoping that I would also have good luck. Today is the day, one year out from the Olympics, when I delivered copies of the 600 letters we collected at General Assembly. At our booth and at every event we sponsored at GA, we encouraged concerned UUs to sign letters to the International Olympic Committee. We asked the Olympic officials to use their leverage with the Chinese government to help bring peace to Darfur.

Since the first wave of grassroots activism began to raise the Olympic theme, we have seen China take some small but very important steps. Today, I was proud to be UUSC's Washington, D.C., representative and let the Chinese government know that our 47,000 members and supporters urge them to do even more.

At first, the embassy doorkeeper made me wait outside for a long time in 100 degree heat. I felt a bit like Dorothy at the gates of Oz as the man told me to go away by speaker phone and then opened the door just enough to get my business card before slamming it shut again. That happened three times before I managed to slip in when some other folks arrived for a different meeting. I sat politely on a couch in the air-conditioned lobby waiting to see what would happen next.

After a while, Liao Dong, counselor of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the USA came to meet with me. His assistant took notes as I explained why I was there, who we are, and what we want. He said it was an honor to accept the letters. He doesn't agree that what's happening in Darfur is genocide. He thinks it is mostly a struggle over scarce resources.

He recounted the steps China has recently taken and asked that we not link China's hosting of the Olympics to the situation in Darfur. I said we simply want China to use its considerable economic and diplomatic leverage to move the Sudanese government to negotiate peace in good faith and to stop the violence against women, children, and all civilians. I said we hoped that when the Olympic torch is lit one year from today that the conditions in the Darfur region will be greatly improved.

He wanted to know if Unitarians were like Quakers. I explained about the Sharps and the work that founded our human rights organization. His face seemed to sag at the realization I represented a human rights group rather than a religious denomination. Perhaps I would have been forcibly removed or left to melt in the heat if they had know that from the start! The counselor asked if my mission was now complete with the delivery of the letters. I told him that I was going back to work because there was much more to be done. I gave him a UUSC Drumbeat for Darfur campaign sticker and brochure before heading back out into the heat.

Here is a photo of me and Counselor Liao Dong. The original signed letters arrived at the International Olympic Committee offices in Switzerland today with a cover letter from UUSC President Charlie Clements. We will continue to follow up and encourage more actions over the coming year. Thanks to everyone who signed and helped collect the letters at GA. Know that you are helping keep the Drumbeat for Darfur loud and clear!

Folks in D.C. like to say that politics is the art of the possible. I assume they say it based on their experience or perhaps it's to make themselves feel better about everything that doesn't get done around here. I'm always quick to respond, "But grassroots advocacy expands what is possible!" And that's where I've put my energies over the last 20 years as a D.C.-based advocate for economic and human rights.

Today was a perfect example of how grassroots advocacy expands what's possible. Ten long years have gone by since minimum wage workers last received a raise. Sen. Ted Kennedy, a tireless champion of workers' rights, has introduced his Fair Minimum Wage Act each and every year, only to find it wasn't possible to get it signed into law. That is, until the grassroots movement began organizing living wage campaigns at the local level and minimum wage increases at the state level.

UUSC has been actively involved in the Let Justice Roll campaign which brings a strong faith-based activist voice to the living wage movement. Last November, when voters went to the polls, six minimum wage ballot initiatives won and conservatives lost control of the House and Senate. That was the moment when the politics of this issue finally changed.

Today, as the first phase of the new minimum wage law went into effect, I was pleased to see Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who passed the bill in her first 100 hours) standing beside Kennedy as we all celebrated at a rally near the U.S. Capitol. In his speech,Kennedy acknowledged the leadership of the grassroots movement of Let Justice Roll, the unions, and low-wage workers who made this law possible. He also announced that very soon he was going to introduce a new Fair Minimum Wage Act to raise the hourly rate to at least $9.00. So, let's wage on!