| Sep |
| 26 |
| 11:00 am |
Sunday, September 26, 11am – Discussion
The Nation Magazine Discussion Group
Category: Politics
The Nation Magazine Discussion Group
Friday, August 27th, 2010MoveOn.org’s Fight Washington Corruption House Party
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010| Jul |
| 15 |
| 6:00 pm |
Thursday, July 15, 6pm – MoveOn.org Fight Washington Corruption House Party
If we’ve learned anything since President Obama took office, it’s that the fundamental changes we all want for America will be impossible until we end the stranglehold that big corporations and lobbyists have on our democracy. We know the solutions to the big problems. But most of these solutions aren’t even on the table in Washington, because an army of corporate lobbyists stands in the way.
To fight back, we need to go big. We need a massive new movement to kick corporate lobbyists out of D.C., hold our elected officials accountable, and fix our democracy to make Washington work for the 98% of us who don’t have corporate lobbyists. This summer, we set our reform agenda—the Fight Washington Corruption Pledge—and now we’re working to make Washington listen.
As we head towards the 2010 Congressional elections, the goal of our summer push is to pressure candidates for office and elected officials to support our reform agenda–or to hold them accountable if they choose to stand with the corporate lobbyists rather than with their constituents. We’re calling on politicians to show whose side they are on with a major rally at the beginning of the Congressional recess. We’ll publicly thank those who support our reform agenda, and we’ll turn up the heat on politicians who choose to stand with corporate lobbyists.
Over the past few weeks, nearly 200,000 MoveOn members endorsed our Fight Washington Corruption Pledge. We’ve gotten the attention of over 450 members of Congress by going to their offices and asking them directly to sign on. Members of Congress and candidates across the country signed on last week, but it’s going to take a lot more pressure to get critical mass in Washington.
Here’s the “Fight Washington Corruption” Pledge:
Overturn Citizens United: Amend the Constitution to protect America from unlimited corporate spending on our elections by overturning the Supreme Court’s decision giving corporations the same First Amendment rights as people.
Fair elections now: Pass the Fair Elections Now Act, providing public financing to candidates who are supported by small donors so they can compete with corporate-backed and self-funded candidates.
Lobbyist Reform Act: Pass legislation to end the overwhelming influence of corporate lobbyists by: prohibiting individuals from switching from corporate lobbying to government service, or vice-versa, within a 5-year period; stopping corporate lobbyists from giving gifts and providing free travel to government officials; and posting online the attendees and content of all meetings between lobbyists and government officials.
Deanna Zandt author of Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010| Jul |
| 8 |
| 7:00 pm |
Thursday July 8, 7pm – Non-Fiction
Deanna Zandt author of
Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking
($16.95 Berrett-Koehler Publishers)
You know when you read something that is so great you want to just run down the street and tell everyone that they need to read it, like right now? Yeah, well that’s happened to me this weekend when I started (and finished) reading Share This!: How You Will Change the World with Social Networking, by Deanna Zandt.
Zandt is a media technologist as well as a consultant to key progressive media organizations including AlterNet and Jim Hightower’s Hightower Lowdown, and hosts TechGrrl Tips on GRITtv with Laura Flanders. She specializes in social media, and is a leading expert in women and technology, which clearly gives her a unique background to write this book.
Some of the key ideas that Zandt explores in the book is looking at how social networks are places where we share stories and connect with others. I love that she recognizes that these are not necessarily new phenomena, but that she takes the time to help readers understand how the technology changes the spaces in which we do this as a society. She does this by discussing in depth the issues of trust, authenticity and privacy. At the heart of the book is examining how building empathetic relations really can change the world and she provides clear-cut examples of how this is possible.
This book is funny, engaging, and true to life. You’ll find yourself agreeing with Zandt at so many turns and understanding yourself in relationship to social media infinitely better after reading the book. And no matter what you background level in social media is I guarantee that you will find this book entertaining and useful. Also, I rarely ever read the “Resources” section of a book, but I think that this section may be one of the book’s greatest strengths. It answers the “so what do I do know” questions you may have, and has really great questions/answers related to some of the key themes, tips for individuals, and insights on how to manage information overload. (May 24, 2010, E. Miller)
Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo film
Monday, May 24th, 2010| Jun |
| 16 |
| 6:00 pm |
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 6pm – Film & Discussion
Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo
“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” is a new documentary film, directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, telling the story of Guantánamo (and including sections on extraordinary rendition and secret prisons) with a particular focus on how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws, how prisoners were rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening (and often for bounty payments), and why some of these men may have been in Afghanistan or Pakistan for reasons unconnected with militancy or terrorism (as missionaries or humanitarian aid workers, for example). The documentary focuses on three particular prisoners – Shaker Aamer (who is still held), Binyam Mohamed (who was released in February 2009) and Omar Deghayes.
The Nation Discussion Group Featuring Ed Herman
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010| May |
| 23 |
| 11:00 am |
SUNDAY, MAY 23, 11am – DISCUSSION GROUP
THE NATION DISCUSSION GROUP
Featuring: ED HERMAN
Edward S. Herman, economist, political, social and media critic, author of many articles and books, including Manufacturing Consent (co-authored with Noam Chomsky), will be speaking at our May meeting. He will talk about the current right wing rant on “Big Government”, “Deficits”, “Entitlements” and Centrists”. He will also talk about his new book, The Politics of Genocide. Copies of the book will be available for sale. One of the chapters of the book, dealing with Rwanda and The Congo, will be published by Monthly Review, and I’ll circulate a copy of that to the group for our discussion as soon as it’s available.
Coffee and bagels, as well as interesting conversation, will be available. for more information contact johnliebau@aol.com.
Chester Marshall
Thursday, April 1st, 2010| Apr |
| 8 |
| 7:00 pm |
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 7pm – NON-FICTION
CHESTER MARSHALL
Chester Marshall is the founder and CEO of the Institute for African Man Development. Mr. Marshall has more than 25 years experience in providing social services to African-American Men and Boys.
Abortion, Morality and the Liberation of Women
Thursday, April 1st, 2010| Apr |
| 17 |
| 1:00 pm |
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1pm – FILM & DISCUSSION
Abortion, Morality and The Liberation of Women
This film documents a discussion between Susan Wicklund, M.D., author of This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Provider and Sunsara Taylor, writer for Revolution newspaper and aims to bring scientific and moral clarity to the topic of women’s right to abortion. Sponsored by Philadelphia World Can’t Wait.
The Nation Discussion Group featuring Dave Lindorff
Friday, March 26th, 2010| Apr |
| 18 |
| 11:00 am |
SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 11am – DISCUSSION GROUP
THE NATION DISCUSSION GROUP
Friends:
The Nation Discussion Group will be meeting again on Sunday, April 18, 2010, at 11:00 a.m.
I’m pleased to report that journalist and columnist Dave Lindorff will join us to speak on the subject of the atrocities in Afghanistan and Obama’s culpability. A question and discussion period will follow his talk.
For your information, [below is] Dave’s bio taken from his web site and a recent article of his that appeared on the Counterpunch site.
As usual, we’ll meet at the Moonstone Arts Center, 110A S. 13th Street in center city Philadelphia. Coffee and bagels will be on hand.
This promises to be an interesting meeting and I hope you’ll make plans to attend.
Best Regards,
John Liebau
johnliebau@aol.com
Award-winning investigative reporter Dave Lindorff has been working as a journalist for 37 years. A regular columnist for CounterPunch, he also writes for Extra! and Salon magazine, as well as for Businessweek, The Nation and Treasury&Risk Magazine. In the late 1970s, he ran the Los Angeles Daily News bureau covering Los Angeles County government, and in the mid-’90s, spent several years as a correspondent in Hong Kong and China for Businessweek. Over the years he has written for such publications as Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Village Voice, Forbes, The London Observer and the Australian National Times.
Co-author, along with Barbara Olshansky, of The Case for Impeachment: Legal Arguments for Removing President George W. Bush from Office (St. Martin’s Press, June 2006 and paperback 2007), he is also the author of three earlier books–This Can’t Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy (Common Courage Press, 2004), Marketplace Medicine: The Rise of the For Profit Hospital Chains (Bantam, 1992), an investigative report on the for-profit hospital industry, and Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal (Common Courage Press, 2003), the only independent examination of this important capital case.
A two-time Fulbright Scholar (Shanghai, China and Kaohsiung, Taiwan), he is a 1975 graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and received a B.A. in Chinese in 1972 from Wesleyan University. In October 2004, he was awarded a coveted (at least by Dave!) “Most Censored Story of 2003″ award by Project Censored (for his Oct. 16, 2003 story in Salon about the Pentagon’s quiet efforts to gear up the machinery for a return to the draft). A founding member of the National Writers Union, and a member of the steering committee of the NWU Philadelphia local, for nine years, he has lived with his harpsichordist wife Joyce and son Jed just outside Philadelphia. His daughter Ariel is a highschool math and Chinese language teacher in Queens, NY. In addition to writing, Lindorff is an accomplished folk musician (guitar, vocals and saw). You can hear some of his songs on his myspace page.
The Nation Discussion Group
Saturday, March 13th, 2010| Mar |
| 14 |
| 11:00 am |
The Nation Discussion Group will meet at 11A.M. to discuss the current political climate.
World Can’t Wait Film Screening
Friday, March 5th, 2010| Mar |
| 17 |
| 6:00 pm |
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 6pm – FILM SCREENING/DISCUSSION
Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo
“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” is a new documentary film, directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, telling the story of Guantánamo (and including sections on extraordinary rendition and secret prisons) with a particular focus on how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws, how prisoners were rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening (and often for bounty payments), and why some of these men may have been in Afghanistan or Pakistan for reasons unconnected with militancy or terrorism (as missionaries or humanitarian aid workers, for example). The documentary focuses on three particular prisoners — Shaker Aamer (who is still held), Binyam Mohamed (who was released in February 2009) and Omar Deghayes.
Binyam Mohamed has been in the news recently because his experience at Guantanamo contradicts the Justice Department’s report that lawyers, John Yoo and Jay Bybee, are innocent of misconduct on issuing torture. David Swanson commented on Binyam Mohamed’s horrific experience as he was dissecting John Yoo’s new book.
