November 16, 2024
Meeting # 3,793 - college regular Mike Lehman
Description: This program delves into Donald Trump's two major talking points: economics and immigration. Using reliable charts and graphs from respected sources, we will analyze the real statistical data behind Trump's economic policies and his stance on immigration. While he promotes his financial expertise, we examine the actual economic indicators. Additionally, we assess the impact of his immigration rhetoric, particularly his role in stalling bipartisan immigration reform. This data-driven exploration will separate the sales pitch from the facts.
November 9, 2024
Meeting # 3,792 - Gail Schechter, Executive Director
"H.O.M.E. is committed to improving the quality of life for Chicago’s low-income elderly. Our unique set of programs help seniors remain independent & part of their community by offering opportunities for intergenerational living in addition to a variety of citywide support services"
"Each year we provide over 2,500 shopping trips to low-income seniors of 28 buildings, concentrated on the South and West sides of Chicago"
Mission, Vision, and Values
https://homeseniors.org/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/HOMESeniors?ref=hl
June 22, 2024
Meeting # 3,771 - Kim Scipes, PhD, long-time political and labor activist
The speaker states that: "Capitalism requires growth; growth requires energy, most energy is derived from fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases that are attacking the atmosphere around the planet, allowing more heat inside the atmosphere, and trapping this excess heat from escaping into space. End result: temperature of Earth keeps increasing; melting ice raising ocean levels, threatening infrastructure of coastal cities around the globe, causing additional migration; destroying coral reefs—the protector of the bottom of the aquamarine food chain on which one-third of humanity is dependent; generating more energy into hurricanes and typhoons; increasing drought in some places, increased precipitation in others; and threatening human health in short term, and extermination of humans, animals and most plants by turn of 22nd Century.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now at 427 parts per million (ppm) according to NASA; until the year 1911, it never exceeded 300 ppm in 800,000 years!
Alternative visions are needed. Come listen and discuss."
Kim Scipes, PhD, is a long-time political and labor activist who has recently retired from Purdue University Northwest in Westville, Indiana after 18 ½ years. He has published four books and over 265 articles across the US and in 11 countries around the world. He has also worked as a printing press worker, high school teacher, and office worker prior to getting his PhD at age 51 from University of Illinois at Chicago. His web site—with links to publications and climate crisis resources—can be found at https://www.pnw.edu/personal-faculty-pages/kim-scipes-ph-d . Dr. Scipes is working on a new book tentatively titled Combatting the Climate Crisis Through Transforming Trade Unions: A Global Working Person’s Manifesto.
June 15, 2024
Meeting @ 3,771 - Sidney Cohen, long-time college regular
"Dialectical materialism, a philosophical approach to reality derived from the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. For them, materialism meant that the material world has objective reality independent of mind or spirit and ideas arise only as products and reflections of material conditions."
June 1, 2024
Meeting # 3,769 - Tom O'Donnell - a young man says no one knows the reason
The speaker states that "Life hasn’t been financially fair for the last 5,000 years…For the average person, money is hard to come by, thus making house, food, clothes, etc. hard to come by and that makes life hard, sad and problem filled…
- I asked people why this is, no one knew, I researched and discovered reason is due to an unfair property law…In my presentation I will explain the origins and what life was like before the unfair law took over…
May 25, 2024
Meeting # 3,768 - Andy Anderson, Tim Bolger, college regulars
The speakers asks us “Will America head into a new, permanent dark age with the installation of criminals masquerading as Republicans, led by the psychopathic, megalomaniac, Donald Trump?” Or is America headed into a new age of green clean environmental conditions addressing climate change?
May 18, 2024
Meeting # 3,767 - Dave A. Kraft who is a safe-energy/anti-nuclear advocate, NEIS, Nuclear Energy InformationService, director https://neis.org/
David co-founded NEIS with seven other activists in 1981, to provide the public with credible information about the hazards and effects of nuclear power and waste; and the viable alternatives to replace them.
Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Watchdog
Beyond Nuclear is an organization aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic. The organization works with diverse partners and allies to provide its members, the public, government officials, and the media with the critical information necessary to move humanity toward a world beyond nuclear. https://beyondnuclear.org/
May 11, 2024
Meeting # 3,766
Dee Knight was an editor of Amex-Canada, the newsletter of American exiles and expatriates who went to Canada in resistance to the Vietnam war. He was part of national organizing efforts to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq, resulting in protest actions of millions of people in the United States and across the globe. His writing appears at DeeKnight.blog, and at RealPathToPeace.com
"A Realistic Path To Peace" delves into the causes of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians, describes the crisis of war in eastern Europe (Ukraine and Russia), West Asia and East Asia, sorting truth from propaganda. It examines the role of the Big Lie in developing public consent and blunting popular opposition, and describes ways countries around the world as well as the general public are pressing for peace.”
May 4, 2024 Special May Day Speaker
Meeting # 3,765, Joseph W. Kopsick, political analyst and college regular
Speaker states that I plan to cover:
1) How to define a free market, including views on whether the market is free,
from various political perspectives;
2) Whether the markets - including the market to represent workers - are rigged,
and how to prove it;
3) Various interpretations of what "anarcho-capitalism" means;
4) How right-libertarians feel about various types of unions and union activities;
5) What the Taft-Hartley Act does to hurt our ability to engage in boycotts and strikes;
6) Why I believe that more right-libertarians should find it acceptable to repeal the Taft-Hartley Act; and
7) What consequences such a repeal would have upon union-employer relations, and upon how we define a private company.
April 27, 2024
(book review)
Meeting # 3,764 – Janice Gintzler, environmental activist
The speaker states that “It starts with a discussion about paper or plastic. Then it details all the different numbers 1-7 and what kind of plastic they are.
Beth Terry was recovering from surgery and saw a baby Albatross on a beach, decomposed enough that one could see what it ate: plastic. She is an accountant and creates a database of all the plastic in her home. Then she gets rid of that little by little. She write a blog about her activity and the blog became the book.
The first thing we can do is to bring our own bags whenever we step out of our
homes. Always be prepared. That is a Girl Scout mantra.”
April 20, 2024
Meeting # 3,763 - Anna Schiefelbein, State Secretary
"The Illinois Green Party (ILGP) is a diverse group of individuals dedicated to advancing the Greens’ Ten Key Values in our political and social lives. The ILGP is both a political party and a membership organization. The ILGP is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States and is part of the international Green movement. The Global Greens have affiliated Green parties in 72 countries around the world!
We understand why many people don’t want anything to do with politics: Our political system has become so corrupt and sickening that it turns off most voters. But that is due to the behavior of the two corporate parties. Decades of choosing between evils has led us to a place where we are facing numerous, interconnected crises. We need real solutions to the life and death issues we face! We need to build a people-powered alternative that is independent of the corporate parties and their corruption."
Information: The Illinois Green Party (ILGP) https://www.ilgp.org/
Membership https://www.ilgp.org/membership/
Chicago Greens http://www.illinoisgreens.org/
April 13, 2024
advocating clean air and water
Meetings # 3,762 - Chibu Asonye, She/Her/Hers, Founder, Zennials of Illinois
April 6, 2024
Meeting # 3,761 - Andy Andersen of the Northwest Information Service
March 30, 2024
Meeting # 3,760 - Fran Tobin Humanize Long Term Care Campaign
dignity, community & freedom for people with disabilities and seniors
Meeting # 3,760 - Fran Tobin
"As America ages, a growing network of disability, senior and labor groups is calling for Illinois to lead the way in transforming the Long Term Care system, so consumers have a real choice to get care in their own homes or community-based settings, instead of being pushed into a nursing institution. The disability-led Humanize Long Term Care campaign wants greater dignity for those in facilities, an end to retaliation against residents and staff that speak up about violations, and a plan for transformation leading to better care for consumers and better wages and working conditions for caregivers.
March 23, 2024
Meeting # 3,759 - Justin Tucker, officer
March 16, 2024
Meeting # 3,758 - Justin Tucker et al
"Libertarians have many views, but generally favor maximizing freedom and minimizing government. The foundation for this view is respect for the rights inherent to all people, often referred to as the “non-aggression principle,” the idea that initiating force or the threat of force against others is wrong."
March 9, 2024
Meeting # 3,757 - college regular Jonathan Barton
Speaker states that he will present "A civic self - defense class in the face of the unending barrage of the politics of cruelty that's dominated our legislative discourse ever since Ronnie the cowboy (HOLLYWOODS MOST FAMOUS " B " MOVIE ACTOR) stole the election in 1980 . To steal a line from one of his most famous speeches - MR AND MRS STATUS QUO , TEAR DOWN THIS REAGANISM !"
March 2, 2024
Several keynote speakers to get the conversation going, 15 to 20 minutes each, for a discussion on the Israel-Palestine conflict:
Adam Broad, Ernie Norman, etc.
February 24, 2024
Meeting # 3,755 - Professor Robert Lichtenbert, long-term college regular
This first novel teaches us many morals that we much need today. Its main moral is that we all need to live passionately a good way of life, as Quixote did as a knight ridding society of evils. However, he learns the hard way that this way of living hurts others. Quixote dies believing that everything important is relative to or depends on each person in stupid society. I will then briefly explain seven of my favorite moral absolutes (non-relative universal principles) to counteract this.
"It is often labelled as the first modern novel and one of the greatest works ever written. Don Quixote is also one of the most-translated books in the world and one of the best-selling novels of all time."
February 10, 2024
Meetings # 3,753 - James Fetzer, a retired philosophy professor, author of a free PDF book on this topic that was downloaded 10 million times+
More information on event in question: https://jameshfetzer.org/sandy-hook/
Speaker’s website: https://jameshfetzer.org/
FALSE FLAG CHECKLIST also go to links at Free Speech Collection
On the Holocaust, https://www.bitchute.com/video/iV4WZffhchra/
On the moon landing, https://www.bitchute.com/video/fjxP4Th7A1x0/
On JFK assassination, https://www.bitchute.com/video/UYVevPKtX1Kj/
Write me via jim@moonrockbooks.com
My legal case, https://www.bitchute.com/video/r250qEFnV0E3/
On conspiracy theories, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/THINKING-ABOUT-%22-CONSPIRACY-THEORIES-%22-%3A-9-11-and-Fetzer/502e600ed1944a0a9071f236d66aa594f34d202e
February 3, 2024
Why support for President Joe Biden is justified by the historic effectiveness of his administration, and to prevent the establishment of a Fascist dictatorship
Meetings # 3,752 - Kenneth Williams, political analyst from the CoC satellite campus
Kenneth Williams, President, Dallas Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, and Democratic Activist will discuss why support for President Joe Biden is justified by the historic effectiveness of his administration, and he will argue that this is also the only realistic strategy to prevent the establishment of a Fascist dictatorship by his probable opponent.
January 27, 2024
Meeting # 3,751 – Kathy Powers
Information on topic posted by CTA at https://www.transitchicago.com/accessibility/
The transit system claims that “100% our vehicles (both buses and railcars) are accessible,
and 103 of our 145 rail stations are accessible.
CTA states that it has “developed a roadmap to bringing our system to 100% accessibility: read about our All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP): https://www.transitchicago.com/accessibility/asap/
January 20th, 2024
Meetings # 3,750 - college regular Jonathan Barton
Speaker states that “I will present a working class perspective of how there has been a conscious surrender of hard won ground of progressive legislation (e.g., There's no such thing as society…or no government can do anything.) and exactly how that philosophical / legislative shift normalized what, at the beginning of the 21st century, became a familiar statement for
January 13, 2024
Meeting # 3,749 – featuring several keynote speakers to get the discussion going – on various current events or social issues – featuring Ernie Norman, Dr. James Fetzer, Dan Weinberg, Mike Lehman speaking on the Middle East, a conspiracy cover-up of events, our food supply, and the petroleum industry.
15 to 20 minutes each followed by questions
January 6, 2024
Meetings # 3,748 - Winter Laake, a Satanic Philosopher and a Black Magic Practitioner
One With Darkness!
Speaker states: "All men are created evil." This is the central belief of my Satanic practice. Yet, my practice and beliefs are not set in stone for others to believe. The Sanctum of the Morning Star is open to all paths of occult knowledge, philosophy and power."
December 16, 2023
Meeting # 3,747 – Charles Paidock, Secretary, Chicago Greens
What we can do to mitigate the effects of climate change, in order to get clean air, water, and have an adequate food supply. This plan, unlike others put forth by environmentalists, requires no enforcement or compliance with containment or control measures, or life-style adjustments.
December 9, 2023
Meeting # 3,746 - college regular Andy Andersen
Speaker will report on the findings of Project Censored:
“Project Censored educates students and the public about the importance of a truly free press for democratic self-government. We expose and oppose news censorship and we promote independent investigative journalism, media literacy, and critical thinking. Through our website, weekly radio program, annual book, media literacy curriculums, publishing imprint, and other programs, we provide this service to the United States, Canada, UK, and the world.
Censorship undermines democracy. An informed public is crucial to democracy in at least two basic ways. First, without access to relevant news and opinion, people cannot fully participate in government. Second, without media literacy, people cannot evaluate for themselves the quality or significance of the news they receive. Project Censored’s work highlights the important links among a free press, media literacy, and democratic self-government.”
November 25, 2023
Meeting # 3744 – college regular Tim Bolger
The speaker states that “there is a resolution before the House of Representatives to eliminate presidential term limits, (aka the 22nd amendment). In a book written by Robert Urban, he outlines how powerful forces are conspiring a path to Obamas third term. How it can happen, and may it be happening now with many of Biden’s cabinet members being former Obama appointees? And how will this impact Donald J Trump?
November 18th
Meetings #3,743 - Paul Draus, Faculty Director, Professor of Sociology, The University of Michigan-Dearborn
The speaker states that :”I recently completed a Fulbright Scholar sojourn and have developed some materials based on that experience.”
"The presentation describes the efforts of a community organization in the Šančiai (pronounced SHAN-chee) neighborhood of Kaunas (Lithuania's second largest city) to resist aggressive urbanization through structured protest informed by artistic practice, including the development and performance of a community opera. This story occurs in the midst of a mayoral election, in the shadow of Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, and offers lessons concerning the role of art, community and civil society in local urban regeneration."
November 11. 2023
Meeting # 3,742 – college regular Corina Schusheim
The speaker asks: “In the United States, why does the idea endure that if you work hard, you will get ahead?”
November 4, 2023
Meeting # 3,741 - Scott Allen, Citizens Utility Board's Clean Energy Policy Coordinator since 2014, working on issues related to Illinois' publicly-owned municipal and cooperative utilities.
Fall:
1. Carbon Capture Utilization and Sequestration regulations: this will determine how, and to what extent Illinois becomes the country's dumpster for CO2.
Spring:
1: "Clean Heat" Legislation - a CEJA for cleaning up the building sector;
2: Transparency Requirements for publicly-owned utilities - the municipal and co-op utilities in the state were carved out of CEJA's emission reduction requirements, and this bill seeks to get them rowing in the same direction.
3. Ameren/MISO Capacity Issues – (Midcontinent Independent System Operator) meeting our renewables targets under CEJA is being threatened by a number of factors, so a bill is being shopped to fix the way that downstate IL's capacity auction is run.
Also the meeting will include some of the initiatives that CUB has going on that people might be interested in for their homes etc.
June 24, 2023
Meeting # 3,722 - Dr. Guy McPherson
Speaker states that he “will describe the current state of anthropogenic climate change, as determined by other scholars and their peer-reviewed papers. Climate change poses an existential threat to all life on Earth. How can we respond, as individuals and as a community?”
Dr. Guy McPherson is an internationally recognized speaker, award-winning scientist, and the world’s leading authority on abrupt climate change leading to near-term human extinction. Professor Emeritus of conservation biology at the University of Arizona, McPherson lived off-grid for more than a decade. His published works include more than a dozen books and hundreds of scholarly articles. Professor McPherson has been featured on television and radio and in several documentary films. He is a blogger and cultural critic who speaks to general audiences around the globe, and to scientists, students, educators, and not-for-profit and business leaders who seek their best available options when confronting Earth’s cataclysmic changes.
Information: https://guymcpherson.com/
June 17, 2023
Meeting # 3,721 - Andy Anderson from The Northwest Information Service in Palatine
Speaker will present a summary of several large databases of currently ignored, censored, or intentionally blacked-out information in the United States. The presentation will include books and internet sites where this information id documented.
June 10, 2023
Meeting # 3,720 - author Henryk A. Kowalczyk
Speaker states that "I grew up in the region. I know well its history and the mentality of the people there. To the best of my understanding, for lasting peace, we need the total defeat of Russia. The sooner it happens, the better it is for all of us.
About half of Americans have reservations about our support of Ukraine; some vividly oppose it. I wrote 10 articles explaining my point of view, 5 of them before the war started. Together it is 73 minutes of reading. I will try to keep my presentation shorter than 30 minutes, leaving more time for Q&A. Reading my articles before the event can allow those attendees who disagree with me to point out the weaknesses in my reasoning.
Ukraine: What might and what should happen next?
(At the end of this article, there are links to 7 previous texts.)
https://hak1010.medium.com/ukraine-what-might-happen-next-2c486bb9d0d1
World War III had already started
https://hak1010.medium.com/world-war-iii-had-already-started-3ec606895488
Primary Blog Henryk A. Kowalczyk
“In Perpetual Search for Reason”
https://henrykkowalczyk.com/
June 3, 2023
Meeting # 3,719
A new novel explores radical acts of individual witness in the face of catastrophic climate change. Penned by veteran campaigner and author, Chuck Collins’ Altar to an Erupting Sun was just published in May by Green Writers Press.
About the Author
Chuck Collins is a campaigner and storyteller who has worked for decades on environmental and economic justice campaigns. He is the Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org. He is cofounder of DivestInvest.org, a global movement to divest from fossil fuels and invest in climate solutions; and trustee of the Post-Carbon Institute and Resilience.org
May 27, 2023
(from London to Paris to Marseilles)
Meeting # 3,718 - Mike Lehman, college regular and bullet train advocate
Photos - also subways and other transportation modes, stations, even cars and busses
May 20, 2023
Meeting # 3,717 -
How to send war criminals to the Hague to appear before the International Criminal Court, and other fun steps we the people of Earth can take to enact actual participatory democracy! College regular Jonathan Barton gives a presentation about the crucial importance of bringing war criminals to justice and why we have a tremendous amount of power, that we don't even realize we have, to do exactly that.
May 13, 2023
Meetings #3,716 - Maralyn Hamaker, retired teacher and concerned citizen
Speaker states that she will discuss how unsustainable wealth inequality has existed in most nations throughout history, causing those nations to eventually fail. As to “Why?” she will examine the ways in which three major economic institutions have channeled wealth unequally since man crawled out of the cave—and continue to do so today. She argues that these three institutions can be revised to create a fair and just economic system that allows abundance for all in a modern world. Maralyn outlines and concludes that we must make necessary adjustments for Economic Democracy to Save Political Democracy.
May, 6, 2023
Meetings #3,715 - Fred Kushner, white SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) member and antiracist.
As the child of radical Communist parents in Chicago, Fred discuss his father's role in the Communist Party (as a leader, he was forced underground for years). Growing up with the "Black and white, unite and fight!" mindset, Fred was surrounded by Socialists, Communists, and labor organizers. One of his earliest memories is attending Emmett Till's wake, and he talks about the IWW (International Workers of the World), the Taft-Hartley Act, the Smith Act, and moving at the young age of 18 to Mississippi to become part of SNCC.
Asked by Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) to be part of the "last white folks' campaign," Fred spent nearly a year in Mississippi, and even trained at the famous Highlander School in Tennessee
April 29, 2023
Meeting # 3,714 - Tim Bolger
Tim Bolger, college regular, will present the latest news in computer technology, namely Artificial Intelligence. First what is it all about, and what is the latest thing called “chat GPT”, and then some areas where this will be very helpful to mankind, and how it can be used for evil purposes. Is AI coming to take your job, or is it becoming an intelligent assistant. Will it help our species “clean up” or be “cleaned out.” Some live demonstrations will also be included.
April 22, 2023
Meeting # 3,713 – Charles Paidock, Secretary, Citizens Taking Action (CTA) for advancement of transit and trains, will discuss how transportation policy for use of an automobile in the US is different from that for the other travel modes. He argues that with the onset of climate change by 2030, it is imperative that we act to apply fleet management concepts, that incorporate as well, measures which correct impediments to automobile usage. Charles concludes that anyone who owns a car will want this plan.
April 15, 2023
Meeting # 3,712 – librarian Dan Weinberg, college regular
Summary: “Soil is a natural resource that might disappear if practices stay the same. Fertilizers and weed killers have to end. Natural systems will do the same job for less money and more survival. Survival of Earth is what we are talking about.”
April 8, 2023
Open Microphone – everyone gets five (5) to ten (10) minutes to speak
Meeting # 3,711 - three keynote speakers, Mary Shesgreen, Richard Stuckey, and Meryl Greer Domina
April 1, 2023
the nuclear threat in Ukraine and at home, why nuclear energy cannot solve the ecological crisis, and what you can do here in Illinois
Meeting # 3,710 - Kelly Lundeen (she/her)
Nukewatch is a Wisconsin-based environmental and peace action group, dedicated to the abolition of nuclear power, weapons and continued radioactive waste production. Nukewatch brings critical attention to the locations, movements, dangers, and the politics of nuclear weapons and dangerous wastes. Staff and volunteers advocate Gandhian nonviolence in education and action, and report on nuclear issues in the Nukewatch Quarterly newsletter.
Nukewatch began in 1979 in response to the cold war build up of nuclear weapons and the secrecy surrounding the nuclear industry. Nukewatch conducted TrackWatch; a program to monitor and expose secret shipments of radioactive waste on U.S. rails; TruckWatch, the transportation of H-bombs and component parts in unmarked trucks by the DOE; Nukewatch mapped all 1,000 land-based nuclear missile silos for educational and organizing purposes. Nukewatch has a long history of successful grassroots organizing across the nation.
Nukewatch monitors the transportation of radioactive waste around the country and around the world on an on-going basis.
March 25, 2023
in-person or on zoom, 5 to 10 minutes each
March 18, 2023
Meeting #3,708 - Enrique Perez, the 2013 Bughouse Square Debates Soapbox Champion and former community activist
Speaker states that: "The Mainstream Media is hopelessly biased against Conservatives, and has been for a long time. The just released Twitter Files prove that without a doubt. Unlike their predecessors, the Modern Left does not believe in Freedom of Speech! They seek to squelch it! Say the wrong thing... Express an unapproved thought... And they cancel you... This is why it's time for "OUR BILLIONAIRES" (i.e. Those who still believe in Freedom of Speech) to start leveling the playing field by buying up some of these biased Mainstream Media outlets."
March 11, 2023
Larry Dean, Policy and Organizing Associate
Meeting # 3,707 – The Community Renewal Society is a faith-based, community organizing and public policy organization that works with congregations in and around Chicago to address issues of racism and poverty.
Community Renewal Society informs and brings people of faith and congregations together, in partnership with communities, coalitions, interfaith organizations, and civic leaders, to intentionally and decisively transform society toward greater social justice at the intersection of racism and poverty.
VISION
The Beloved Community: where all God’s children flourish and live in dignity.
COMMITMENT TO ANTI-RACISM
With the implementation of CRS’ strategic plan, prioritization of anti-racism frameworks and tools is essential. Our internal audit team completed its report in 2018, and the Board accepted its report and recommendations in April of 2019. We are currently creating a Transformation Team to ensure CRS’ continued awareness and movement toward being an anti-racist institution, which will impact the way we work with our Board, leadership, community leaders and congregations.
March 4, 2023
Meeting # 3,706 – In early January of 2022, individual long-time activists came together to form an organization based upon their shared recognition that the Supreme Court was on track to decimate abortion rights. They issued a statement that read, in part,
“We refuse to let the U.S. Supreme Court deny women’s humanity and decimate their rights! Join us in fighting for Abortion On Demand and Without Apology!… Forced motherhood is female enslavement…The violent subjugation of half of society must not be accommodated, excused, downplayed, or surrendered to. IT MUST BE STOPPED!”
WE TAKE INSPIRATION
From the women in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia who have waged a fierce determined mass non-violent struggle in the streets to de-criminalize abortion. Rise Up will talk about the international dimensions of the right to abortion, which is recognized by the UN as an international human right.
February 25, 2023
Meetings #3,705 - Prof. Bob Lichtenbert (Tulane)
Prof Lichtenbert states that he will first define "love" as "a very strong emotional state of affection for another." He will then discuss the psychological basis of love. Next will be various cultural views on love, especially ancient Greek, Roman and Asian. Then comes the religious views on love, particularly Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Asian. Finally, he will explore some philosophical issues in love such as the nature of love and its value (conclusions).
February 18, 2023
Meeting # 3,704 - Paul Culhane, Tim Milburn
Tim Milburn is principal of Green Ways 2G0, which provides clean transportation consulting services. Paul Culhane is a member of the Sierra Club’s Northwest Cook County Group executive committee.
"Illinois passed landmark clean energy legislation—the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act—in 2019. We will provide an overview of the eight significant components of CEJA, and then focus on how you can take advantage of three major components—electric transportation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy."
February 11, 2023
Meeting # 3,703 - Charles Paidock, historian, will take a look at the worldwide appeal over centuries of this heroic character, and at opposition to subjugation and servitude today
February 4, 2023
Meeting #3,702 - Nancy Spannaus, author of Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics, and editor of the blog American System Now https://americansystemnow.com/
“Everybody thinks they know about President Abraham Lincoln,” Spannaus said. “But he is widely misunderstood. As a result, he is currently under attack from all sides of the political spectrum, with some claiming he launched an unnecessary bloody war, and others excoriating him and even taking down his statue for his alleged views on African Americans.”
“What I hope to do in this discussion is to provoke people to look more deeply into Lincoln’s history and thought. We can only scratch the surface in this one-session discussion, so I will only concentrate on the basics. If people are interested in more by me, they can access a couple of my classes on AmericanSystemNow‘s You Tube channel.”
“My presentation will focus on three critical areas: 1) Lincoln’s commitment to saving the Union; 2) the centrality and significance of his commitment to fulfilling the Declaration of Independence; and 3) his Hamiltonian economic policy. The last subject has been an area of my concentration for a number of years; it has been elaborated in my book Hamilton Versus Wall Street in a chapter entitled “Abraham Lincoln, Hamiltonian,” and in numerous articles on the blog.”
January 28, 2023
Libertarian Candidates for Chicago Police District Council
and Update on Recent LP Ballot Successes
Meetings #3,701- Justin Tucker, Chris Laurent
January 21, 2023
Meeting # 3,700 - Bill Bianchi et al
JASC says "We will be talking about Medicare Advantage and ACO-Reach and the risks of rampant privatization in our health care system! We will also be sharing the details of JASC's new campaign, Care Over Cost, and how we can support folks who have been denied claims through private insurance or Medicare Advantage."
Jane Addams Senior Caucus
https://www.seniorcaucus.org/
Physicians for a National Health Program
Aco Reach Information
January 14, 2023
Meetings # 3,699 -
Jian Li, Ph.D in anthropology and a Mandarin teacher, will introduce anthropological perspectives on culture and some insights to critical thinking from some leading social scientists. In addition, she will provide different perspectives on some of the hot topics on China by American expats who have worked and lived in China for over ten years. To further our understanding of China, she will also give some demographic comparisons between the U.S and the PRC. Lastly, she will share her thoughts on global challenges as well as the opportunities for the collaborations for peace and prosperities for both American and Chinese peoples and beyond.
Link to List of Relevant Videos
December 17, 2022
Meeting #3,697 - college regular Timothy Bolger
The situation isn’t jolly, as all the elves in Local 25 threaten a December strike because Santa Claus Inc., is giving them a raw deal, due to intolerable working conditions in the toy shop. Personnel Officer Tim Bolger of Santa Claus, Inc. will respond to the group grievance, and presents a case for replacing in-house North Pole operations, i.e., Toyland, altogether with Amazon, if they do. Santa says “What I want for Christmas is a little production out of all of you elves.“ Can we save Christmas, or will all the kids be disappointed this year because Mr. Ho Ho Ho is too worried about costs?
December 10, 2022
Meeting #3,696 - Rose Gomez, organizer and educator
Mission and Values
The program promotes equitable access to the solar economy through program incentives that help make solar more affordable for income-eligible communities.
Overview and Goals
Illinois Solar for All increases participation in solar energy projects serving income-eligible and environmental justice communities. Incentives are made available for residential properties, properties that house non-profits and public facilities, and community solar projects.
Information: https://www.illinoissfa.com/
December 3, 2022
Meeting # 3,695 - Charles Paidock, cultural historian
The U.S. is the only advanced country with no national vacation policy whatsoever, thus occasional holidays are of greater importance. With the upcoming Christmas –New Years holidays consuming almost all of our society’s time and attention, Charles Paidock takes a thorough looks at the development of celebrations around the world through the centuries, and suggests replacing current ones on the calendar with a number of more suitable, secular national events. He advocates establishing a government agency to choose and schedule new and different ones each year.
November 26, 2022
Meetings #3,694 - Philosophy Professor Robert Lichtenbert, Ph.d
Speaker states that: "I will be drawing mostly from my 40 years of experience teaching logic. I will insist that the laws of logic are absolute and universal. Then I will introduce the basic unit of logical thinking and its two main types, deduction and induction. Avoiding the many fallacies or mistakes in thinking will be next. The logic of language then will mainly concern defining ambiguous terms and avoiding emotional language. The final topic will be the scientific method. This consists of causes (that argue strongly against free will). I will touch on creative thinking, although this is far from logical!"
Handout
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collegeofcomplexes.org%2FlOGIC_hANDOUT.docx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK
November 19, 2022
Meetings #3,693 -
Linda Phenix, Houston resident, grassroots activist for healthcare justice, member of Physicians for a National Health Program and National Single Payer, also arising from a career in the performing arts, will discuss how, for decades, commercial insurance companies have chipped away at our crucial public health programs and the profits they receive from Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care, which are both lucrative and unconscionable, But they have their eyes set on an even bigger prize, Traditional Medicare. Today, ACO REACH is a stealth program out of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), first developed under the Trump administration as Direct Contracting Entities (DCE’s) to ‘manage’ the care of seniors on Traditional Medicare. It allowed third-party middlemen to pocket up to 40% of the dollars dedicated to patients in their care. It was rebranded as ACO REACH by the Biden administration, but the ‘new’ program still maintains all the problems of DCE’s: for profit middlemen straight out of Wall Street. Medicare beneficiaries get assigned without their knowledge or consent, and no Congressional oversight. Linda argues and concludes that we need to take action to end this ruinous experiment and recommit to a humane. efficient, and truly public Medicare.
More Information at https://protectmedicare.net/
November 17, 2022
Charles Paidock, avowed socialist, presents arguments for the government takeover of farming, food processing and distribution for-profit, and shut down of harmful capitalist agribusiness operations.
November 12, 2022
Meeting #3,692 - Charles Paidock, historian, and advocate of sundry socialist applications as public policy
Speaker states that: "Starting with he Spanish Civil War, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi embarked on a campaign to rid the world of communism, assembled an army of three and a half-million soldiers to invade the USSR, which ended with the red flag being flown over the Reichstag in Berlin. We will look at the heroic efforts to repel and defeat fascism in this regard, such as battles that are largely unknown in the West.
We will then transition to modern times and the re-appearance of fascism, this time in the US, and how those of socialist persuasion, who seek a shared ecological economy, advance an agenda antithetical to fascism."
November 5, 2022
Meetings #3,691 - We had 2 speakers this evening Justin Tucker of the Cook County Libertarians talk about the election and Ernie Norman regular attender of the College of Complexes give his thoughts on Politics, we also had several other members give speeches about the various topics and held our traditional questions and rebuttals, via a hybrid model of in person and on zoom. Good to be back in person again with the technological skills that I Tim Bolger acquired during the pandemic, both zoom and live were integrated together well.
October 29, 2022
Meeting #3,690 - Joe Jennings of the international Schiller Institute
As NATO's proxy war against Russia intensifies and escalates, the factor of INFORMATION WARFARE is becoming ugly and apparent. Joe Jennings of the international Schiller Institute will speak on an entity called the "Ukraine Center for Countering Disinformation" which functions internationally in tight coordination with NATO's European central command and the violent paramilitary group Myrotvorets. The U-CCD receives funds from U.S. taxpayers, conducted through the U.S. State Department. In July the Center issued an international 'hit list', targeting journalists, peace activists, and even children, as 'war criminals' and 'information terrorists', to be silenced for challenging NATO's war narrative and advocating a negotiated solution to the conflict. While the targets included such prominent individuals as former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, the top 30 names on the list were ALL friends and associates of the Schiller Institute. Why is that? Joe will argue that the Center for Countering Disinformation be shut down, that the truth about NATO's war against Russia in Ukraine be brought forward, and that a peaceful negotiated solution be enforced before the situation takes the world to thermonuclear war.
October 22, 2022
Meeting # 3,689 – Jim Garfield, State Chair
A look at the organization and operations of the Independent Voters of Illinois, IVI, “Your Source for Good Government since 1945,” and then a review of who will be on the ballot you will be given at the polling place on election day.
October 15, 2022
Meeting # 3,688 -
Committee assignments: Health Care Licenses (Chairperson); Approp-Elementary & Secondary Educ; Immigration & Human Rights Committe; Housing Committee; International Trade & Commerce; Museums, Arts, & Cultural Enhanceme; Tourism Committee; Redistricting Committee; Financial Impact Subcommittee
Biography: Former college professor; Ph.D, University of Chicago; community organizer and policy advocate; local school council member; policy advisor to Governor Pat Quinn; served on the Illinois Advisory Council on Bilingual Education and board of directors for Common Cause Illinois; worked closely with the Asian American Employment Plan Advisory Council and the Language Access Task Force for the State of Illinois; a daughter of immigrant parents, Mah is the first Asian American to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives.
October 8, 2022
Meetings # 3,687 - Frances Orenic, Coalition Director, Vote Yes for Workers' Rights
“This November, workers are on the ballot to guarantee every Illinoisan has the right to join together with other workers to negotiate for better pay, improved benefits, and safe working conditions.”
The proposed amendment would add a new section to the Bill of Rights Article of the Illinois Constitution that would guarantee workers the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively and to negotiate wages, hours, and working conditions, and to promote their economic welfare and safety at work. It would also prohibit from being passed any law that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and workplace safety. At the general election to be held on November 8, 2022, you will be called upon to decide whether the proposed amendment should become part of the Illinois Constitution.
How to Get involved: https://workersrights.com/
October 1, 2022
Meeting # 3,686 -
Speaker states that “Despite the contrary and unfortunately popular belief, Chicago is not lost but it's on the wrong path. The power struggle we see in the city council today is partly due to the structure that former mayor Richard J. Daley created and that impedes our city's greatness. Climate change, along with climate migration will impact Chicago in unprecedented ways. The fight over who's going to be the next Daley has to come to an end and reform can only come from an independent mayor.”
September 24, 2022
Meeting # 3,585 - Matthew T. Huber, Author
“The climate crisis is not primarily a problem of ‘believing science’ or individual ‘carbon footprints’ – it is a class problem rooted in who owns, controls and profits from material production. As such, it will take a class struggle to solve. In this ground breaking class analysis, Matthew T. Huber argues that the carbon-intensive capitalist class must be confronted for producing climate change.
Yet, the narrow and unpopular roots of climate politics in the professional class is not capable of building a movement up to this challenge. For an alternative strategy, he proposes climate politics that appeals to the vast majority of society: the working class. Huber evaluates the Green New Deal as a first attempt to channel working class material and ecological interests and advocates building union power in the very energy system we need to dramatically transform. In the end, as in classical socialist movements of the early 20th Century, winning the climate struggle will need to be internationalist based on a form of planetary working class solidarity.”
Amazon Books
https://www.amazon.com/Climate-Change-Class-War-Socialism/dp/1788733886
September 17, 2022
Meeting # 3,684 -
Jian Li, PhD in anthropology and a Mandarin teacher, will explore five global issues facing us today:
The Impact of Climate Change;
The danger of military conflict, especially nuclear war;
The extreme gap between the rich and the poor;
The polarization of political views expressed by news/social media that pulls people apart;
The conflict between an increasingly connected world and the rise of nationalism.
She argues that the problems we are facing are increasingly global, whereas the reactions to the global problems tend to be more provincial. .
How can we engage in productive conversations where people are willing to listen to different views, and take responsibility to become problem solvers rather than problem amplifiers
September 10, 2022
Meeting # 3,683 –
Anthony (Tony) Padilla, VP and Regional Director National Association of Retired and Veteran Railway Employees, Inc., (NARVRE) Area 5 Director
and
Charles Paidock, Extreme Railfan, and Union Representative
There are nationwide complaints of weeks-long waits for trains, backed up facilities. Railroads cut their workforce by 45,000, or 29 percent, over the past six years, with pandemic furloughs pushing staffing levels past a tipping point. By late May, only 67 percent of trains arrived within 24 hours of their scheduled time.
Worse, the US freight rail system is now poised on the brink of total paralysis because of a contract dispute between 115,000 rail workers and their employers. Negotiations have dragged on since the last contract expired in 2019, during which time rail workers have not had a raise. Under the Railway Labor Act, federal government mediators try to prevent railroad work stoppages, in this case to no avail. If the sides don’t reach agreement by September 15, rail workers can strike.
August 27, 2022
Meeting # 3,681 - Marina Minic, Solar Programs Administrator
Help the transition of alternative energy to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
You do not need to have solar panels on your roof with community solar.
Illinois’ new community solar program allows electricity customers to enjoy the benefits of solar energy without installing panels on their own homes. Solar in the Community is a free resource—brought to you by the nonprofit consumer group Citizens Utility Board (CUB)—to educate consumers about the program and help them assess community solar offers on the market. Note: This resource is about Illinois’ Community Solar program.Community Solar Basics
Community Solar Basics
Everything you need to know about community solar projects
https://www.saveonenergy.com/solar-energy/community-solar/
August 20, 2022
Meetings # 3,680 - Anna Schiefelbein, Charles Paidock, and other members of the ILGP, GP US
These actions are considered “positive recommendations for progressive change.” The principles and objectives of the party also embraces other forms of political activism, including support for various non-electoral movements.
Platform 10 Key Values
https://www.ilgp.org/platform /
Website
https://www.ilgp.org/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ILGreenParty
Become a Member
https://www.ilgp.org/membersh
August 13, 2022
Meeting # 3,679 - Brian Dennehy , JD, LL.M
Speaker states that: “It’s been a rough couple of years for the American Constitutional Republic. Lockdowns, vaccine mandates, federal red-flag laws, and other expansive assertions of political authority leave many questioning the direction of the country. Moreover, recent Supreme Court decisions addressing the right of the people to keep and bear arms, the right to legally obtain an abortion, and the scope of federal bureaucratic power have created legal issues and questions that will remain uncertain for the near future.
All the while, politicians drape more problems in the cloak of solutions and decry the need for more money and power to address the same problems that have turned into a crisis since they’ve been regulating them e.g., environment, healthcare, education, poverty, drug addiction, etc.
What are “we the people” supposed to accept with all this mess? Aren’t we supposed to have certain “unalienable” rights or something? What are these guys doing with their “limited and enumerated” powers and our money that they continue to need more power and money? Is choosing between the lesser of two evils supposed to represent “consent” to every stupid policy they come up with? Join political philosopher Brian Dennehy as we discuss these questions and more.”
July 30, 2022
The Libertarian Party Platform, as adopted by Convention, May 2022
Meeting # 3,677 - Justin Tucker, Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Illinois
Speaker states: "As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others."
Platform: https://www.lp.org/platform/
Issues: https://www.lp.org/issues/
Libertarian Party of Illinois https://lpillinois.org/
Libertarian Party of Chicago https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChicagoLP/posts/3008396199400699/
How to Join: https://my.lp.org/contribute/join/
About the Libertarian Party:
We, the members of the Libertarian Party, challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual.
\We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose.
Governments throughout history have regularly operated on the opposite principle, that the State has the right to dispose of the lives of individuals and the fruits of their labor. Even within the United States, all political parties other than our own grant to government the right to regulate the lives of individuals and seize the fruits of their labor without their consent.
July 23, 2022
Meeting # 3,676 –
Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a climate change organization that exists to create the political will for a livable world by enabling individual breakthroughs in the exercise of personal and political power. Our umbrella organization, Citizens Climate Lobby, directs 600+ chapters across the U.S., Canada, and more than 30 other countries.
Website https://citizensclimatelobby.org/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoCCL
July 16, 2022
“Trump is out of the White House, but American democracy is on the ropes and teetering on the brink of competitive authoritarianism controlled by theocrats and oligarchs. With its cherished institutions hobbled, political norms trampled, guardrails severely damaged, and body politic divided by chasms of race and geography, can the U.S. survive another administration dedicated to establishing de facto single party rule?
https://www.amazon.com/American-Fascism-How-Subverting-Democracy/dp/1955348030
July 9, 2022
Meeting # 3,674 - Jake Chappell
Young Communists
"For democracy. For equality. For socialism. For a sustainable future and a world that puts people before profits."
The Great Replacement (French: Grand Remplacement), also known as replacement theory, is a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theory disseminated by French author Renaud Camus. The original theory states that, with the complicity or cooperation of "replacist" elites, white European populations are being demographically and culturally replaced with non-white peoples—especially from Muslim-majority countries—through mass migration, demographic growth and a drop in the birth rate of white Europeans. Since then, similar claims have been advanced in other national contexts, notably in the United States where white genocide conspiracy theories directly foment violence against nonwhite and nonchristian people as well as shape policy surrounding abortion healthcare, voting access, immigration policy, and almost every other pervasive talking point of modern US politics.
YCL website
https://youngcommunists.org/
YCL Twitter
https://twitter.com/ChicagoYCL
YCL Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072109223577
July 2, 2022
Meeting # 3,673 – Charles Paidock
World UFO Day is an awareness day for people to gather together and watch the skies for unidentified flying objects (UFO).
The Roswell incident is the 1947 recovery of balloon debris from a ranch in New Mexico by US Army Air Forces officers, and the conspiracy theories, decades later, claiming that the debris was a flying saucer and that the truth had been covered up by the government.
June 25, 2022
Meetings # 3,672 – Jarell Corley
Jarell Corley has been an advocate of Independent Voter’s rights for the past 10 years. He became involved with IndependentVoting.org in 2013. Since his involvement with this organization, he has acted as an advocate spokesperson for American electoral reform. Jarell canvassed his Olympia Field’s neighborhood for signatures in support of Representative John Delaney’s Open our Democracy Act in 2015. Other activities in his efforts include, fundraising, social media management, and grassroots organizing.
Presently, Jarell serves as a National Spokesperson for Open Primaries, an electoral reform organization headquartered in New York City. Open Primaries is currently building the foundation for a grassroots campaign for electoral reform here in Illinois.
Elections in our country empower a toxic political culture that is superficial and ineffective. Fortunately, the evolution of American Democracy is quietly taking shape. Independents of all beliefs and backgrounds are working for electoral reform, pushing for different initiatives all around the country. Today’s program will revolve around a few organizations playing a pivotal role in reshaping how we vote in this country.
The organization’s covered in today’s presentation include IndependentVoting.org, Open Primaries, and Veteran’s for Political Innovation. Jarell will also briefly touch on other movements fighting to shed light on the idea of electoral reform being an effective solution to solve the issue of America’s deteriorating democracy.
June 18, 2022
Meeting # 3,671 - Meeting # 3,671 - Dan Bader, LCPC, LMFT, was a community psychotherapist for 23 years. He retired from the Chicago Department of Public Health in 2016
Speaker states that "The presentation will address how unmet needs and mismanaged emotions can lead to the adoption of a hoarding lifestyle. It will discuss how the formation of emotionally-driven decisions and beliefs maintains maladaptive hoarding behavior. Practical interventions and where to obtain assistance will also be covered."
June 11, 2022
Meeting # 3,670
Justin Tucker, Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Illinois
Justin states that "Jesus was not a communist. I will make the case by comparing and contrasting communist political philosophy with the teachings of Jesus Christ, pointing to the obvious conclusion that the rabbi from Nazareth was not a communist." Libertarian Party of Illinois https://lpillinois.org/
vs.
Rev. Charley Earp of the The Church of The Revolution, an intersectional ecosocialist religious communism
This emerging online and in-person congregation is committed to advancing a new vision of an intersectional ecosocialist Religious Communism that integrates the radicalism of Jesus of Nazareth, Karl Marx, and Universalism.
https://www.facebook.com/charley63
Each person who gathered to see Him was fed. The bread and fish were multiplied until everyone ate their fill, and there was even food left over (John 6:11–13). This is astounding because the Bible notes 5,000 men in attendance, plus women and children (Matthew 14:21). Some scholars believe that the crowd could have been between 15,000 and 20,000 people.
June 4, 2022
Meeting # 3,669 - Prof. Bob Lichtenbert, published author of eight books on the topic, will discuss what meaning is, and ways to get more of it in its major sources such as relationships, building community, God, and interpreting art. He will argue and conclude on what made him search for meaning so intensely.
Also by the Author: Tips for Making Meaning
by Bob Lichtenbert
The book supplies suggestions or "tips" for a person making the most meaning in her or his life. There are also aphorisms and uplifting tidbits for living a more meaningful life. The short and pithy tone is conducive to easy reading and comprehension. It is also educational in that it brings in insights into many famous philosophers, writers, artists, and scientists. As in Robert Lichtenbert's other books, "meaning" is defined as the "positive impact of a person," or in other words, referring to one's good effects or relations to other people or things. This makes it an objective, not merely subjective, concept. The tips and aphorisms also are intended to make clear to the reader why making meaning is important to his or her life.
May 28, 2022
How to Combat and Deal with Disruptive Audiences & Disinformation at School Board Meetings
(concerning anti-vaccination, anti-masking and critical race theory (CRT)
Meeting # 3,668 - Joyce Slavik and Jim McGrath of NWSOFA
“All are invited to attend and learn / contribute what is happening locally / across Illinois and nationally.
There is an organized effort to spread disinformation, we need to understand who is sponsoring the disinformation, and how to stop it. This is hand-to-hand combat as these conservative activists are trying to create local unsafe school anti-masking, anti-vaccination, racist policies, unseat duly elected representatives and disrupt our local school board meetings, Learn what we can do to level the playing field!”
May 21,2022
Meeting # 3,667 – Martha Pack of Wail of a Tail
“COVID 19 has changed lives around the world. This project was conceptualized by Marty while working as a COVID Investigator for Grand County Public Health. Based on direct experience by Marty and collogues, we expose inequalities. Our goal is to educate others on the conditions our society is facing, and to effect change.
The purpose of the project is to educates students, teachers, and the public on Long Covid. This is done by looking at the disparities in our health system like those caused by health deserts in both rural and urban communities. We interview individuals from different economic and social backgrounds to understand the vast physical, financial, and emotional differences faced by undocumented, middle class, and wealthy individuals struggling with Long Covid.”
May 14, 2022
How to Combat and Deal with Disruptive Audiences & Disinformation at School Board Meetings
(concerning anti-vaccination, anti-masking and critical race theory (CRT)
Meeting # 3,668 - Joyce Slavik and Jim McGrath of NWSOFA
“All are invited to attend and learn / contribute what is happening locally / across Illinois and nationally.
There is an organized effort to spread disinformation, we need to understand who is sponsoring the disinformation, and how to stop it. This is hand-to-hand combat as these conservative activists are trying to create local unsafe school anti-masking, anti-vaccination, racist policies, unseat duly elected representatives and disrupt our local school board meetings, Learn what we can do to level the playing field!”
May 7, 2022
Meetings # 3,665
Gene Lantz, President, Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, and Communications Director for the Dallas AFL/CIO, working with labor in solidarity, will discuss how American labor has been responsible for most of the progress we have made, and he will argue that labor has a bright future.
Speaker’s website https://genelantz.org/
FB Page https://www.facebook.com/gene.lantz.7
April 30, 2022
Meeting # 3,664 – Charles Paidock, Secretary, Chicago Greens, will speak on “cryptozoology” and the why the lumber industry, land conversion, and urban sprawl should be stopped.
April 23, 2022
Meeting # 3,663 - Toneal M. Jackson and Mark Buettner
Created in 1889 as the Sanitary District of Chicago, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) today is an award-winning,
special-purpose district responsible for treating wastewater and providing stormwater management for residents and businesses in its service area,
which encompasses 882.1 square miles and includes Chicago and 128 suburban communities throughout Cook County. The MWRD serves
approximately 12.72 million people each day, including 5.16 million residents.
Toneal M. Jackson
International Award-Winning Author, publisher, podcaster and organizer. Founder of Artists Promoting Success and I’m Glad to be a Woman, Jackson uses her platforms to educate and empower. Her podcast, Toneal Talks Politics has helped bring awareness to the Green Party, their core values as well as other environmental issues.
Mark Buettner
Mark received a degree in Water Technology from New Mexico State University in 2008. He worked as an Illinois wastewater treatment works operator class 1 for 14 years in the water reclamation industry; nine of those years as an MWRD treatment plant operator.
April 16, 2022
Meeting # 3,662 - Allan Lindrup
Presenter is an activist with the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice Environmental Task Force, and a member of numerous environmental organizations.
Canadian Pacific has a program to design and build North America’s first line-haul hydrogen-powered locomotive using fuel cells and batteries
April 9, 2022
Meeting # 3,661 - Ana Garcia Doyle, Executive Director
One Earth Collective harnesses the power of people through vibrant environmental programming that inspires action, facilitates learning, and fosters inclusion to create safer communities and a healthier planet.
Through our three program areas: One Earth Film Festival, One Earth Local and One Earth Youth Voices, we engage more than 7,000 people annually in activities that spur creativity. After encounters with One Earth, people of all ages are encouraged to see the possibilities and adopt solution-oriented mindsets, and share their learnings and ideas with others.
Since 2010, One Earth Collective has built environmental awareness and inspired action in the Chicago area as well as nationally, with an emphasis on developing youth leadership.
Our grass-roots, community-based work is centered at the intersection of the environment and social justice. We invite people into our work through the power of art, nature, activism and community.
April 2, 2022
Meeting # 3,660 -
Speaker states: "After 45 years in the practice of law, I have decided to follow my passion and run for public office for the Libertarian Party. Libertarians stand for principled support for the presumption of liberty. To accomplish our goals, we must first get elected and for that we need to be on the ballot. The right of all Americans to vote was accomplished through a great civil rights struggle. We now seek the completion of that battle. The right to vote is nothing less than the right to voice our individualized opinions. Ballot access laws, gerrymandering and a host of other policies silence the passions of the people. Let us give strength to James Madison‘s vision of faction balancing faction by opening access to the American ballot. These are the civil rights issues of our day."
March 26, 2022
Meeting # 3,659 -
“Jian Li, PhD in anthropology and a Mandarin teacher, will explore the limitations of a “Black and White” worldview and introduce different ways of thinking based on the Chinese philosophy and insights from “superforecasting” developed by Philip E. Tetlock . In a world where many people feel a sense of righteous anger against those who think differently, she suggests that we should seek “understanding before making judgements, collaboration over confrontation, and compassion over self righteousness.”
References for Superforcasting:
How to Predict the Future - Philip Tetlock: https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_the_moral_roots_of_liberals_and_conservatives/transcript?referrer=playlist-the_politic
Why an Open Mind Is Key to Making Better Predictions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-07DJ7xVBis
Superforcasting: How to Predict the Future - Philip Tetlock - Animated Book Review https://howdo.com/book-summaries/superforecasting-summary-and-review/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_E._Tetlock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superforecasting:_The_Art_and_Science_of_Prediction
Welcome to Good Judgment® Open https://www.gjopen.com
March 19, 2022
Meeting # 3,658 - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59205031-my-whirlwind-lives
Author states: "My Whirlwind Lives" is a response to current stormy events and trends that are changing history. But it’s a special response, looking not just at recent experiences, but viewing them through a prism of five decades of resistance and real protest. The book “takes us through decades of turmoil in the U.S. and overseas, and decades of movement building against war, injustice and destruction of the planet,” says Medea Benjamin of CodePink. It tells a story of witnessing and supporting revolutions in Portugal and Nicaragua, and building a socialist movement at home. As Gerry Condon of Veterans For Peace said, the story “shares much with that of thousands of young people whose lives and world views changed when they were pushed to participate in unjust U.S.wars.
Some people have experienced a whirlwind in their lives. My life has been a series of whirlwinds.”
Website: https://deeknight.blog/my-whirlwind-lives/
March 12, 2022
Meeting # 3,657 - Stansfield Smith
The speaker maintains that: “The US helped engineer an anti-Russia coup against the elected government of Ukraine in 2014. Heavily Russian populated areas of the Ukraine chose to separate from Ukraine. Ukraine, armed with US weapons, and has been attacking these areas for the last eight years, killing 14,000. It refused to obey a ceasefire, and recently escalated attacks. The US corporate media hides this background. Ukraine also planned to join NATO, putting US missiles on Russia's borders. Russia responded to these threats with a military counterattack. Other aims of this US provoked war is to stop the European Union's economic integration with Russia, and destroy Russia as a world power.”
March 5, 2022
Meeting # 3,656 - Dan Weinberg, seasoned college regular, gardener, and librarian, asks: “Why pay $2.59/lb for apples when you can pay $.99/lb? Are co-ops and farmer's markets worth the extra price you pay? Yes. Is Organic worth more to the Earth and to the eater? Yes. Is Organic really helpful to the climate? Yes. Can I afford $2.59/lb for apples? Yes. Can the Earth afford Organic? Yes.
"It's not all about the money. What is carbon sequestration? What do food and war have in common? How can keeping the soil healthy allow people to grow real food? How much corn is used by humans? Where are the food markets-NYC, CME, ADM, Cargill, Buge, Nestle, Coke, Pepsi, or farms? Is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) nutritious? How did great civilizations end in the past? Can the soil absorb all the carbon dioxide in the air? Are GMOs good for nutrition? I will answer these and other questions in the talk."
February 26, 2022
Meetings # 3,655 - Peter Norton, Assoc Prof, University of Virginia, technology historian
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Autonorama-Illusory-Promise-High-Tech-Driving/dp/1642832405
“The foundation has been laid for fully autonomous,” Elon Musk announced in 2016, when he assured the world that Tesla would have a driverless fleet on the road in 2017. “It’s twice as safe as a human, maybe better.” Promises of technofuturistic driving utopias have been ubiquitous wherever tech companies and carmakers meet.
In Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving, technology historian Peter Norton argues that driverless cars cannot be the safe, sustainable, and inclusive “mobility solutions” that tech companies and automakers are promising us. The salesmanship behind the driverless future is distracting us from investing in better ways to get around that we can implement now. Unlike autonomous vehicles, these alternatives are inexpensive, safe, sustainable, and inclusive.
February 19, 2022
Meeting # 3,654 - Stansfield Smith returns with another detailed analysis of foreign affairs
Speaker states: “Since Hugo Chavez came to power in 1998, the US has been trying to overthrow the democratically elected progressive Chavista governments. The US has organized six different coup attempts, and has even appointed its own "President of Venezuela." The US has imposed a complete economic blockade on the country, and, with its allies, stolen billions of its wealth in overseas banks, seized CITGO, and attempted to block all Venezuela's international trade. Yet the US has failed to remove the Chavista government through coups or through elections, given its support among the people.”
February 12, 2022
Meeting # 3,653 - Anna Schiefelbein https://www.ilgp.org/april2022 /
Illinois law requires that townships hold at least one public meeting per year, on the second Tuesday in April. (April 12 in 2022.) At these meetings, members of the public have the same voting power as the township committee members. At this meeting, a majority vote of those in attendance can put a question on the ballot for the next election. The exception to this is Chicago, which will meet the following day, April 13, 2022 at 10am to bring City Council a climate action petition to set a zero-emissions date of 1/1/30.
February 5, 2022
Meeting # 3,652 - Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Williams, President, Dallas, Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, and Democratic Activist, will discuss the Question: "Should Democrats be doing more to save democracy from the anti-democratic movement that has taken over the Republican party?" He concludes that they should, and offers directions as to what we can do to combat this situation.
January 29, 2022
Meetings # 3,651
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is a worker-based human rights organization internationally recognized for its achievements in fighting human trafficking and gender-based violence at work. The CIW is also recognized for pioneering the design and development of the Worker-driven Social Responsibility paradigm, a worker-led, market-enforced approach to the protection of human rights in corporate supply chains.
Built on a foundation of farmworker community organizing starting in 1993, and reinforced with the creation of a national consumer network since 2000, CIW’s work has steadily grown over more than twenty years to encompass broad and overlapping spheres. https://ciw-online.org/
The farmworker from CIW who will be presenting on Saturday is Silvia Sabanilla. Here is her bio:
Silvia Sabanilla is a staff member and leader of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). Originally from Mexico, Ms. Sabanilla worked in the agricultural industry across the South for more than 17 years as a harvester, picking tomatoes, peppers, and other mixed vegetables. As part of the Fair Food Program, Ms. Sabanilla and her colleagues conduct workers’ rights education in the fields on all farms participating in the Fair Food Program. Ms. Sabanilla’s work at the CIW includes hosting daily radio shows on the CIW’s low-power community FM radio station, leading the weekly Women’s Group meetings, receiving complaints of abuses in the fields, and managing wage theft claims. Finally, Ms. Sabanilla represents the CIW at a national level, speaking publicly on the challenges faced by farmworkers in Florida, both during major actions with thousands of consumers and in dozens of presentations throughout the year.
January 22, 2022
Meeting # 3,650 - Dr, John Beesley
Dr, John Beesley, English born Author, retired after a long career with Xerox, (Educated at London's Imperial College and the University of Dallas, BSc, DIC, MBA, Ph.D.), will discuss how over the past four decades the quality of life for most Americans has slowly, but surely, been degraded. The severity of current social ills has been blamed on character defects, with which the poorest are said to be uniquely endowed. He argues that the reality is that American institutions, along with their attendant myths, have been constructed to bring this about. The US Congress, under the ownership of the money class, has been willingly complicit. John will make a vigorous attempt to bring together the various socio-economic factors that have caused the "Fleecing of America".
January 16, 2022
Meetings # 3,649
Justin Tucker, Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Illinois,
rings in the New Year with a slideshow of the dankest libertarian-themed memes shared on social media. He will demonstrate how humor is a fun way to spread the message of liberty and show appreciation for dank memes as an art form. From thoughtful quotes to Leonardo DiCaprio, these dank memes will provoke thoughts and laughs. There will also be an update on the Libertarian Party of Illinois as we enter the 2022 election cycle. Trigger Warning: excessive dank. Rated PG-13.
January 8, 2022
Meeting # 3,648 - Ian Thomas, PhD, State and Local Program Director
America Walks is leading the way in advancing walkable, equitable, connected, and accessible places in every community across the U.S. We are the national voice for public spaces that allow people to safely walk and move. At the regional, state, and neighborhood levels, America walks provides critical strategic support, training, and technical assistance to partner organizations and individuals to effectively advocate for change.
December 18, 2021
Meeting #3,647 - Rev. Charley Earp https://www.facebook.com/charley63
This emerging online and in-person congregation is committed to advancing a new vision of an intersectional ecosocialist Religious Communism that integrates the radicalism of Jesus of Nazareth, Karl Marx, and Universalism.
December 11, 2021
Meeting # 3,646 - Mike Ghouse, President https://centerforpluralism.com/
Dr. Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker, author, community consultant, pluralist, activist, newsmaker, and interfaith wedding officiant. Mike is deeply committed to Pluralism in Religion, Politics, Societies, and the workplace. He is an activist for Human Rights and freedom. He has dedicated his life to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions to the media and the policymakers on issues of the day. Everything about him is at www.TheGhousediary.com
December 4, 2021
Meeting #3,645 - Jen Walling, Executive Director.
"Our mission at IEC is not just passing environmental policies that benefit Illinoisans and our state’s environment, but building power for people and the environment. Part of how we do that is through education: making your legislators’ recent decisions on the environment accessible to you, so you can see just how they’re leveraging their influence in the general assembly to either advocate for their constituents’ right to a healthy environment OR for the interests of big polluters."
November 27, 2021
Meeting # 3,644 - Jian Li, PhD
Jian Li, PhD in anthropology and a Mandarin teacher, will discuss the understandings and misunderstandings of the concepts of “race, racial ideas, and racism”. Based on the theories of anthropology, genetics and her own personal experiences and reflections, she argues that the concept of race that many people still hold true is outdated. We need to re-examine the concepts of race and racism so we can move towards more open-minded and socially responsible citizens.
Meeting #3,643 -
The Coalition for the National Infrastructure Bank is an organization of individuals and groups dedicated to a common purpose: To get legislation enacted by the US Congress that creates a $5 Trillion National Infrastructure Bank.
Our proposed $5 trillion Bank would provide funding for a nationwide network of high-speed rail, rebuilding thousands of bridges and tunnels, repairing and upgrading tens of thousands of miles of roads, constructing large-scale water projects to provide clean, fresh water for drinking and irrigation, upgrading our electricity generating capacity as well as the transmission network, building broadband internet access, and schools and hospitals. In addition, it will provide sufficient funding to finally realize new technologies.
These projects would create more than 25 million new, good-paying industrial American jobs.
In short, the NIB would change the life of every single person in America, and impact people and events worldwide.
It means giving the people of the United States back their sense of identity as producers, not merely "consumers." The NIB will be crucial for our recovery from the COVID crisis; we can not only regain what we lost during the crisis, but achieve a level of capability that will mean we are never caught unprepared again.
We need you help to get Congress to adopt legislation for a $5 trillion National Infrastructure Bank.
Please like our Facebook page and share the videos with your friends, family and colleagues.
November 13, 2021
Meeting #3,642 - Veronica Pelicaric, Director of Educational Programs.
Speaker states: "I will present the work of Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service. We are a 32 year old organization that works in the field of strategic and principled nonviolence. We have programs such a yearly week long Campaign Nonviolence that this year organized 4.400 actions. We have also trained 500 people this year through our workshops."
I am the Director of Educational programs and have co-authored two books on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/VeronicaPelica...
November 6, 2021
Meeting #3,641 - Marsha Williams
"As members of Congress, it is our job to create laws and policies that will uplift our communities and make America a better place – a safer place - for future generations. It is time to move forward as a country by finding real solutions to the issues we face every day."
October 30, 2021
Meeting #3,640
Illinois Green Party Adam Broad For Congress CD-10
October 23, 2021
Meetings #3,639 - James Fitzer, Ph.D
The pandemic is fake but the vax is real. Sherri Tenpenny has described the mRNA vaccines as "perfectly designed killing machines". See "The Coronavirus Phenomenon: Medical Emergency or Political Pandemic?" (24 May 2020),
October 15, 2021
Meeting # 3,638 - Thomas Brady, Associate Dean, Public Service and Homeland Security Training Institute at College of DuPage
Speaker is a fraud prevention expert and investigator with many years of experience, and will focus on ways for people to protect themselves against fraudsters in person, over the phone, and online. Some of the topics discussed will be; Vaccine Scams, Charity Scams, Door to Door Scams, Fraudsters Posing as Tradespeople, Internet Scams, Lottery Scams, Work at Home Scams, Telephone Solicitation Scams, and Grandparent Scams, among others.
You’ll learn why people fall for scams, how to identify scams before you are victimized, and whom to contact if you think you’ve been scammed.
Meetings # 3,638 - Thomas Brady, Associate Dean, Public Service and Homeland Security Training Institute at College of DuPage
Speaker is a fraud prevention expert and investigator with many years of experience, and will focus on ways for people to protect themselves against fraudsters in person, over the phone, and online. Some of the topics discussed will be; Vaccine Scams, Charity Scams, Door to Door Scams, Fraudsters Posing as Tradespeople, Internet Scams, Lottery Scams, Work at Home Scams, Telephone Solicitation Scams, and Grandparent Scams, among others.
You’ll learn why people fall for scams, how to identify scams before you are victimized, and whom to contact if you think you’ve been scammed.
October 9, 2021
Meeting # 3,637
Brad Ahrens Illinois Green Party Candidate for Congress CD-17
October 2, 2021
Meetings #3,636 - Jian Li
Jian Li, PhD in anthropology and a Mandarin teacher, will give a taste of Taoism/Daoism, the traditional Chinese philosophy/religion, by examining its classical text, Tao Te Ching / Dao De Jing and its relationship with modern physics. She argues that there is more than one way of understanding and appreciating the power of philosophy, science and spiritual practices.
September25, 2021
Meeting # 3,635 - Author Michael Sean Comerford
Speaker states that: "Yes! I bicycled 2,500 miles this year from snowy Chicago during the height of the pandemic in February and arrived 8 states later on Santa Monica Pier, in California.
I asked more than 100 people Covid questions and tried to make the responses short – 5 minutes was perfect. Their views are AMAZING!
I’m aiming to finish a book by summer’s end. I’m seeking backers for a documentary."
Check out the YouTube page — Google “The Story Cycle and Comerford” or CLICK http://ow.ly/vKTk50F4Zlz
September 18, 2021
Focus: Climate and clean energy, Sustainable food and agriculture, Responsible investing, Fair labor
Meeting # 3,634 - Todd Larsen, Executive Co-Director for Consumer & Corporate Engagement
greenamerica.org
Green America is a national, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, membership organization founded in 1982.
We went by the name "Co-op America" until January 1, 2009.
Our Mission
Green America harnesses economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.
Our Vision
We work for a world where all people have enough, where all communities are healthy and safe, and where the abundance of the Earth is preserved for all the generations to come.
Focus
We focus on these four areas for system transformation, insisting on social justice and environmental health across all sectors. We believe if we can get these right, the rest of the economy will follow:
Climate and clean energy
Sustainable food and agriculture
Responsible investing
Fair labor
September 11, 2021
Meeting # 3,633 - James Fetzer
Speaker cofounded Scholars for 9/11 Truth in 2005, and claims that elements in the United States government and intelligence community were responsible for the September 11th attacks. Fetzer asserts that no commercial planes or hijackers were involved at any of the attack locations, that Flight 93 did not exist, and that guided missiles and/or explosives were instead used to destroy the buildings and create the appearance of a plane crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
September 4, 2021
Special Labor Day Speaker
Our Accomplishments and Challenges – Past to Present
Meeting # 3,632 - Mark Burrows
Mark Burrows is a retired locomotive engineer, having worked 37 years in the industry. He served as delegate, representing Local #1433 of SMART-TD (formerly United Transportation Union) at its 2011 and 2014 International Conventions. For over 10 years he has been active in Railroad Workers United (RWU). He has regularly written a commentary for, and has recently taken over publishing RWU’s quarterly newsletter, The Highball.
RWU
RWU is a cross-craft, inter-union caucus of rank & file railroad workers who advocate for unity amongst the 13 rail unions, across North America, in order to more effectively fight for safe working conditions, as well as dignity on and off the job. RWU advocates for solidarity with the labor movement in general, in alliance with activists for social, economic and climate justice.
Lac Megantic
Speaker has also given public presentations explaining the facts about the Lac Megantic crude oil tank car rail tragedy, in the context of the potential hazards communities continue to face due to unsafe railroad operations
August 28, 2021
Meeting # 3,631 - Tim Bolger
Speakers states that he will tell in no uncertain terms why renewable energy will not solve the climate change problem, and in some cases will contribute to it, the only real solution is the widespread adaptation of nuclear power. Tim will make the case why nuclear is good, and specifically the widespread adoption of Thorium nuclear power.
Tim will also include several updates about the potential adoption of the commercialization of these newer reactors in less than 7 years
August 21, 2021
Meeting # 3,630 - Jian Li, PhD in anthropology and a Mandarin teacher, will re-examine some of her favorite poems by Robert Frost and William Blake. She argues that a shift from seeking truth to beauty can be a transformative life experience, while seeking unity between beauty and truth can be elusive but divine.
August 14, 2021
"It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where they trade
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid"
Meeting # 3,629 – Charles Paidock, historian
The lives and livelihoods of men and women who never made the history books or headline news, from the time of the cavemen, early civilizations, Ancient Rome and Asian dynasties, the Middle ages, and transition to the modern era
August 7, 2021
in global affairs
Meeting # 3,628 - Eston McKeague, President
About Us
We believe that the current system of competitive sovereign countries fails to tackle the global challenges that impact us all. We advocate a new form of global governance, one in which people cooperate to secure their common interest through a democratic world federation.
Founded in 2019, we are part of a movement that goes back nearly a century, and an idea that goes back millennia. We embody the historically broad support for world federalism by welcoming people from across the political spectrum to our movement. While we vigorously debate issues amongst ourselves, we remain united in pursuit of our vision for a better world.
Our Vision
We envision a sustainable, just, and peaceful world through a democratic world federation. A world run by humanity, for humanity, providing equal opportunity to all on a thriving planet.
Our Mission
We are a global movement building support for world federalism. To do this, we educate the public and raise awareness, collaborate with like-minded organizations, and mobilize activists and volunteers.
July 31, 2021
Meeting # 3,627 - Andrew Szilva, Executive Director
Incorporated in 2020, FairVote Illinois is made up of volunteers who are supporters of democracy, who value freedom and fairness in our elections, and who are passionate about implementing ranked choice voting in Illinois.
Our Mission
Our mission is to empower Illinois voters to be heard, supported, and represented by improving freedom and fairness in our elections through ranked choice voting (RCV).
Why We Do What We Do
We believe Illinois voters should have a greater choice in who represents them, a stronger voice that is heard by those in office, and representation that better reflects their values, beliefs, and backgrounds.
The Problem with Our Current Electoral System
Our winner-take-all system robs us of real choice.
We shouldn’t have to vote against a candidate we want to lose rather than for a candidate we truly want to win.
No one should feel as though their vote doesn’t make a difference in the outcome of an election, and no one should have to accept that things won't change no matter who's in charge.
We refuse to accept this status quo. None of this is consistent with the spirit of democracy.
July 24, 2021
Meeting # 3,626 - Patrick Cage, Author
Profound Secrets of Jesus and His Inner Circle will bring to light paradigm-altering facts surrounding Christ's arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection. This book provides an in-depth understanding of the substantial roles played by women in the fulfillment of Christ's mission here on earth. These pages reveal that just as God used a woman, the Virgin Mary, to birth Jesus, God likewise used a woman, Mary Magdalene, to resurrect him.
The book uses information discovered outside of the Bible to establish that miracles performed by Jesus actually happened. Ancient documents reveal these miracles, including at least one involving the raising of the dead, was promptly investigated and, in some cases, witnessed by the religious elite responsible for putting Jesus on trial.
The secret of the Apostle Paul's preconversion contact with Jesus will also be thoroughly examined. Other areas explored include a revealing look at how Christianity was founded by a woman and not any of the male disciples of Jesus. The book will look at James, the brother of Jesus, and his plot to kill the Apostle Paul.
Purchase
https://www.alibris.com/search/books/...
July 17, 2021
Meeting # 3,625 - Meeting # 3,625 – Bonniejean Alford, Distinguished Toastmaster
Bonniejean Alford, The Identity Guru, MA (Sociology and Communication)
Founder and Creative Brand, Identity, and Word Strategist, Alford Enterprises
Word Artist. Professional Speaker. Creativity Coach.
July 10, 2021
Meeting # 3,624 - Meeting # 3,624 – seasoned college regular Corina Schusheim
talks about one way to adopt a low-consumption lifestyle
She states that: “I have compiled a cheat sheet for cheapskates. Tightwads can use online forums to get free goods, haircuts, movies etc. Saving money sometimes requires a substantial time commitment. Receive free things while keeping goods out of landfills, helping trainees practice and enjoying Chicago's public goods.”
July 3, 2021
Human and American needs and how they relate to our country as we approach our 250th birthday as a nation: what values as a nation do we want for the future world situation?
Meeting # 3,623 - C. Jenny Walbridge
Speaker states that: “For the July talk, I would like to read some old hymns to amuse and inspire us, then discuss three suggested patriotic teacher questions from the National Endowment for the Humanities for our 250th birthday. I will read a few poems: my great-grandfather wrote a “Poem to Old Glory” in 1941 which inspired me to craft a new American flag poem along with a “Poem to New Glory,” a poem to a world flag. We can ponder my use of American values applied to the future world situation. I would like to use these poems for the 2024 Artemis moon landing, with the first woman on the moon—who hopefully will replace the American flag up there now with a world flag!"
March 14, 2020
Meeting # 3,572 - Ada Cheng, Ph.D.
This will be an interactive presentation. Through a facilitated dialogue, we will explore the following issues:
I. What is toxic masculinity?
II. Why is it important to examine it under the current sociopolitical climate?
III. Where does it all start and how does it manifest itself?
IV. How does it affect all of us?
V. How can individual and collective changes take place?
Presenter bio:
This conversation will be facilitated by Dr. Ada Cheng, a professor-turned-storyteller, solo performer, and storytelling show producer. She was a tenured professor at DePaul University for 15 years from 2001 to 2016. During her time at DePaul, she taught subjects on gender, sex, sexuality, masculinity, race/ethnicity, and immigration. She recently performed her solo show NOT QUITE as the keynote for Women and Girls in Georgia Conference. She is the producer and the host for four storytelling shows, including Pour One Out, Am I Man Enough?, Talk Stories, and Speaking Truths Series. She creates platforms for people to tell difficult and vulnerable stories as well as spaces for people and communities who may not have opportunities otherwise. She is currently the Education and Outreach Specialist with Campus Advocacy Network at Women's Leadership and Resource Center at UIC. She Please check out her website: www.renegadeadacheng.com.
March 7, 2020
Meeting # 3,571 – “My name is Troy Hernandez and I’m one of the Green Party candidates for Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, or MWRD.
I’ve lived in the Chicagoland area my entire life. I have degrees from UIC in mathematics, philosophy, and operations research. In 2013 I earned my PhD in statistics. For the last 6 years I’ve worked in Chicago’s tech industry as a data scientist and architect. I currently work for IBM. I don’t need this job, but to whom much has been given, much is required.
We previously handed out 300 lead water filters to families affected by water meter installations and water main replacements. Now, with the MWRD I hope to address some of the challenges with our waste water.
As I’ve been saying since before it became fashionable, the institutional corruption in Cook County is a tax on all of us who live here. The average Cook County resident has to pay a tax every time an interested party makes a campaign contribution to one of our commissioners.
Green Party research showed that the MWRD Democrats gave campaign donors $722 million in contracts. Eliminating these conflicts of interest could save every tax payer in Cook County money.
Because of these scandals, the Green Party called for an MWRD inspector general. 2 weeks ago that inspector general alleged that 4 of our commissioners used their official email accounts, “to solicit MWRD employees for political purposes.” Our tax dollars are literally financing my opponents’ campaigns.
If you’re tired of paying Cook County corruption taxes, then vote for me, Troy Hernandez, for MWRD Commissioner.”
February 29, 2020
Meeting # 3,570 - The candidates states that:
“I am running on a Human Rights Platform. I am a former gang leader, drug dealer, and have been to prison. My step mother is white and I grew up in a middle class home with my father. Based on society”s idea, I had a good upbringing.
I am running for President because I care about the future for my granddaughter and our society has moved away from morals and principles. I want to be a model Chief citizen for America.
I am working on the changes by creating a vocational and entrepreneurship school for the disenfranchised. I believe in one race, the Human race.
The current policies only seem to focus on democrats or republicans views, and not the views of the people they are supposed to be serving or representing. My platform stays the same regardless if I’m President or not. Our campaign is about doing the work we believe in now. “
February 22, 2020
Meeting # 3,569 - college regular Ellen Corley
Using Thom Hartmann’s book, “The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America,” as her guide, College of Complexes regular, Ellen Corley, will give an overview of how the United States court system has been covertly altered by powerful elites such as the Federalist Society to undermine our democracy since way before the founding of the Republic. She will also integrate the perspective of other leading public intellectuals such as Michael Parenti whose book “Democracy for the Few” shines much need perspective on the very rea and present danger of a court system that has been essentially rigged that it is now being used to take away rather than protect the rights of the people. The overall focus of this presentation will be to identify remedies in the US and the International court for remedying the problem of the way right wing extremism and Fascist policy has taken over America.
February 15, 2020
Meeting # 3,568 - 30 minute presentations by Ted Aranda, and David Ramsay Steele
Both college regulars, Ted is known best for his talks on conspiracy theories, David Ramsey Steele is the author of several books.
Both have given several talks at recent College of Complexes sessions.
February 8, 2020
Meeting # 3,567 - college regular Sidney Cohen returns with a talk about the history of freedom, abiet from a Socialist or Communist perspective. Sidney Cohen thinks that the tenants of modern day capitalism, are severly hampering the development of freedom and his talk will explain why, with an emphasis on historical development of freedom.
February 1, 2020
Meeting # 3,566 - Sveta Stoytcheva, Matthew Cason
Do you believe we should own our energy? Then Join Chicago DSA’s #DemocratizeComEd Campaign! For the first time in 30 years, Chicago’s electricity distributor ComEd is renegotiating its contract with the city. Now’s the time for us to push for a city-owned electric utility with an elected board, aggressive renewable energy targets, progressive rates, and green, union jobs to maintain infrastructure. If we democratize ComEd, we can serve our communities and the environment instead of investors. Email DemComEd@gmail.com for more information, or #DemocratizeComEd
January 25, 2020
Meetings # 3,556 - Robert Holland presents a penetrating essay on our culture
The speaker supplies this quotation as an "epigraph" of his presentation:
"Though real equality be the very soul of a democracy, it is so difficult to establish, that an extreme exactness in this respect would not be always convenient. Sufficient is it to establish a census, which shall reduce or fix the differences to a certain point: it is afterwards the business of particular laws to level, as it were, the inequalities, by the duties laid upon the rich, and by the ease afforded to the poor. It is moderate riches alone that can give or suffer this sort of compensation; for as to men of overgrown estates, everything which does not contribute to advance their power and honor is considered by them as an injury."
—Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689–1755) The Spirit of the Laws (1748
January 18, 2020
Meeting # 3,564 - author David Ramsay Steele discusses his new book
Link to Article: www.la-articles.org.uk/fascism.htm
Program Description
David Ramsay Steele’s latest book is The Mystery of Fascism: David Ramsay Steele’s Greatest Hits, a collection of twenty-three of his articles spanning the years 1987–2018. The most famous piece, still constantly read and re-read with astonishment, is “The Mystery of Fascism” (2001). Other chapters cover Ayn Rand, Thomas Szasz, Friedrich Hayek, the TV show Dexter, why gambling is productive, how we know we’re not living in the Matrix, how Hillary Clinton could have won the 2016 election, and why it’s moral to eat meat.
In his talk Dr. Steele will focus on fascism: what it means and what we can do about it. Copies of The Mystery of Fascism will be on sale, and if you want your grandchildren to be multimillionaires, the author may be persuaded to autograph them (the books, not the grandchildren). Dr. Steele’s other books include Orwell Your Orwell (2017), Therapy Breakthrough (2013), Atheism Explained (2008), Three Minute Therapy (1997), and From Marx to Mises (1992).
January 11, 2020
Meetings # 3,563 - Joseph Kopsick’s powerpoint presentation
Position of the candidate reviewed: The Freedom Dividend, a universal basic income of $1000/mo, Medicare for All, Human-Centered Capitalism, candidate says it’s a fight to put Humanity First
January 4, 2020
Meetings # 3,562 - Jennifer Soble, Executive Director
The Illinois Prison Project works for a saner criminal justice system by using creative approaches to reducing the size and expense of Illinois' prison population. We represent clients directly, and connect clients to lawyers throughout the State.
"We push back against excessive sentences in Illinois through direct representation, issue education, and by connecting lawyers directly to clients."
Our Work
Direct Representation
We provide direct representation to people in the Illinois Department of Corrections by filing clemency petitions on their behalf.
Screening and Clearinghouse
We screen thousands of cases to identify people that are strong candidates for clemency. We match those people with lawyers, social workers, and other volunteers throughout the state, who file clemency petitions on their behalf. We provide models, templates, and support to our volunteers throughout the clemency process.
Education
We provide education about our core issues, the clemency process, and the benefits of a smarter approach to criminal justice.
December 28, 2019
Meeting # 3,561 -
Joshua Flynn is a vibrant, energetic, experienced champion of the underserved in his community. For over a decade, Flynn has been an organizer, activist, mentor and conduit of resources, creating opportunities and making an impactful difference in the lives of others.
Joshua Flynn is running for the office of State Representative, 78th district, in the state of Illinois, to represent and champion the needs of his community. District 78, home to over 108,000 residents, is located in the city of Chicago and includes Leyden, Oak Park and Proviso townships, and the villages of Elmwood Park, Franklin Park, Melrose Park, Oak Park and River Grove.
Restoring integrity to our local government is the prime focus for Flynn. At the financial level, he seeks to bring better oversight to both budget and spending, and believes that our pension and tax programs need solid, thoughtful reform. And at every level, he plans to bring greater transparency to government.
December 21, 2019
Meeting # 3,560 - Celebrate the holidays with Justin Tucker as he presents a slideshow of libertarian-themed memes, demonstrating how images shared through social media have been an effective means of spreading the philosophy of liberty. He will also discuss how the phenomenon of memes are a form of 21st Century folk art. Trigger Warning: excessive hilarity.
December 14, 2019
Meeting # 3,559 - Donald Meinshausen, Longtime Libertarian Scenester
2019 not only marks fifty years of the moon landing, the Stonewall rebellion and Woodstock, but also the modern Libertarian movement.
Donald Meinshausen, longtime Libertarian scenester, will discuss key events of 1969 that ignited the modern movement, such as the final Students for a Democratic Society convention, held in Chicago, and the Young Americans for Freedom convention in St. Louis. He will also the history of the movement since those important events.
December 7, 2019
Meeting # 3,558 – Adam Balling presents a glimpse at twentieth century European history, economic ideas and dynamics, & recent politics, as well as a surprisingly dramatic life.
“Hungarian economist Janos Kornai, who is not a household name but a distinguished academic who wrote an autobiography, “By Force of Thought: Irregular Memoirs of An Intellectual Journey.” He was born in 1928, lived through WWII and lost relatives in the Holocaust, joining the communists party after the war. Initially a true believer, Kornai later became a critic of communism through both his study of economics and learning about Stalinist repression.
Despite suffering persecution in the aftermath of the 1956 uprising, his ideas about central planning and chronic economic shortages under state socialism won him an audience on both sides of the Iron Curtain: perhaps unique in being able to reach Soviet bloc experts, as well as scholars in the West, both followers of Keynesianism & their more market-oriented opponents. Still alive at 91, in recent years, Kornai has spoken out against the Orban regime in Hungary.”
November 30, 2019
Meeting # 3,557 - A look at how changes in retailing affects our economy and employment, consumer choices,
what we buy and US trade policy, etc
Tim Bolger, college regular, has worked marketing electronics on-line worldwide for 10+ years, takes a look at the transformation in shopping for Christmas gifts, places and conditions of employment, with advice on benefits and disadvantages of each to the consumer
November, 23, 2019
Meeting # 3,556 - Germinal Van, author, of the Libertarian Party, gives a presentation entitled "The Problem of Egalitarianism," challenging those who might seek democratic socialist alternatives. Program includes a question and answer period, followed by 5 minute remarks/rebuttals by anyone in the audience.
The speaker states: "The purpose of this lecture is to explain why Egalitarianism as a goal is impossible to achieve. Seeking equality requires coercion by the state. As the state is used as the great equalizer to enforce equality, the state must deprive the haves of their property, and give it to the have-nots. Egalitarianism, by seeking equality, generates in fact more inequality between the haves and the have-nots."
November 16, 2019
Meeting # 3,555 - Rabbi Michael Ben Yosef
Mission
To help repair the lives of people all over the world in a diverse manner.
Rabbi Michael Ben Yosef, President, states that “Because my work is so diverse I will take the group on a journey to sample the conditions in our world, and how Tikkun Chai Inter-National plays a part to bring about change in those instances.”
November 9, 2019
Meeting # 3,554 - Prof. Robert Lichtenbert, a college regular since 1979, will give some of the best tips or advise from his fourth book (to be available at ingramcontent.com which he has collected for forty years. He will first discuss what is meaning, defined as "positive impact," in general. He will then explain how to make meaning in general for both yourself and for others. Finally, he will offer dozens of his best tips ("Tips for Making Meaning") from his new book for discussion in a powerpoint presentation.
November 2, 2019
Meeting # 3,553 - Roberto Jesus Clark, Associate Director
Warehouse Workers for Justice fights for good, stable, living wage jobs in Chicago's massive logistics and transportation industry. We educate workers on their rights, help workers enforce their rights, and fight for public and private policies that promote full-time work with respect and fair wages in our region's warehouses and distribution centers.
October 26, 2019
Meeting # 3,552 - college regular Ed Rios will be providing a theoretical basis for the unseen world and the soul
October 19, 2019
Meeting # 3,551 - Justin Tucker, Chair, Libertarian Party of Chicago
In this presentation the speaker analyzes the classic book, "Capitalism and Freedom" by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. He examines some of the ideas Friedman explores in the book, such as the negative income tax and school vouchers, and discuss the impact Friedman's book has had on the world. Friedman is noted for saying that "there is no such thing as a free lunch."
October 12, 2019
Meeting # 3,550 - college regular Peter Pero
Developments in China are frequently featured in today’s news. How do Chinese ways of culture, economics and social organization differ from those found in the USA? What fundamentals does a traveler to China need to understand ? Which Asian inventions or exports are worth emulating? Peter Pero offers his views of the Middle Kingdom based on a trip to China. He explains how China can improve as well as offer growth models for the Western World.
October 5, 2019
Meeting # 3,549 - NWSOFA (NorthWest Suburbs Organizing for Action) will present a short non-partisan presentation on why the issues covered in HR1 are important for all Americans to know about and reasons to support it. HR1 is a far reaching bill that and the presentation includes three short videos and summarizes HR1.
September 26, 2019
Meeting # 3,548 - Chris Kruger, Organizer
OUR PLAN
"We are working to build a coalition of groups on the left in order to create a new party for working people. Polls show that the large majority of Americans are progressive and want a major new party. They want single payer health care, free public college, money out of politics, an infrastructure jobs program, a $15 minimum wage, financial regulations, and more. Working people do not feel represented by the Democratic and Republican parties and, after decades of watching the parties turn their backs on them, they understand that they cannot be salvaged. That's why Gallup reports that almost two out of three Americans are now calling for a major new party, including an even greater number young people and poor people.
The country is beyond ready for a new nationally viable progressive party.
Our intrepid field leaders and volunteers across the country are approaching groups and discussing the coalition with them. They are emissaries of the coalition, and one conversation at a time we are bringing groups together for the party that will complete the political revolution and usher in a twenty-first century progressive era. Let's make history!"
September 19, 2019
Meeting # 3,547 – Alan Mills, Executive Director
For over 35 years, Uptown People’s Law Center has fought on behalf of Illinois prisoners. UPLC is the only group that actively represents prisoners in both class action matters as well as individual cases.
Who We Help
UPLC has a database of correspondence with over 10,000 prisoners. We receive over 100 letters a week from people in all of the Illinois prison facilities, as well as federal, other state and county facilities. Additionally, we receive hundreds of phone calls from family members of prisoners, who we try to assist as much as possible.
Our Work
UPLC has multiple class action lawsuits and several other lawsuits currently filed against the state of Illinois for unconstitutional prison conditions. Our lawsuits will ultimately change the Illinois prison system for the better.
September 14, 2019
Jeffrey Epstein, and the Uranium One Scandals
Meeting # 3,546 - Joseph Kopsick presents a list he has compiled of 50 scandals and related subtheories in chronological order, concerning the DNC email leaks, Hillary/Bernie cross-accusations, and other such topics. Link to Powerpoint slides
September 7, 2019
Meeting #5,545 - College Regular Paul Rescino discusses what is EMR, the EMR spectrum, and possible problems
August 31, 2019
Meeting # 3,544, 2 Presentations
Fran Tobin, Coordinator
“More than 3 Million people in Illinois depend on Medicaid and other Human Services for basic medical care and food. The Alliance brings together people with disabilities, low income families and front-line service workers to resist threats, identify common ground and put the 'Human' back in Human services.”
Bill Bianchi, Marc Willage, Martha White, Gene Horcher
This organization believes that health care should be a right of everyone, and not a privilege for those who can afford it. Urges passage of HR 1384 Medicare for All Act of 2019. Maintains that: “It is time to remove the profit motive in healthcare, to resolve the inefficiencies, and to guarantee quality therapeutic healthcare to every person living in the United States.”
August 24, 2019
Meeting # 3,543 – an analysis by author and political commentator David Ramsay Steele
Samuel Harris is an American neuroscientist, philosopher, author, critic of religion, blogger, public intellectual, and podcast host. His work touches on a wide range of topics, including rationality, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, philosophy of mind, politics, Islam, terrorism, and artificial intelligence.
August 17, 2019
Meeting # 3,542 - Germinal G. Van, Author & Political Essayist, M.P.S., Libertarian Party of Chicago
The speaker states that: "The purpose of this speech is to draw a comparison between the Gold Standard and Fiat Money and see which one of the two is the best suited to attenuate inflation. Both monetary systems are still relevant up to today although the Gold Standard, as a monetary system, has been dissolved since 1971. In this speech, Germinal G. Van will attempt to demonstrate that the Gold Standard is a better system than Fiat money because it constrains the power of the federal government. The Gold Standard precludes the government to go over its budget."
August 10, 2019
Meeting # 3,541
Many residents of Chicago, and surrounding suburbs, are concerned about the small cell wireless antennas being deployed in our communities. These powerful antennas, part of the next generation of wireless technology (5G), are being placed in close proximity to our homes, schools and offices, even though there is no science that assures their safety.
The FCC's human exposure guidelines for the radio frequency (RF) microwave radiation used for this technology are decades out of date, and the agency has determined the results of decade-long research on RF microwave radiation and human health completed last year by the National Toxicology Program that showed "clear evidence of carcinogenicity." Unfortunately children will be absorbing this radiation 10 times greater than adults.
We are asking for public health hearings, and a moratorium on further deployment of 5G until it can be proven safe.
August 3, 2019
Meeting # 3,540 - college regular Sidney Cohen
July 27, 2019
Meeting # 3,539 - Ellen Corley returns
July 20, 2019
Meeting # 3,538 - historian and conspiracy theorist Ted Aranda
The U.S. government is a thoroughly CRIMINAL regime, a ROGUE STATE run by homicidal maniacs which must be terminated posthaste. In fact, the tyranny is rapidly escalating. This is neither far-fetched hyperbole nor hysterical alarmism. It is sober analysis. So why doesn't everyone see this clearly? Because, for the most part, the Oligarchy's modus operandi is deception and subterfuge--false flag psy-ops and brainwashing--rather than obvious, jackbooted thuggery.
On this fiftieth anniversary of the fake Apollo 11 moon landing which catapulted the USA to the status of a uniquely semi-divine nation, we must fully appreciate Gerhard Wisnewski's sage words (from his excellent book, One Small Step?: The Great Moon Hoax and the Race to Dominate Earth from Space): "The might of the United States derives not from its military machine, its atom bombs, or its financial and commercial strength, but from its lies."
In this presentation, investigator Ted Aranda briefly examines some of the more recent diabolical machinations by the Empire--including the California "wildfires," the Parkland and Christchurch "mass shootings," vaccines, 5G, and censorship--and puts them in the larger context of the nature of the American political system.
July 13, 2019
Meeting # 3,537 - Justin Tucker, Chair of The Libertarian Party of Chicago and David Travis, College regular and longtime LP activist
Ayn Rand is best known as the author of such novels as "Atlas Shrugged" and 'The Fountainhead." Her works stressed the primacy of the individual and the evils of collectivism. She was also the founder of the philosophy of Objectivism, built around the themes explored in her novels. This presentation will discuss two of Rand's non-fiction philosophical works: "The Virtue of Selfishness" and "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal." Tucker, discussing the former, and Travis, discussing the latter, will elaborate on the tenets of Rand's philosophy.
July 6, 2019
Meeting # 3,436 - Rachel Elfant, Organizer and Administrator
Mission
Chicago Area Peace Action (CAPA) provides resources and opportunities for empowerment through active grassroots participation in the growing global movement for economic and environmental justice. The earth and its inhabitants are endangered by the twin threats of global climate change and nuclear war, either of which could end the world as we know it.
• We embrace a world free of the growing devastation of global climate change.
• We work to reduce and eliminate the danger of nuclear weapons and excessive military spending.
• We promote peace and reject warfare as a valid method of resolving conflict.
• We confront the core, systemic injustices of political and corporate institutions that support ever-increasing financial inequities and block opportunity for all to share in the earth’s bounty.
A video of AOC's Green New Deal can be found at the following link:
https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2019%2F04%2F17%2Fgreen-new-deal-short-film-alexandria-ocasio-cortez%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cc3dad700ec9a409fb8ce08d703cfeb8f%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636982064299847739&sdata=l15fPyqQTO4FC5%2FLGXWutq6ROuvD75ZEXwes6KLQWqo%3D&reserved=0
Meeting # 3,535 - college regular L. P. (Andy) Anderson who says “The Green New Deal is the first serious policy proposal that gives America the chance to avoid catastrophic climate crisis while ensuring a just transition away from a fossil fuel driven economy. Our Green New Deal report serves as a blueprint for policymakers.”
June 22, 2019
Meetings # 3,534 - author Margaret Goldstein, who says: "From the Illinois EPA and Dept. of Human Services to the struggle to get fair redistricting of our electoral districts, to the United Nation's Security Council's flaws, much never gets changed.
All possible advocacy accomplishes little. Authorities merely tweak the system or claim they will satisfy demands but never do."
June 15, 2019
Meeting # 3,533 - Josh Richards, Grassroots Coordinator
Since our founding in 2005, The Humane League’s mission has been to save the lives of as many animals as possible and to reduce as much animal cruelty as we can. We want a world where all animals are treated with the same respect and compassion that we show to our beloved family dog or cat.
We are working relentlessly to reduce animal suffering through grassroots education to change eating habits and corporate campaigns to reform farm animal treatment.
June 8, 2019
Meeting # 3,532 - Germinal G. Van, author and political essayist, who explains how the welfare state started in the United States and reason why its policies harmed the people it intended to help
June 1, 2019
Meeting # 3,531 - Presentation by Stansfield Smith on his 24 day trip to China, with some pictures
Speaker states that: "China is rapidly advancing, investing a great amount in infrastructure and housing. Poverty has almost been eliminated, with 700 million Chinese lifted out of poverty over the last 40 years. China remains a socialist country with a fair amount of capitalism, but the capitalism does not dominate. In its development China is outstripping the United States. It is also making giant strides in taking action against causes of global warming."
May 25, 2019
Meetings - # 3,530 - 9/11 conspiracy theorist, fake news and false flag specialist James Fetzer / links to articles at CofC website for May events
THE SANDY HOOK “POZNER v. FETZER” LAWSUIT FOR DUMMIES
PENN Magazine (January 2019): LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE! Jim Fetzer vs. The Deep State
FAKE NEWS about FALSE FLAG Lawsuit: AP Reporter caught Falsifying Story
May 18, 2019
Trump vs. All 21 of the Democrats
May 11, 2019
Meetings # 3,528 - college regular Sid Cohen
May 4, 2019
Meeting # 3,527 - historic photographic presentation by Charles Paidock of the New York and Chicago RR
Extensively Illustrated Powerpoint / Slideshow Program will cover:
- historical development of transportation
- the first steam engines and development of the American
standard 4-4-0
- the movement west
- building the transcon and a trip on the finished route
April 27, 2019
Meeting # 3,526: Kelsey Walker, Branch Secretary, Greater Chicago IWW
Mission of IWW:
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.
Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth.
It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.
April 20, 2019
Meeting # 3,525 - Tim Bolger, Thorium Energy Alliance (TEA) vs. Dennis Nelson, Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS)
Tim Bolger advocates that nuclear power (with an emphasis on the Molten Salt Thorium Reactor) will be a necessary and essential part of our energy mix in the future, because wind, solar, and other energy sources will simply not provide enough power to run an advanced industrial society.
Dennis Nelson thinks that a nuclear free, carbon free energy future is possible and that it can be powered through renewables, conservation, and other sources, and that nuclear is just another boondoggle, that we need not pursue.
April 13, 2019
Meeting # 3,524 - college regular Ellen Corley, a lifelong research scholar and former teacher will review the literature on this question.
The speaker states:
“The main point is that there is a war on scientific truth by the powers that be; ie, the state in the form of denying that climate change is a real threat, that nuclear proliferation is a real threat, and that suspending the rights of the people by the surveillance state is a real threat.
In other words, I am defining science is a broad sense of the word meaning that we are all scientists seeking truth, and helping others find truth. Loss of the truth is the real threat to our democracy and survival on the planet. It is our collective right to truth from the state that has been dismantled by deregulation of regulations, and suspension of Constitutional protections. These protected us from being taken over by a corrupt Deep State or Shadow Government that uses corrupt legal strategies.
The politicized censorship of information and intelligence serves to protect corrupt political actors and deceivers, and to politically silence the truth tellers and whistle blowers.”
April 6, 2019
Meetings # 3,523 - Our original speaker could not present because of illness. Charlie Paidock then came up with his speech of "most important" events that were in US History. The C of C membership were also asked to give their most important events of US History. It was a puzzlement on what some of the membership thought was important for US history.
March 30, 2019
Meetings - # 3,522 -Justin Tucker, Chair, The Libertarian Party of Chicago
Book Review: “The Law, first published as a pamphlet in 1850, is already more than a hundred years old. Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was a French economist, statesman, and author. He did most of his writing during the years just before — and immediately following — the Revolution of February 1848. This was the period when France was rapidly turning to complete socialism. As a Deputy to the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Bastiat was studying and explaining each socialist fallacy as it appeared. And he explained how socialism must inevitably degenerate into communism. But most of his countrymen chose to ignore his logic. The same situation exists in America today as in the France of 1848. The same socialist-communist ideas and plans that were then adopted in France are now sweeping America.”
March 23, 2019
Meetings # 3,521 - Flash ABC speaks
I GRAFFITI ROOTS.
1). New York influence. Kids being sent back and forth (mostly Hispanics)
2). Gang influence.
3). 1rst Writers from New York and other early influences
3). Logan Square and the mega mall and the blue line.
4). First street artist KLTA.
II CITY ATTACK’S ON MORAL GROUND
1) Ban on Spray Paint and Markers
2) CTA competition
3) Etching Fever
4) The Buff (STREETS AND SANITATION GRAFFITI
REMOVAL PROJECT)
5) The Trains and Stainless Steel.
III RETURN OF THE OLD SCHOOL
1) The Internet and Radio Shows.
2) Daley Gone
3) Meeting of Styles and other permission walls
4) PROJECT LOGAN
March 16, 2019
Meeting # 3,520 - Anthony Blue
Mission Statement:
The Movement recognizes that issues such as poverty, corruption, collapse, homelessness, war, starvation and the like appear to be “Symptoms” born out of an outdated social structure.
While intermediate reform steps and temporal community support are of interest to The Movement, the defining goal here is the installation of a new socioeconomic model based upon technically responsible Resource Management, Allocation and Distribution through what would be considered The Scientific Method of reasoning problems and finding optimized solutions.
This “Resource-Based Economic Model” is about taking a direct technical approach to social management as opposed to a Monetary or even Political one. It is about updating the workings of society to the most advanced and proven methods Science has to offer, leaving behind the damaging consequences and limiting inhibitions which are generated by our current system of monetary exchange, profits, corporations and other structural and motivational components.
March 9, 2019
Meeting # 3,519 - with Jay Becker of Refuse Fascism, Chicago
presenting, who says:
“It has been more than 100 years since International Women's Day was first celebrated. Its observance on March 8th has spread to many countries around the world, and in 1975 it was adopted by the United Nations. In light of this anniversary, I will assess whether women are actually more able to play a full role in society today and look at the implications for women of the rise of fascist movements and regimes in countries around the world, with particular emphasis on women's right to control when and if they have children and all that means for their overall role in society.”
March 2, 2019
Meeting # 3,518 - college regular Jonathan Barton reviews the new book by public intellectual Chris Hedges
"Chris Hedges argues that the United States shows unmistakable signs of a dying culture. Across the country Americans are suffering from chronic unemployment, declining wages, and a morbid despair. Xenophobia has become rampant as a desperate and bitter underclass searches for scapegoats. America's social fabric is unraveling, while at the same time we face global upheaval caused in part by catastrophic climate change. All these ills presage a frightening reconfiguration of the nation and the planet.
Donald Trump rode this disenchantment to power. Neither political party, now captured by corporate power, will address our systemic problem. Until our corporate coup d'état is reversed, our problems will grow and ravage the country."
February, 23, 2019
Meeting # 3,517 - Potential Green Party Presidential candidate, Dario Hunter, JD, will discuss the priorities the Green Party will need to advance in 2020 to provide a competitive challenge to the two-party system. Hunter, a former attorney and educator, will discuss workers' rights, civil rights, education, foreign policy and of course, securing a clean environment for future generations.
February 16, 2019
Meeting # 3,516 - L.P. Anerson of the Northwest Information Service in Platine will present some examples of how the corporate media in America ha become so corrupted that people are becoming skeptical about the daily news. We will have a lively discussion of the methods used by the Trump administration to prevent Americans from understanding the basic realities surrounding the current crop of corporate criminals who are running the Trump regime.
This program will present a summary of some of the best people an organizations who are working to reclaim the American government from politicians of all parties who are owned and managed by the Wall Street and fossil fuel billionaires.
February 9, 2019
Meeting # 3,515 - Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change.
Our consistently respectful, nonpartisan approach to climate education is designed to create a broad, sustainable foundation for climate action across all geographic regions and political inclinations. By building upon shared values rather than partisan divides, and empowering our supporters to work in keeping with the concerns of their local communities, we work towards the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change solutions.
In order to generate the political will necessary for passage of our Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal we train and support volunteers to build relationships with elected officials, the media and their local community.
February 2, 2019
Meeting # 3,514 - author Scott Hoffman of the book "Inside"
"Inside" by Scott M. Hoffman is an intriguing work detailing the internal workings of the Outfit, an organized crime family, which originated on the South Side of Chicago during prohibition and rose to power in the 1920s. The Outfit has been involved in a wide variety of criminal activities including gambling, loan-sharking, prostitution, drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, labor racketeering, adult and child pornography, political corruption, and murder. The individuals and events in Inside are composites of real people and real events.
January 26, 2019
Meetings # 3,513 - Daniel Stuab Weinberg will present art from newspaper cartoonists like Art Young, Bill Mauldin, Avi Katz, Nazi's, Democrats, Republicans, Socialists, Anarchists, and others.
January 20, 2019
Meetings # 3,512 - We had an open Microphone where several speakers talked about the nature of the state. A wide range of views were given.
January 12, 2019
Meeting # 3,511 - Doug Binkley of Refuse Fascism, who says: "Posters, homemade signs, chants - all are part of the creativity of the resistance.”
January 5, 2018
Meetings # 3,510 - Charles Paidock, Secretary, Chicago Greens, presents an overview powerpoint presentation on this US Congressional initiative.
LINK TO DETAILS (Sunrise Movement, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)
DOWNLOADABLE COPY
PROPOSAL FOR A SELECT COMMITTEE IN 116TH US CONGRESS
December 29, 2018
Meeting # 3,509 - Since its founding in 1996, the MWA has grown to 10,000 members, and has drawn interest from both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum.
The association has successfully gained a membership base of South Side and West Side business owners and church, academic, and community leaders who provide broad support to the organization. Because the MWA doesn’t take government and foundation funding, which could influence organization activity, it relies on financial and logistical support from more affluent members. The current MWA location, at 5152 South Halsted Street, was donated by a member upon retirement and rehabilitated into an office space by the University of Chicago’s Habitat for Humanity club over a three-year period. Donations from businesses like Seattle’s Best Coffee, Whole Foods, Angie’s Bakery, and Hyde Park Produce supply the organization’s food pantry, and a number of legal, medical, and dental professionals offer services to members free of charge.
December 22, 2018
Meeting # 3,508 - Justin Tucker, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Chicago, and CoC regulars Tim Bolger and Corina Schusheim
December 15, 2018
Meetings # 3,507 - Political activist Marc Loveless will present his ideas on how to make Chicago a better city Now, and College regular Charles Paidock will review the Mayoral Candidates for the City of Chicago.
Marc Loveless ideas include:
Reform City Vehicle Sticker Program and other Fees.
Provide Quality of Life Report on all New Ordnances.
Commercial True Property Owners Registry.
Social Enterprise and Civic Investment initiative.
Empower Social Entrepreneurship and fertilize Mission Driven Ventures.
Promote Civic Engagement, Social Justice, and Civil Liberties.
Promote accountability of fees and reduce penalties to improve quality of life.
Charlie Paidock will give his analysis of the Mayoral Candidates.
December 8, 2018
Meetings # 3,506 - Compassion & Choices is the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit organization working to improve care and expand choice at the end of life, with 450,000 supporters nationwide.
For more than 30 years, by using a comprehensive strategy including legislative advocacy, grassroots organizing, media outreach and litigation, Compassion & Choices, our affiliates, and our predecessor organizations have led most of the significant advances in the movement to expand and improve end-of-life-options and care.
December 1, 2018
Meetings # 3,505 - "Inside" by Scott M. Hoffman is an intriguing work detailing the internal workings of the Outfit, an organized crime family, which originated on the South Side of Chicago during prohibition and rose to power in the 1920s. The Outfit has been involved in a wide variety of criminal activities including gambling, loan-sharking, prostitution, drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, labor racketeering, adult and child pornography, political corruption, and murder. The individuals and events in Inside are composites of real people and real events.
November 24, 2018
Meeting # 3,504 - Tim Bolger vs. Charles Paidock - with powerpoint presentations
Charles takes the position that Celebrating Christmas is a hazardous to the planet and climate, and that we should drastically tone down our spending and quit all of the "frippery" of Christmas, and that this is effectively helping us result in Extinction.
Tim Bolger takes the stand that Capitalist Production and the Celebration of Christmas, will ultimately benefit the planet and mankind as a whole by letting them celebrate, and that the "frippery is what drives the economic engine. Tim also states that we should celebrate Christmas for what it means, a season that mankind gets a hold of the good in each other.
November 17, 2018
Meeting # 3,503 - Bob Lichtenbert, Ph. D., author of the recently revised and abridged "Making More Meaning," first discusses briefly how to interpret or explain the meaning of an artwork to the perceiver. Then he will offer his interpretations of the following artworks shown in PowerPoint: Michelangelo, "Pieta" (Mary holding crucified Jesus), Raphael, "Madonna" (Mary and Infant Jesus), Hindu's "Dancing Shiva," Monet;, "Waterlilies," Van Gogh, "Starry Night" and "Self-portrait," Picasso, "Chicago sculpture in Daley Plaza," Pollock, "Grayed Rainbow," Munch, "The Scream," and many other artworks.
November 10, 2018
Meeting # 3,502 - College Regular and activist Moe Shanfield shares his loss as a Higher Victory
November 3, 2018
Meeting # 3,501 - Natalie Lynn Lichtenbert
The Chicago Chapter of The Climate Reality Project is one of 80+ national Chapters, a nonpartisan group of local climate activists, comprised of trained Climate Reality Leaders working to support the international nonprofit’s mission of catalyzing a global solution to the climate crisis by making urgent action a necessity across every level of society. We combat climate change by working to make the transition to a clean energy economy a priority on the federal, state and local level and rally around Climate Reality’s organizational priorities. Additionally, we launch local projects and initiatives as developed by Chapter members to accelerate climate action in our regional area.Natalie
Lynn Lichtenbert is a research scientist with a Master's Degree in Conservation Leadership. She was trained as a Climate Reality Leader in 2015 in Miami. Natalie frequently gives presentations on climate change and other wildlife conservation issues. In her free time, she also works as a yoga instructor on safari retreats, is a personal trainer and is always searching for her next wildlife traveling expedition. She currently resides in Chicago, IL.
September 27, 2018 Meeting # 3,500
Meeting # 3,500 of the College of Complexes, a short ceremony is held before the program, which starts at 12 minutes into the video.
Long time college host Brahm Bassford, showed up tonight, and we thanked him publicly for his devotion and work in the past for the college, our waitress Heather was also featured.
Now our speaker, one of the more popular speakers and author.
Good and Bad in Jordan Peterson
“one of the most effective voices against the extreme left"
Meeting # 3,500 - author Dr. David Ramsay Steele
Jordan Peterson is a Canadian psychology professor who has suddenly become a superstar of social media, with millions of followers, and one of the most effective voices against the extreme left. He represents both the intellectual reaction against political correctness and the death of the traditional media (newspapers and TV), whose dominant role in public debate has been taken over by sites like YouTube and Twitter.
Dr. David Ramsay Steele, author of Orwell Your Orwell, a study of George Orwell’s thought, will accurately explain Peterson’s thinking and separate the wheat from the chaff.
October 20, 2018
Aldermanic Candidate (48th) David Earl Williams III
Meeting # 3,499 - "In the past, we’ve had politicians either turn a blind eye to the growing gang violence, or suggest we use military force (Federally or State) to quell such activities. There’s a more reasonable and cost effective solution to fix Chicago’s gang violence. To understand why people join gangs, you have to understand human motivation and need."
To understand why people join gangs, you have to understand Human motivation and need. Most are from broken families, inadequate education and lack of opportunity presented to better oneself. Instead of using the force of the state militia, giving into fear or casting people to the side, we should do the following:
Full legalization of Marijuana, no fine for being caught with over 10 grams.
Decriminalization of harder drug substances, but fine them if caught $50 to $100 – no jail time. But do offer state rehabilitation services if wanted.
Install “Economic Freedom Zones” in urban areas bringing the small business state tax burden to 1.5%. More private sector jobs by Illinoisans will be created this way.
Crackdown on illegal guns, while respecting the rights of law abiding gun owners who conceal carry in Chicago.
School choice. The more competitive they are, the better results – more funding. It’s your children, your tax dollars.
Offer gang members who want a 2nd chance in life by providing them with a means to gain financial stability through a state job or encourage them to join the U.S military or Illinois National guard. Proper training should be provided by instilling discipline and moral structure.
In Illinois, ex-felons have a right to vote. Incarcerated ones do not. Many are unaware of this fact. We need to massively educate and encourage those ex-felons who have proven to turn their lives around to take part in the political process to vote for representatives who will further help fix their community issues.
October 13, 2018
Meeting # 3,498 - John Bachtell, Communist Party USA
John Bachtell will share impressions from the visit by the Communist Party USA delegation to Shenzhen, Beijing, and Anhui province. John will address the implications of Trump's trade war, China's new economic and social reforms, foreign policy and building an ecological civilization.
October 6, 2018
Meeting # 3,497
Ellen Corley states "the NSA and CIA covert operations are now getting away with literally "revising history" in both domestic and foreign markets by the means of a variety of operations. I will be naming names of the Deep State actors, and present suggestions for how to prosecute them for State Crimes Against Democracy (SCAD)s.”
Ted Aranda, who has spoken on several false flag operations, states that "the question of the Deep State gets at the heart of the true nature of our "representative government." This type of political system is in fact an oligarchy, not a democracy."
Charles Paidock maintains that “People don’t know that federal employees are a 4th branch of the U.S. government, in many ways autonomous from the executive. They don't leave when presidents do, and watch presidents come and go. It is alleged that former President Obama is coordinating a deep state resistance to Trump.”
September 29, 2018
Meeting # 3,496 - activist Stansfield Smith
There are two movements against Trump's policies, one progressive and one McCarthyite and right wing. Progressives protest his exacerbation of US government's racist policies towards Blacks, Latinos, Muslims, immigrants, women, his ignoring the impact of climate change, policies in support of Israel, against Iran. Democratic and Republican party leaders and the corporate media are hostile towards Trump's moves towards dialogue with Russia. They manufacture a Russophobia to maintain the military-industrial complex and advance US imperial war aims in Syria, other countries, and against Russia. They also seek to shut down alternative news sources, such as RT, that counter the corporate media's disinformation about Syria, Iran, Venezuela. They seek to label and ultimately prosecute anti-war activists as simply agents of Russia, as they are doing with Julian Assange.
Progressives must be careful in the anti-Trump to combat the DNC/RNC corporate media anti-Trump propaganda, because if it is successful, it will be used against us.
September 22, 2018
Meeting # 3,495 - Peter N. Pero
Today's news reports on the breakup of immigrant families, cross border migration and immigrant upheavals around the world, are common media topics. Yet about 150 years ago, things were not better and generally much worse for immigrants. Author Peter Pero will present more than a century of historic evidence. Peter will showcase political cartoons, government propaganda and classic photos, from the darker days of immigration to the world. Are current newcomers to the USA borders doomed to re-live a brutal past? How do new immigrant groups show pride in the face of adversity? Join us for some answers.
September 15, 2018
Meeting # 3,494 - author and activist Margaret Goldstein, who says "A perfect society is impossible because of the selfishness in many aspects of our existence.
September 8, 2018
Meeting # 3,493 - Tom Tresser of the Civic Lab
The book breaks the ideas into three areas:
• Money lost to use due to corruption, bad bank deals and police abuse.
• Money hidden from us via the tax-increment financing program.
• Money we are not collecting but should be.
All of the ideas in the book are in practice in America right now. Most of the solutions offered in the book can be enacted by Chicago without external permissions. But a few, like a financial transaction tax on LaSalle Street trades, would require state legislation, while a progressive income tax would require a constitutional amendment.
September 1, 2018
Meeting # 3,492 - The Chicago Cuba Coalition – local affiliate of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) – unites groups and individuals to stand for completely-normalized relations between Cuba and the United States while publicizing the accomplishments
of the Cuban people’s Revolution.
We stand for free travel between the two countries and ending Washington’s economic and regime-change warfare as well as its illegal military occupation of Cuba’s Guantanamo territory.
Everyone interested in these goals – with no dues, restrictions, or requirements demanded– is more than welcome to get involved!
August 25, 2018
Meeting # 3,491 - Lindson P. Anderson of the Northwest Information Service in Palatine will give a brief summary of the activities of some the greatest First Responders in the last 100 years.
Sometimes these people are called patriots, sometimes they are called whistleblowers, but they put their lives and careers at great personal risk to alert the public to some critical situation that needs to be addressed to save lives that might otherwise be lost.
Some possible examples of famous First Responders are Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, General Smedley Butler, Daniel Ellsberg, John Gofman, Amory Lovins, Harvy Wasserman, Lauren Moret, Helen Caldicott, and others.
August 18, 2018
Meeting # 3, 490 - Prof. Robert Lichtenbert discuss his new book which is now available on-line at Amazon.com, Barnes&noble.com and xlibris.com (its publisher). It will soon be available at some Barnes & Noble and independent bookstores.
Making Meaning concerns how to live your life to make maximum impact. It does this by being the first book ever to fully develop the idea of meaning (defined as "significant impact") which is greatest idea, since everything has it in some way. This development emphasizes that values or ought's/should's provide more meaning in one's life. We have a crying need for this today because most of us have little to believe in. "Does my life have enough meaning?" is a life-or-death question.
August 11, 2018
Meeting # 3,489 - Since 1976, Chapman Kelley's Wildflower Works proved we can save 50% of our water, all our pollinators, and restore a healthier environment with indigenous native landscaping.
Chapman's foundation educates us, the public, we need to adopt this plan, and how to do it before the government steps in to compel us.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton established an ongoing committee including seven cabinet members to study and implement the exact plan as the Wildflower Works.
Wild Flower Works has enjoyed international recognition for years --- now it's your opportunity to participate.
August 4, 2018
Meeting # 3,488 - PREAMBLE
As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.
July 28, 2018
advocates use of thorium as a new primary energy source
Meeting # 3,487 - college regular Tim Bolger - What is the grid? What are we paying ComEd for? How much do we get from wind and solar? How much natural gas is there? What about "clean coal"? that Trump wants?
July 21, 2018
Meeting # 3,486 - Ellen Corley, College of Complex regular with 20+ years of experience as a Business Intelligence Analyst, will give us an overview of the latest research on the Deep State according to leading scholars on the subject, Peter Dale Scott and Mike Lofgren. She will also give a scholarly assessment of what "conspiracy theories" about the nature of the Deep State are true and which are false relative to the Deep State's connections to 9/11 and the Illuminati/ New World Order.
July 14, 2018
Meeting # 3,485 - college regular Charles Paidock at over 3,000 years of uprisings and insurrections that led to social and economic change.
The French Revolution is regarded as the first modern revolution because it changed the structure of society, rather than simply replacing the existing ruler or even the political regime, and created new ideologies to explain its course when nothing suitable could be adopted from the past.
Recommend Reading:
Professor says income inequality can be mitigated by policy, but is only leveled by upheaval - produced by war, disease, state collapse, or revolution.
July 7, 2018
Meeting # 3,484 - Vicki Cervantes talks about the immigration issue
La Voz de los de Abajo: an international human rights organization based in Chicago and with more than 15 years of history accompanying Honduran social movements.
June 30, 2018
Meeting # 3,483 - Mihalyfy is running on a platform of expanded economic and community development under the slogan “Let Our Light Shine.”
Mihalyfy’s proposed policies include a home solar energy program to reduce cost-of-living, create jobs, and spur local business; advocacy for a newly-built neighborhood CPS high schoo; a Chicago flag-themed “mural corridor” with paid summer jobs for youth; and renovation of a local theater, presently closed, as a non-profit move house serving the entire community with kids movies, recent blockbusters, and films in languages like Chinese and Spanish.
He has signed the Illinois State Board of Elections’ Code of Fair Campaign Practices, becoming the first 11th Ward aldermanic candidate ever to do so.
A current SEIU HCII member working in home healthcare and elder care, Mihalyfy has participated in many unionization drives, including 2 recent campaigns that brought 2500+ workers into AFT-IFT and 200+ workers into Teamsters Local 743. As part of an ongoing SEIU Local 73 unionization campaign, he also gave testimony before Chicago City Council’s Education Committee and helped obtain a unanimous resolution in favor of the unionization of contingent instructors at Chicagoland’s private colleges and universities.
As a freelance writer on higher education’s accessibility crisis, Mihalyfy has consistently fought the bureaucratic waste causing student debt. Most notably, his financial investigative reporting about his then-employer the University Chicago revealed that 8 high-level administrators took more than $7.6 million in payraises over 5 years, even as the school moved toward and received a credit downgrade. Mihalyfy’s uncovering of outsize payraises later informed Crain’s Chicago Business coverage probing the school’s financial management.
June 23, 2018
Meeting # 3,482 - Joseph W. Kopsick
The speaker states that: "I will analyze the ideas of John Locke, Thomas Paine, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Henry George, Samuel E. Konkin III, Gary Chartier, Kevin Carson, and others, on how these thinkers have proposed taking centrist or moderate approaches towards solving economic problems which have divided conservative-leaning Libertarians from the radical Left.
The focus will be on issues related to landed property, markets, organized labor, and political freedom & social contract theory. I will also touch on the similarities and differences which Libertarians have with Greens, socialists, and anarchists, and outline potential political strategies which their agreements suggest may be a practical way to achieve multi-partisan political change."
June 16, 2018
Building the "Cyber-CIty / State / Country / World of the Future"
Global Energy Independence Program (GEIP) and
Safe Haven community service corps
Meeting # 3,481 - Kimball Ladien, MD, discusses his ecological recommendations, and book outlining a proposed new social program: Safe Haven-- Breaking the Cycles, for a gang -free, drug-free, full-employment economy in America by 2020.
He states that: By moving beyond “politics as usual” to genuine good government, using good science, we can design win-win systems for the benefit of all.
As a scientist, my Global Energy Independence Program (GEIP) provides clean, renewable energy that saves $2-3T/yr, and can pay for universal healthcare and education in the process.
Similarly, Safe Haven, a community service corps, like FDR’s CCC and WPA, can provide jobs and prevention-oriented programs to help achieve a gang-free, drug-free, full employment economy in America by 2020.
June 9, 2018
Meeting # 3,480 - Dr. David Ramsay Steele will analyze the contradictions of the Global Warming belief system, and show how Global Warming relates to pseudoscientific cults which make a noise for a while, do a lot of damage, and then vanish from the scene.
Dr. Steele maintains that nuclear power is the only serious alternative to fossil fuels.
June 2, 2018
Meeting # 3,479 - Dr. Rachel Havrelock, University of Illinois – Chicago, Founder of the Freshwater Lab, Lead Investigator on the “Great Lakes, Global Midwest” grant
"The Freshwater Lab is an initiative to communicate Great Lakes water issues to the general public, create tools to visualize the current state and future scenarios of water sources, engage unaffiliated groups in water planning, and train a new generation of Great Lakes leaders. As we focus on the Great Lakes basin, we also reach outward to build relationships with water stewards from other parts of the world."
May 26, 2018
Meeting # 3,478 - Hassan El-Tayyab, Organizer
Peace Action is the nation's largest grassroots peace network with chapters and affiliates in states across the country. We organize our network to place pressure on Congress and the Administration through write-in campaigns, Internet actions, citizen lobbying and direct action. Through a close relationship with progressive members of Congress, we play a key role in devising strategies to move forward peace legislation. As a leading member of various coalitions, we lend our expertise and large network to achieving common goals.
National Peace Action, believes that war is not a suitable response to conflict, that every person has the right to live without the threat from nuclear weapons and that America has the resources and responsibility to both protect and provide for its citizens."
May 19, 2018
Meeting # 3,477 - Cezary “Caesar” Jurewicz
“The time of Philosopher Kings is already here. On February 23rd, 2018 the International Logic Party (ILP) was founded, beginning a new era of politics.
The ILP is an international political party structured around a web-based algorithm that rewards transparency, thoughtfulness, and participation. The ILP itself has no central ideology and no specific political goals—thus, it is inclusive of anyone from anywhere in the world. Instead, the ILP has the capability of organizing likeminded people around common goals, of exposing ideas to easy critique, and of removing all special interest money from politics.
The International Logic Party is what Plato dreamed of: a democracy guided by reason."
May 12, 2018
Meeting # 3,476 - It terrified the United States when Sputnik was sent into space by the Russians. The press went into a frenzy when President Eisenhower went golfing and claimed Sputnik was not a problem. Kennedy would say the Republicans were soft on communism by ignoring this event. All of Intel ( which was only a few agencies then) claimed this showed socialist ideals were a match for capitalism and the Soviet Union was unstoppable.
Now for the first time in the United States the actual truth will be revealed. Using declassified Russian documents and interviews Michael Flores has discovered the truth. Tracing the Soviet space program from the second world war to the U.S. publicity stunt of a man walking on the moon he names names, incidents that not even the Russian people know. And reveals the biggest secret of all! A multi-media event you will not forget.
May 5, 2018
Teamster UPS Contract Campaign – the largest private sector union contract in America
Meeting # 3,475 - Brother Joe
UPS Teamsters have reason to be in a fighting mood. In 2013, when Teamster President Hoffa encouraged the union’s membership to vote to accept a concessionary contract, it barely passed the 50% threshold needed for approval. Regional supplements in 18 locations were voted down.
UPS, however, is claiming more and more competitive pressure. In prior contract negotiations, the main delivery competitor on everyone's lips was FedEx, but now Amazon has exploded into the equation. The national Teamster officials have provided no plan whatsoever to organize these major companies. Instead, UPS workers have endured a race to the bottom which most recently has taken the form of management attempts to hire seasonal drivers who use their own cars and cell phones: ‘uberized drivers.’
April 28, 2018
Meetings # 3,474 - Through poetry, prose, and art, semi-retired librarian Daniel Staub Weinberg will analyze the background and recent developments in the Middle East..
Pen and ink political/comic drawings by Weinberg can be purchased at
April 21, 2018
Meeting # 3,473 - According to DENNIS NELSON, an energy-environmental researcher, writer, speaker, and organizer:
"The most serious institutional threat to environmental protection and environmental quality is now President Donald Trump, his administration's cabinet members, and the extreme agenda of the Republican Party. I will bring newer and different material to help with the RESISTANCE to the Trump fiasco, and the EMPOWERMENT in challenging those die-hard Trump apologists who still want to give him a chance. My topics will include: How the Trump Administration is destroying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA); the Trump Administration's continuing climate science denial/climate policy delay; the Trump Administration's attack on our ocean protections and marine national monuments; renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); stopping Trump from starting a nuclear war (a great eco-threat which must be reemphasized); the Trump Administration's agricultural and food policy; and what role do energy markets and government intervention have in determining our energy policy. The extreme agenda of the Republican Party will also be discussed. What we need is a good, solid, progressive-populist agenda for public and environmental health, climate protection, eco- justice, economic well-being, and national/global security, and make America an even greater nation."
April 14, 2018
Does the Built Environment Enhance Leaning?
Does Material Culture Transmit Values?
Meeting # 3,472 - Presented by Peter N. Pero, teacher, author, and time traveler
A photo essay on historic schoolrooms in a global context.
- private schools vs. public virtues
- how does wealth determine educational outcomes?
- the teacher as “change agent”
- who needs technology?
- international education across space and time
April 7, 2018
Meetings # 3,471 - L.P. Anderson from the Northwest Information Service in Palatine will present a brief summary of several large databases of information on game changing subjects that are censored and blacked out by the mainstream media in the United States.
The presentation will include printed material handouts on current blackouts being run by the military-industrial-media complex, the educational-financial-media complex, and the pharmaceutical-medical-media complex.
The presentation will provide highly condensed summaries of scientific forensic evidence contained in more than 500 books and thousands of scientific papers on these subject.
Also, we will present a current summary of the massive criminal corruption of the Trump administration.
March 13, 2018
Meetings # 3,470 - The Libertarian Party of Chicago is comprised of common people united towards a universal goal: to uphold our freedom and independence. Meetings are held once a month in a casual setting to primarily discuss issues affecting the citizens of the Chicago, plan events and organize party candidates for upcoming elections.
The Libertarian Party advocates personal freedom and limited government. We aspire to a society which is free to innovate, to create, and to solve problems via private initiatives rather than government coercion.
Libertarians strongly oppose any government interference in personal, family and business decisions. We believe that all Americans should be free to live their lives and pursue their interests as they see fit as long as they do not harm others.
Recovering Republicans or Democrats, who have come to grips with their addiction to empty promises fed to them by the two dominant parties, are invited to join the fight to restore peace, prosperity, and freedom — the promise of the United States of America.
March 24, 2018
Meeting # 3,469 - Neil Armstrong should have said: "That's one small step for a man on a stage set, one giant leap for mankind into the Age of Deception." For, alongside the assassinations of King and the Kennedys, the fake moon landings of the late 1960s and into the early 70s epitomized the success of the U.S. Deep State in bringing to American soil its violent and fraudulent program of elite domination over the peoples of the world--in large part consisting of truly massive psychological warfare. This program of course continues into the present day at full throttle. In this presentation Ted Aranda continues his scientific analysis of the Apollo project, proving definitively that it was a gigantic lie--indeed the biggest lie humanity has ever seen and experienced.
March 17, 2018
Meetings # 3,468 - David Wayne, Zeitgeist Movement Advocate
Founded in 2008, The Zeitgeist Movement is a Sustainability Advocacy Organization which conducts community based activism and awareness actions through a network of Global/Regional Chapters, Project Teams, Annual Events, Media and Charity Work.
The Movement’s principle focus includes the recognition that the majority of the social problems which plague the human species at this time are not the sole result of some institutional corruption, scarcity, a political policy, a flaw of “human nature” or other commonly held assumptions of causality in the activist community. Rather, The Movement recognizes that issues such as poverty, corruption, collapse, homelessness, war, starvation and the like appear to be “Symptoms” born out of an outdated social structure.
Website: https://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/...
March 10, 2018
Meeting # 3,467 - Charles Paidock, Chair, Independent Voters of Illinois, National Affairs Committee
powerpoint review of positions, and open microphone, 5 minutes each, to express your preference for and / or opposition to any candidate
March 10, 2018
Meetings # 3,467 - Sameena has dedicated her life and career to standing up for those unable to stand up for themselves. Having previously managed Planned Parenthood’s Austin area clinic and now as a tenant advocate in commercial real estate, Sameena has spent years advancing the issues and needs of women, children, and marginalized groups.
March 3, 2018
Meetings # 3,466 - program includes a powerpoint presentation “Let’s Talk About Waste”
For more information:
facebook
Website
February 24, 2018
Meeting # 3,465 - He says: "I’ll fight for progressive values and taking big money out of politics!"
Positions:
Take Big Money Out of PoliticsOffer All Children a Great EducationSolve Our State Budget Crisis Protect Our EnvironmentFix Our Criminal Justice System Enact Common Sense Gun Laws Raise the Minimum Wage to $15/hrFor more information:
website
Facebook:
February 17, 2018
Meeting # 3,464 - A Chicago native, Joshua believes every community in our city has the potential to thrive. He has proven to be a man of service and champion of people throughout his lifetime. He has worked tirelessly—both alone and in partnership with other community leaders and elected officials— to address issues that negatively affect Chicago communities, including gun violence, youth unemployment, and inequitable state funding for underserved areas.
February 3, 2018
Meeting # 3,462 - Speaker(s): Passero Dignitoso Affinity Group
Description: Libertarian municipalism is a political program developed by libertarian socialist theorist Murray Bookchin, to create democratic citizens' assemblies in towns and urban neighborhoods. The assemblies in these free municipalities join together to eplace the state with a directly democratic confederation.
We see the current embodiment of these ideas in the revolutionary project of Rojava. This presentation aims to explain and discuss the implications of such a project and propose a model to be implemented in Chicago based on these ideas and frameworks.
“American Leftists Need to Pay More Attention to Rojava”
“The most revolutionary women’s rights movement in the world”
“The Rojava experiment is unlike any other. Coalitions between the local Assyrian, Arab and Kurdish populations have created a small society by and large run on the principles of a communal economy, harmony with the environment, and self governance.”
January 27, 2018
Meeting # 3,461 - Edited by Peter Cole, PhD, Western Illinois University
Also presenting was the local Chicago Chapter of the IWW, some of the local members spoke after our author made his presentation.
"The Industrial Workers of the World is a union unlike any other. Founded in 1905 in Chicago, it rapidly gained members across the world thanks to its revolutionary, internationalist outlook. By using powerful organising methods including direct-action and direct-democracy, it put power in the hands of workers. This philosophy is labeled as `revolutionary industrial unionism' and the members called, affectionately, `Wobblies'. This book is the first to look at the history of the IWW from an international perspective. Bringing together a group of leading scholars, it includes lively accounts from a number diverse countries including Australia, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden and Ireland, which reveal a fascinating story of global anarchism, syndicalism and socialism. Drawing on many important figures of the movements such as Tom Barker, Har Dayal, Joe Hill, James Larkin and William D. "Big Bill" Haywood, and exploring particular industries including shipping, mining, and agriculture, this book describes how the IWW and its ideals traveled around the world."
January 20, 2018
Meetings # 3,460 - No, boys and girls, we did NOT go to the moon. It's true: the "moon landing" was a gargantuan hoax. But how could this possibly be? Because the USA is an Empire of Deception, a Tyranny of Lies--an out-and-out criminal regime, not the glorious democracy it professes to be. In this presentation investigator Ted Aranda lays out the scientific evidence that proves beyond doubt that with the Apollo program the U.S. government perpetrated the most elaborate and outrageous fraud in the history of the world.
January 13, 2018
Meeting # 3,459 – The candidate states: “There was an essentially social democratic consensus in this country for a generation after the New Deal. I am running to help rebuild and improve that consensus—to be part of the nonviolent political revolution that Bernie Sanders has launched—and to encourage others to sign-up as well.
As Bernie says: “Enough is enough. This great nation and its government belong to all of the people, and not to a handful of billionaires, their Super-PACs and their lobbyists.” I would add: We can’t lose: I may or may not be elected, but this campaign will contribute to a movement to take back our country from the 1%.
Here are my four top issues:
Universal Health Care
Massive Infrastructure Investment
A Foreign Policy for Civility
Respect for Tribal Sovereignty
January 6, 2018
The Corrupt, Evil Connections between Deep State Operatives and the New World Order: Conspiracy Theory or Hidden History?
Meetings # 3,458 - college regular Ellen Corley
Strategic Intelligence Analyst, Ellen Corley, has for the last ten years been applying her investigative journalist/ forensic historian methodology to investigating the question of why the US legal system is not investigating the evidence of its own corrupt role in the way America has become a crypto Nazi Fascist state.
Ellen argues we must find a way to de-Nazify our Deep State apparatus by first admitting before a Nuremberg-like court of law that we are in fact currently being run by a Nazi Fascist Deep State apparatus that was put into place by a Fifth Column of Nazi Fascist Jurists who were placed in positions of power to corrupt the US state by Carl Schmitt and other Deep State Operatives.
Ellen argues that Schmitt has done to the US what he did in Hitler's Germany as Hitler's "Jurist" which is that Carl Schmitt used operatives to secretly put into American law acts like the National Security Act, the National Security Restoration Act, the Patriot Act and others that were slipped into laws by corrupt Justice Department operatives to systematically enable all branches of executive, congressional, and judicial branches at the Federal and State system to get away with using completely corrupt means to achieve its completely corrupt ends.
December-30, 2017
Meetings # 3,457 - Moe Shanfield, who says: “The fundament operating methodology of the Ancient Hebrew Prophets was to envision future catastrophes writ small in the evils of the day - the hand of Jehovah, Great Judge, Sentencing Sinners to suffer those catastrophes. This underserving sinner, confesses Moe Shanfield, candidate for governor, will do his inadegvate best to stumble in the footsteps of ancient seers, using their methodology to prophesy catastrophes of 2018 and beyond."
December 23, 2017
Meetings # 3,456 - Margaret Goldstein, who asks:
"What does it mean to have a society of endless choices such a ours? Why do we have such a society? What are the harmful choices being made by households, consumers, mothers, the business world, and car drivers?"
December-16, 2017
Meetings # 3,455 - Charles Paidock, Paul Rescino and Tim Bolger present an analysis of the holiday.
Christmas Day falls on a Monday this year and small businesses will no doubt be run off their feet on the Saturday and Sunday before the big day as last-minute gift buying and food preparation reaches fever pitch. But according to figures released retail experts, they’ll also need to be at full alert the weekend prior.
Charles will show that materialism and rabid consumerism have taken over the holiday, people overspend on gift giving, get dangerously drunk, with retail employees working overtime on holidays without overtime pay.
Tim follows and presents a counter opinion on how the holiday serves to stimulate a free market capitalist economy, says don't be a Scrooge and shop 'till you drop.
Paul Rescino follows Tim and presents the "true meaning of Christmas" and why we celebrate Christs Birthday.
A good time will be had by all with the diversity of views being presented, and in the true College of Complexes tradition, a rousing round of debate and argument will be had by all.
December 9, 2017
Meetings # 3,454 - Dr. Terrence Dolan, author of Children of the Kingdom: Bridging Genetics and Islam to Save the Newborns of Saudi Arabia. An academic, scientist, and research center administrator in Madison, Wisconsin, nearing retirement, is heavily-recruited by "a substantial international entity" (which turns out to be the Saudi royal family). He and his wife pack their bags for an unexpected adventure and years in Riyadh as he helps solve a major public health crisis and build the first disabilities research center in the Middle East outside of Israel.
The author states: "Children of the Kingdom is my memoir, travelogue, and science–current events story concerning a Middle-Eastern society in transition, the intrigue of an oil-rich monarchy maintaining a precarious balance with its country’s religious extremists, the passions that naturally swirl around ancient cultural traditions, and emerging genetic science. Then there’s my wife Mary Ann and I, mature Western expats walking the line between respecting and learning about the culture of our host country and discovering how to enjoy life abroad under a restrictive Islamic regime."
December 2, 2017
Meetings # 3,453 - "Pat" White, author of the newly-released Buzz Ride: Driven to Disruption: Memoirs of an Uber Driver. A finance guy begins driving Uber on a lark (weekends one summer in Chicago's nightclub neighborhoods) to better understand the gig economy and finds himself both fascinated and repulsed by what he discovers. A "darkly comic coming of (middle) age adventure."
Moving from corporate board rooms to city streets became an unexpected adventure when a business consultant spends three months operating a ride share car in Chicago. Author Pat White drove more than six hundred people in his Mercedes in the spring and summer, experiencing every aspect of humanity. Buzz Ride showcases the nocturnal journeys he made to spectacular homes and dive bars, covering neighborhoods from Wicker Park and Humboldt Park to the Gold Coast and everything in between.
November 25, 2017
Meeting # 3,452 - Tim Bolger will demonstrate that Trump is NOT a true capitalist, but is ready to let corporations “drink at the public trough” like most politicians. Trump, according to Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations: 1776), is a Mercantilist, and NOT a capitalist. Tim will demonstrate that the present Trump administration will kill the economy and global trade with his “America First” campaign. Tim will then propose a solution with emphasis on the “The Humanity of Capitalism,” and demonstrate that True Capitalism, True Global Trade and the killing of Corporations “mooching at the public trough,” will be the best solution to our economy.
November. 18, 2017
Meeting # 3,451 - David is a 8x Decorated U.S. Navy Iraqi Freedom War Vet, Novelist, 2014 GOP congressional candidate & 2016 Independent congressional candidate IL 9th & Libertarian.
In the spirit of the liberty, he aims to serve the American people and their interest, not political party bosses or multinational globalist corporations, equal protection under the law - not favoritism, lower taxes, term limits, and fighting to maintain the constitutional values that made this country great!
November 11, 2017
Meeting # 3,450 - ILHS President Larry Spivack
"No single event has influenced the history of labor in Illinois, the United States, and even the world, more than the Chicago Haymarket Affair. It began with a rally on May 4, 1886, but the consequences are still being felt today. Although the rally is included in American history textbooks, very few present the event accurately or point out its significance" William J. Adelman
November 4, 2017
Meeting # 3,449 - John Bachtell, Communist Party USA
October 28, 2017
Meeting # 3,448
October 14, 2017
Meeting # 3,446 - Hear! Here!: Steve Kungis will share with the Great College of Complexes students all of the details --pro and con- of term limits, redistricting and other major non-partisan topics...as usual, he highly encourages audience participation ....
October 7, 2017
Meeting # 3,445 - David Ramsay Steele
"Everyone has read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm or seen the movies. Most people have some idea about what George Orwell believed and what he was trying to say.
In his new book, Orwell Your Orwell: A Worldview on the Slab, David Ramsay Steele has carefully analyzed everything Orwell wrote and uncovered Orwell’s actual beliefs on social and political matters. The conclusions are surprising and sometimes shocking. All previously published accounts of Orwell’s views contain serious errors. Dr. Steele gives us the first accurate picture of what Orwell thought about vital political issues.”
David Ramsay Steele is a classical liberal and critical rationalist speaker and writer. His latest book, Orwell Your Orwell: A Worldview on the Slab, was published in July 2017 and has been widely acclaimed by both scholars and general readers. His earlier books are Therapy Breakthrough: Why Some Psychotherapies Work Better than Others (co-authored, 2013), Atheism Explained: From Folly to Philosophy (2008), Three Minute Therapy: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (co-authored, 1997), and From Marx to Mises: Post-Capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic Calculation (1992).
September 30, 2017
Meeting # 3,444
Description: In America, access to, and success in, higher education is often seen as the most viable path to class, cultural, and social improvement. Unfortunately, different populations tend to have contrasting college experiences. Through this discussion we will explore the shared lived experiences of African American students, faculty, and administrators in the nation’s higher education institutions. Conclusions from this discussion will point the way toward racial and socioeconomic equity within America’s colleges and universities.
Bio: DeWitt Scott is Student Success Specialist at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, IL. He received his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Chicago State University. DeWitt is also an instructor at Sister Jean Hughes Adult High School, a high school for formerly incarcerated adults in Chicago. He has also developed and teaches a class titled “Black Male Leadership” to inmates at the Cook County Jail in Chicago. Currently, DeWitt lives in Chicago with his wife Cecelia.
September 23, 2017
Meeting # 3,443 - Todd Belcore, Executive Director, Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School
Social Change is a people and policy focused non-profit that empowers and amplifies the voice and power of the marginalized via film, coalition building, and by providing advocacy, legal, and technical assistance to individuals and organizations.
The best way to break the cycle of poverty, prison and violence is to give people a real alternative. We do that through by providing all interested, not just those who can afford it, with the training needed to get the well-paying jobs of today and tomorrow.
September 16, 2017
Meeting # 3,442 - In the 1950s the so-called "Cold War" was proceeding apace, with the American Oligarchy, through the CIA, engineering criminal coups and wars in several countries in the name of fighting communism. When John F. Kennedy entered the presidency he soon began formulating and implementing (a) economic policy in the interests of the American people rather than the corporate elite, and (b) foreign policy more favorable to world peace than to the warmongering, profiteering aims of the military-industrial complex. Kennedy thereby incurred the Cold War Establishment's deadly wrath. The 1963 false-flag assassination of JFK was thus the culmination of a titanic struggle within the American state, one whose outcome cemented the
supremacy of the imperial Oligarchy behind and above the year-to-year facade of electoral/party politics. The American people have been living under this type of tyranny-by-deception ever since, with the present "War on Terror" being merely its latest incarnation. Historian Ted Aranda examines the Eisenhower-Kennedy Cold War period in this light.
September 9, 2017
Meeting # 3,441 – Lindson P. Anderson, Research Analyst of the Northwest Information Service of Palatine, will provide a condensed summary of the forensic evidence produced by tens of thousands of scientists on the global 911 education movement.
There 6 categories of evidence will be covered, with extensive printed material on the scientific sources that have produced this evidence.
•Who: a brief summary of the people in the Bush-Cheney administration who orchestrated 911
•What: A giant real estate fraud, in which seven old, obsolete office buildings were demolished with pre-placed explosives, and then sold as a “terrorist” attack by 19 lucky Muslins with box cutters
•When: The 911 event was planned and prepared month in advance by people in the Bush-Cheney regime.
•How: The events of the day involved pre-placed explosives and aircraft substitution.
•Why: 911 was created to be the New Pearl Harbor, to motivate Congress to pass the Constitution-shredding Patriot Act and establish “Homeland Security.”
•The Media: 911 was a scripted event, in which the major media sold the myth of a Muslim attack on America while promoting the false legend of Osama bin Laden and the “Muslims hated America’s Freedom” mythology
September 2, 2017
Meeting # 3,340 - Mark Burrows who states:
"In recognition of Labor Day, this presentation will honor the legacy of Eugene V. Debs and his evolution from organizing railroad workers in the mid-1890’s to becoming one of the most prominent fighters for social justice in the first two decades of the 20th century. What timeless lessons can we learn and apply to our present struggles for social justice?"
Mark Burrows is a former Co-Chair of Railroad Workers United. RWU is a cross-craft inter-union caucus of rail labor activists across North America, who strive for unity, democracy and solidarity within the rail unions, in order to more effectively fight for safety, dignity and quality of life, as part of the broader struggles for social, political, economic and environmental justice.
Prior to retiring last year, he worked in the rail industry for 40 years, predominantly as a locomotive engineer. He represented his union local, United Transportation Union #1433, as their delegate to the last two international conventions.
August 26, 2017
Meeting # 3,439 - college regulars
August 19, 2017
Meeting # 3,438 – Moe Shenfield says "It should come as no surprise that millennia of social degeneration, supercharged by industrial and communications revolutions, should produce throughout society ego imperious and infantiles - of which Donald Trump is but the ideal type. Marking 76 years as a political activist, Moe Shenfield will start with himself in showing how most of us are affected by this syndrome of alienation and dehumanization.
August-12, 2017
Meeting # 3437 - Matthew Geiger, Chapter Lead, Chicago Centrists - a group made up of people who feel let down by both political parties and blame the influence of money in politics, a lack of bipartisanship, and gerrymandering for our unresponsive system. They are concerned about the increasing extremism within political parties and the hollowing out of the political center.
The Centrist Project aims to strategically elect independent candidates to office who can break through political gridlock and serve as a voice for all those in the sensible center –– not as a traditional third party, but as America’s first Unparty.
Their “Fulcrum Strategy” is focused on electing a sufficient number of these candidates to closely divided legislatures like the US Senate where, as a swing coalition, they can deny both parties an outright majority and use their disproportionate influence to forge real solutions.
August 5, 2017
Meeting # 3436 - "In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept the Trump/Pence regime."
Refuse Fascism is made up of people coming from a diversity of perspectives who recognize that the Trump/Pence Regime is fascist, that it poses a catastrophic danger to all of humanity, and that it is our responsibility to mobilize millions to drive it from power. We are united by the political mission of our Call to Action and we are, as it says, “working with all our creativity and determination toward the time when millions of people can be moved to fill the streets of cities and towns day after day and night after night, declaring this whole regime illegitimate – Demanding, and Not Stopping, Until the Trump/Pence Regime Is Driven from Power.”
July 29, 2017
Meeting # 3,435 - Robert Holland returns with another thoughtful analysis of our society
Robert states that: "We presume inalienable rights to our own thoughts, but questions arise whether thoughts are protectable or authentically ours. This presentation explores the porous and communal qualities of human thought as contrasted with those who would seek to exercise control over our thoughts."
July 22, 2017
Meeting # 3,434 - What are chemtrails? Many researchers and observers believe that this phenomenon is exactly what it appears to be: a clandestine government program of releasing vast amounts of toxic particulates into the atmosphere. The ostensible reason would seem to be "solar radiation management," i.e. blocking sunlight to reduce global warming. So is this a vast project in geoengineering? Or is the purpose something else? And all without the knowledge, much less the consent, of the citizenry?! The political no less than the environmental implications are almost beyond imagination. Are we really to be nothing more than oblivious sheep and guinea pigs to the Masters of the Universe? Or will we finally take our lives into our own hands? Investigator Ted Aranda explores this mind-bending topic.
July 15, 2017
Meeting # 3,433 - Michael Burick - Speaker maintains that: “Cannabis has been around for 3 thousand years and is/should be going mainstream for medicinal reasons. Some current obstacles are big Pharma's lobbyists, poor information about cannabis, and its proven health benefits and antiquated Federal regulations that will be supplanted by states' that need the tax revenues."
July 8, 2017
Meeting # 3,432 - College regular Jonathan Barton returns: Join us as we celebrate his 200th birthday with our special guest Henry David Thoreau, one of the most famous and respected writers ever on the natural environment, liberty, and the human experiences of the 19th century. A presentation on how his works are relevant to today's climate change movements, civil liberties struggles, and global actions for the liberation o f working class peoples. Note: A special thank you to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for graciously sharing the use of their recently developed time travel machine in order for the speaker to attend.
July 1, 2017
Meeting # 3,431 - Is the College of Complexes, a weekly free speech forum, the source of and facilitate the spread of fake news?
Tim Bolger and Charles Paidock will take a look at fake news since its inception with the invention of the printing press, and focus on instances of erroneous information in the US since 1776. Charlees states that many of the regular attendees always get upset when he occasionally informs them that that the "don't know what they're talking about.".
June-24, 2017
Meeting # 3,430 - Lawrence Quick, who for a number of years served as the state chair
The Illinois Ballot Integrity Project is a not-for-profit, non-partisan civic organization dedicated to the correction of election system deficiencies and to ensuring fair, accurate, and completely transparent elections.
Fundamental to election integrity is the inscribing of all votes (whether by hand or by machine) on durable paper ballots which are easily handled and verified by the individual voter. The voter’s paper ballot shall be the only official ballot for purposes of casting, tallying, counting, audit and recount.
Mission Statement
The Mission of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project is to inform and educate the public, media and government officials about important election-integrity issues and to promote the adoption of legislation and policies designed to secure the democratic process.
We Support These Principles
•Every Vote Counts - Count Every Vote
Every Vote Counts - Count Every Vote•We support the proposition that every qualified voter must be assured a reasonable opportunity to cast his or her vote in every election in which he or she is legally entitled to participate.
We support the proposition that every qualified voter must be assured a reasonable opportunity to cast his or her vote in every election in which he or she is legally entitled to participate.•Trust - But Verify
Trust - But Verify•We support same-day in-precinct counting and tabulation of ballots, with multi-partisan supervision, public oversight and immediate public posting of the
We support same-day in-precinct counting and tabulation of ballots, with multi-partisan supervision, public oversight and immediate public posting of the results.
•We support independent multi-partisan audits consisting of a complete hand-count of at least ten percent (10%) of randomly selected ballots for all National, State, County and City elections.
We support independent multi-partisan audits consisting of a complete hand-count of at least ten percent (10%) of randomly selected ballots for all National, State, County and City elections.•We support publicly funded non-partisan exit polling.
We support publicly funded non-partisan exit polling.•We support safe and secure storage of all election records and ballots for a minimum of two (2) years.
We support safe and secure storage of all election records and ballots for a minimum of two (2) years.•We support multi-partisan election boards.
We support multi-partisan election boards.•Equal Voting Opportunity
Equal Voting Opportunity•We support the establishment and enforcement of uniform voting standards, procedures, and methods applicable to all elections and all polling places.
We support the establishment and enforcement of uniform voting standards, procedures, and methods applicable to all elections and all polling places.•We support independent, private, and convenient casting of ballots by all voters, regardless of physical capabilities.
We support independent, private, and convenient casting of ballots by all voters, regardless of physical capabilities.•We support the establishment of election day as a national holiday.
We support the establishment of election day as a national holiday.June 17, 2017
Is There Evidence of Voter Suppression and Other Tactics? What the Media Won't Talk About.
Meeting # 3,429 - long-time college regular and sometimes moderator Don Richie gives his analysis, and talks about his first-hand experience attending the recount in Wisconsin
June 10, 2017
Meeting # 3,428 - Lowell Thompson returns to talk about his latest book.
Lowell Thompson is an artist, writer, and creative catalyst. He calls himself a "recovering Adman" because he spent the first 35 years of his adulthood creating ads and commercials for many of the nation's biggest ad agencies and their clients.
He was one of the first African-Americans hired in advertising when American companies finally opened themselves to non-whites after the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the urban riots that followed.
He began to transform himself from Adman to "RaceMan" in the early 90s and now spends most of his ad design and writing savvy on his attempts to save the world, starting in Chicago, USA. He says if Chicago can be saved, anyplace else in America should be relatively easy.
Thompson is also the creator of "Buy The Cover", which he says is the "first and only blog on the internet that rates only covers for title and design".
June 3, 2017
Meeting # 3,427 - John Gruber, Organizing Manager - works to extend background checks and take legal action against gun dealers Every year, over 100,000 people are victims of gun violence in the U.S. More than 32,000 of these victims die. To combat these unacceptable numbers we have an ambitious goal to cut gun deaths in half by 2025. We must address this issue through policy, legal action, and public health and safety.
Speaker never showed, so Charlie Paidock and Tim Bolger had to improvise with the program.
March 20, 2017
Meeting # 3,425 - college regular and sometimes chair Steve Kungis
Come one, come all to hear how our Commander in Chief has performed for his first 100 days of his 8 years in office!
May 13, 2017
Meeting # 3,424 - "Alexander Paterakis has been a resident of Illinois his entire life. With that he has has seen the good and the bad that this state has had to offer. With 4 of our last 7 Governors ending up in jail, Illinois politics have become synonymous with corrupt politicians; he intends to change that. Residents of Illinois are frustrated with this State's growing debt, increasing taxes, and shrinking middle class, yet the current Republicans and Democrats running this state have not provided solutions, only band aids to these problems. Alexander wants to change how business is done in Springfield. We need leaders who are looking out for the people of the great state of Illinois. Who will take on complex and challenging problems face on and will not sacrifice the hard earned money of the Illinois tax-payer."
May 6, 2017
Meeting # 3,423 - college regular Lindson P. (Andy) Anderson, Research Analyst, of the Northwest Information Service - Data Base Translations of Environmental, Political and Social Issues into Basic English
April 29, 2017
Meeting # 3,422 - Peter Pero gives his insights based upon his recent trips, with photographs
"South America offers much more than the tango, Gouchos, samba and steaks. There are many more aspects to thIs southern region that are vital to North America and the world. As suppliers of food staples, natural resources, industrial products and the arts, Latin American countries that comprise the "Cone" of the Southern Hemisphere are social, economic and political trend setters. With a special focus on Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, globetrotter ...Peter Pero will unpack a suitcase full of observations."
April 22, 2017
Meeting # 3,421
Tim Bolger, Thorium Energy Alliance (TEA)
vs. Dennis Nelson, Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS)
Tim Bolger says we need
"New Nuclear Technology to Meet MOST of Our Energy Needs.” To help solve the climate crises and get us off of fossil fuels.
Dennis Nelson says we need:
"Non-Nuclear Energy Pathways to Increase Our Prosperity, Eliminate All Fossil Fuels, and Solve Our Climate Crisis"
April 15, 2017
Meeting # 3,420 - Essay by Chicago-based author David Ramsay Steele
Examples of belief systems include Scientology, Seventh-Day Adventism, Marxism, Global Warming, 9/11 Truth, the Paleo Diet, Zen Buddhism, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Romanticism, Darwinian evolution, and Phenomenology.
Religions, political ideologies, conspiracy theories, scientific theories, popular diets, brands of psychotherapy, doctrines about the arts, and philosophical schools—these are all belief systems.
David Ramsay Steele will show that all belief systems have a lot in common. All belief systems involve an emotional commitment arising out of a conversion experience. All belief systems brush aside evidence which obviously conflicts with the belief system and focus their attention on evidence which confirms it. All belief systems have privileged authorities—persons or texts—which they revere and which they refer to when any doubt arises as to the correct way to interpret the belief system. All belief systems which have formal organizations to promote them are organized as oligarchies, with a handful of people calling the shots and the rest usually falling into line. All belief systems display a conservative tendency, arising from the determination to stop the belief system from changing, but despite this, all belief systems do evolve, so that what they believe today is never precisely what they believed fifty years ago. The leaders of the belief system go to immense trouble to freeze the doctrine of the belief system, or at least what they take to be its most essential points, and prevent these from being changed, but they are always unsuccessful: every belief system evolves. All belief systems are prone to schisms and splits.
David Ramsay Steele is the author of From Marx to Mises: Post-Capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic Calculation (an exposition of the economic calculation problem) and Editorial Director of Open Court Publishing Company. With Michael R. Edelstein, in 1997 he co-wrote Three Minute Therapy: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, a psychological self-help book based on Albert Ellis's rational emotive behavior therapy.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Steele was a member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain. In 1977 he co-founded the Libertarian Alliance and in 1982 would lead one of the two factions that resulted in the split of the group.
April 8, 2017
Meeting # 3,419 - "Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Democracy is a seminal work which addresses the major questions raised by neoliberal globalization. This volume should be read and used in classrooms and study groups to stimulate a conversation about the new era of globalization, and the prospects for building twenty-first century socialism." This wide-ranging book makes a critical contribution to understanding the times in which we live and possible solutions to the increasingly acute crisis of global capitalism. Harris critiques with great perspicacity the ideology and destructive practices of hegemonic neo-liberalism as well as the failure of 20th century socialism to provide a viable alternative and the limitations of anarchism. All three ideologies are found wanting in the quest for human liberation. In this new globalized information age our emancipatory potential, he suggests, lies in freeing democracy from the constraints of capitalism through a more balanced relationship between the state, market and civil society. Jerry Harris is a preeminent scholar on global studies, particularly on global capitalism and transnational class theory.
April 1, 2017
Meeting # 3,418 - Photojournalist Lloyd DeGrane and Tribune Reporter Kari Lydersen
who for more than a year visited with the residents
March 25, 2017
Meeting # 3,417 - Historian Ted Aranda’s political analysis
In 1947, as the USA came out of WWII unmatched by any other country in military and economic power, Congress officially created the national security state, including the CIA. Since then the US government -- far from "spreading democracy" -- has been continually attempting to dominate the entire world. In this endeavor it has relied heavily upon massive deceptions of various kinds, in two large phases. The first was the so-called "Cold War," which according to orthodox accounts was an inevitable confrontation between the two great, post-war rival powers -- one propagating freedom and the other totalitarianism. Thus the US was supposed, justifiably, to have been fighting "Communist aggression." This narrative is a fairy tale, as historian Ted Aranda will describe in this latest installment of USA: Empire of Deception. In reality the "Cold War" was largely an American invention used by the Oligarchy to mask its imperialist global agenda, just as today's fictitious "War on Terror"—the second phase of the mammoth deception--is employed for the same purpose.
March 18, 2017
Meeting # 3,416 - Dr. Lora Chamberlain talks about this working group with concerns about selecting a new election system, and what equipment the Board of Elections decides to buy, with the aim to implement a system with the highest percentage of hand counted votes, given concerns about reliance on audits.
March 11, 2017
Meeting # 3,415 - Jennifer Walling Executive Director
The Illinois Environmental Council engages in education and outreach and provides a forum for environmentalists, and serves as the environmental community’s eyes, ears and voice in Springfield. Since its founding in 1975 by a group of dedicated grassroots environmentalists, IEC has sponsored issue advocacy campaigns and projects by allowing environmental organizations to pool their resources and create a higher profile for environmental issues. Today, IEC represents 60 environmental and community organizations and nearly 300 individuals from throughout Illinois.
March 4, 2017
Meetings # 3,414 - The United States supported Truth Commissions at the end of apartheid, at the end of the troubles in Ireland and other troubled regions around the world. Yet when segregation ended, no such commission has ever occurred here in the United States. How did segregation work in the U.S.? What were our race laws? Michael Flores returns to hold a Truth Commission at the College of Complexes, on segregation's effects, wounds and international influence.
February 25, 2017
Meeting # 3,413 - “Black America: Asking Ourselves The Tough Questions” by Sonja Cassandra Perdue is a formalized, five-part “Q & A” discussion that began in July 2010. This series of books will challenge Black America to collectively engage in a dialogue designed to initiate solutions to our collective concerns and issues. “Asking Ourselves The Tough Questions” is for personal conversations, family dinners, bus rides to work, class study, mornings in the neighborhood coffee shops and those private moments.
February 18, 2017
Meeting # 3,412 - Sharon Sanders "Donald Trump is Not My President"
1) Learn how we can act in solidarity with people and our climate being attacked by the Trump administration;
2) Discuss how we can be a voice to expose the corruption and hypocrisy of a Trump administration that stands for the 1% corporate interests, and show the public the danger of how Trump's personally profiting off his presidency could impact his decisions as president; and
3) Discuss how we can continue to organize for democracy and political equality on a local, state and national level.
February 11, 2017
Meeting # 3,411 - Trevor Gervais, Lead Organizer - Common Cause Illinois is a nonpartisan watchdog group whose mission is to promote open, ethical, and accountable government at the local, state, and national levels by educating and mobilizing the people of Illinois.
Common Cause achieves its goals through the hard work of a national office of staff and volunteers in Washington DC, as well as state organizations located across the nation and nearly 625,000 members and supporters.
February 4, 2017
Meeting # 3,410 - Tim Bolger and Charlie Paidock let a brief presentation on Gun Control and why it needs to be universal, since our main speaker was absent, this session was put up as an impromptu session similar to an open mike night where members of the audience had an extended time to rebut Tim's and Charlies initial remarks.
January 22, 2017
Meetings # 3,408 - College regular Steve Kungis will share his observations of doing jigsaw puzzles..
This presentation / discussion is designed for folks who have never done or completed a jigsaw puzzle, as well as beginners, intermediates, and expert folks.
January 14, 2017
Meetings # 3,407 - Tim Bolger and Paul Rescino will present their political prognostications and possible challenges that a Trump Presidency, and what Trump and the Republicans could learn from the Cubs World Series Victory. Many of the principles and management techniques presented by the Cubs manager Theo Epstien, and the style of “teamwork” that was promoted by the Cubs during this last baseball season have a definite impact if Trump would apply these same principles. Come see how the Cubs can affect Trump, and how all of our country can then fly the W flag.
January 7, 2017
Meetings # 3,406 - Patrick Stevenson, employed in the banking industry
"A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange like normal currencies such as USD, but designed for the purpose of exchanging digital information through a process made possible by certain principles of cryptography. Cryptography is used to secure the transactions and to control the creation of new coins. The first cryptocurrency to be created was Bitcoin back in 2009. Today there are hundreds of other cryptocurrencies, often referred to as Altcoins.
Put another way, cryptocurrency is electricity converted into lines of code with monetary value. In the simplest of forms, cryptocurrency is digital currency."
December 17, 2016
Meetings # 3,405 - Ending the year with a bang (not a whimper), naturalist and energy-environmental researcher Dennis Nelson argues that a RE-DEFINITION OF "PROGRESS" is essential to maintain and promote climate protection, ecological and public health, economic well-being, and energy security. Topics will include: A discussion of reforms under the fascinating field of environmental economics (a steady-state economic system), refutation of climate disruption science denial and policy delay, the problems of Canadian tar sands exploitation and the alternatives to oil, preservation of the National Park System (this year is the Centennial Celebration of the National Park Service), his testimony before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the Clean Energy Incentive Program (CEIP), his letter to Illinois politicians in opposition to the Exelon Nuclear Bailout in Springfield, and "green tips" for the Christmas Holiday Season.
December 10, 2016
Meeting # 3,404 - In this presentation historian Ted Aranda continues his examination of the numerous state-terrorist / false-flag episodes in recent American history. Specific topics will include the so-called mass shooting in Orlando and the physics of 9/11. These matters are of absolutely vital importance to all Americans. A government that can slaughter 3,000 random, innocent people on its own soil for the purpose of advancing its hyper neo-imperialist agenda (with no consequences whatsoever) can and will perpetrate all manner of further devious, diabolical attacks and hoaxes on the population.
December 3, 2016
Meetings# 3,403 - Dan Bader, mental health practitioner, states that: "The occurrence and intensity of depressive symptoms tend to peak over the winter holiday season. The presentation will cover the general symptoms, precipitants, and maintenance factors that constitute a clinical depression. Common explanatory narratives of depression will be discussed. A depression-prevention framework will be outlined and applied to the events, memories, and painful emotions that frequently trigger a winter-holiday depression."
November 26, 2016
Meeting # 3,402 - Medical Cannabis, aka Medical Marijuana, is now available in Illinois. What does it mean for you? Is it safe? How does a patient get it? Kirsten Velasco, Patient Advocate for Illinois Women in Cannabis (NFP), will answer all of your questions with a presentation covering the science, biology, laws, application process, and patient experience, followed by an open Q & A. All are welcome.
Medical Cannabis is a safe. natural, non-toxic anti-inflammatory that can treat chronic pain and many other conditions. It is already saving lives. States with Medical Cannabis have 25% less death from opioid overdose. Medical cannabis can be formulated to have no psychoactive effect and never needs to be smoked. There are several alternatives: salves, tinctures, capsules, etc. This program is important for everyone because of the misconceptions about medical cannabis. It is most beneficial for seniors, veterans and anyone with a chronic illness. Find out why Illinois and more than 25 other states have their own medical cannabis program.
November 19, 2016
Meeting # 3,401 - College regular Jonathan Barton gives a review of the Presidential campaign. He promises an evening of satire, solidarity and celebration of "We the People" and "Dreams of a Better World" - "We have nothing to lose but out migraines"
November 12, 2016
Meeting # 3,400 - Marc Loveless, Founding Executive Director and President, Coalition for Justice and Respect (CJR)
Recently formed by the Cook County Board, the Commission aims to help meet the needs of the area’s struggling underprivileged population, in part, by encouraging the activities of social enterprises.
Some of the Commission’s plans, which are still in their very early stages, include: Making the most of major place-based institutions Addressing food deserts. Revitalizing the crumbling Port of Chicago. . Redeveloping blighted areas
The Commission was established via ordinance on April 12, 2016. Commission Jesús "Chuy" García was the chief sponsor of the ordinance that called for "ESTABLISHING THE COOK COUNTY COMMISSION ON SOCIAL INNOVATION FOR JOB CREATION, WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT." Commissioner García has appointed the members of the commission, that which includes Vice Chairman Marc Lane - former chairman of the State of Illinois Social Innovation Task Force, and economic development expert and author. Together, they have assembled a great cohort for the Cook County Commission on Social Innovation that is made up thoughts leaders in the non-profit sector, Cook County government heads of department, economic development experts and community builders.
November 11, 2016
Meeting # 3,399 - author David Ramsay Steele
Over the last few hundred years, the belief in progress, both as a fact and as a desirable goal, has come under increasing attack. And now the Left, who used to call themselves “progressives,” have become hostile to progress: they are against any policies which favor economic growth and they aim to restrict technological innovation and terminate the worldwide improvement in living standards.
The most virulent attack on progress comes from the Greens, or fanatical environmentalists, ignorant of science and wedded to pseudoscience, and it comes at a time when humankind has one over-riding priority: to bring up the half of the world living in poverty to the same level of affluence and superior quality of life that prevails in the richer half of the world.
Dr. Steele will clarify what is meant by progress and defend it against ill-informed criticisms. He will provide evidence of the current extent of progress and evaluate the likely future of progress. Despite the political opposition to progress from comfortably-off elites, so far progress is winning, with continual reductions in poverty and growth of incomes worldwide.
Can progress go on indefinitely? In principle it can, though this is unlikely to happen because of the total probability of various things that might easily go wrong: a devastating nuclear-biological-chemical war, a cosmic disaster such as an asteroid hitting the Earth, a worldwide plague, or the rise of a world government, which would cause technological and intellectual progress to cease.
And then there is the inexorable cooling of the Earth as it descends into the next glaciation, which will last for something like a hundred thousand years and will cover the vast majority of the Earth’s land surface with a huge depth of ice, just like it did last time. We can expect the descent into the glaciation to be gradual, but it might still be rapid enough to violently reduce grain output and thus threaten humankind with mass starvation at some point within the next few hundred years. Ultimately, we won’t be safe from the hazard of imminent extinction or reversion to poverty until we have diversified our location by founding many centers of human settlement throughout the galaxy.
David Ramsay Steele is a classical liberal and critical rationalist speaker and writer. His latest book is Orwell Your Orwell, a study of the ideas of George Orwell, due for release in February 2017. His earlier books are Therapy Breakthrough (co-authored, 2013), Atheism Explained (2008), Three Minute Therapy (co-authored, 1997), and From Marx to Mises (1992).
October 30, 2016
Meeting # 3,398 - Michael Brennan for Hillary, Charlie Paidock for Trump and Ted Aranda will be advocating voting for neither
one of them. A classic election debate was held, with positions.
October 22, 2016
Meeting # 3,397
1st) Mike Korbel- will be introducing the discussion and will have a Power Point Presentation
2nd) Kent McMillen- Libertarian Candidate for US Senate will be there to discuss his candidacy
3rd) Matt Scaro - will be speaking on behalf of Claire Ball Libertarian candidate for Illinois Comptroller
The Libertarian Party is the third-largest and fastest–growing political party in America. There are libertarian chapters in all 50 states and currently over 140 elected Libertarian officials
Americans want, and deserve, a political system which respects them as unique individuals, as people who can make their own plans, who take responsibility for themselves, who are compassionate, and who can generally solve their own problems.
Libertarians are practical – we know we can’t make the world perfect – but it can be a lot better.
The Libertarian Party is the only political party that is working to dramatically reduce unrestrained government spending, taxes, debt, regulations, bureaucracies, and wars, both foreign and domestic.
October 15, 2016
Meeting # 3,396 - Rob Sherman, Green Party candidate for Congress outlines his plans and platform, if elected to congress, more information can be found at: www.robsherman.com
8 October 8 2016
Meeting # 3,395 - Socialist Party USA - Soltysik / Walker for Pres, VP - Miguel Deltoral, General Secretary, Chicago SP
THE SOCIALIST PARTY strives to establish a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control - a non-racist, classless, feminist socialist society... where working people own and control the means of production and distribution through democratically-controlled public agencies, cooperatives, or other collective groups.; where full employment is realized for everyone who wants to work; where workers have the right to form unions freely, and to strike and engage in other forms of job actions; and where the production of society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of a few. We believe socialism and democracy are one and indivisible..
The Chicago Socialist Party is the official local of the Socialist Party USA in Chicago, IL. Like all Socialist Party chapters we pride ourselves on being autonomous and horizontal in organization and practice, with our actions available to all members and organized by all members. We believe that only through Democratic Socialism can we create the foundations of a truly revolutionary, anti-capitalist, Socialist society made of the workers, by the workers, for the workers. While we support progressive campaigns to push for a better quality of life for our brothers and sisters we also recognize that capitalism is inherently flawed, and cannot be reformed. That is why the Socialist Party USA advocates for the abolition of capitalism and radical political organization outside of the capitalist Democratic and Republican Parties. As such our aim is to build a mass party of the people; we are a party of ACTION, and will not sit idly while our brothers and sisters are oppressed daily. Direct action gets the goods, and we will work to the best of our ability and capacity in order to achieve a new system that benefits us all.
1 October 2016
Meeting # 3,394 - Barry Koren - A simple approach to solving the big problems our communities are faced with like poverty, the environment, job disappearance and most other big problems connected with money.
24 September 2016
Meeting # 3,392 - The news media at first launched attacks on Trump comparing him to Hitler and the rise of the Third Reich, however Jews found this approach deeply offensive and a trivialization of Hitler and his paramilitary groups the SA and SS. The NY Times then did an article comparing Trump to Joe McCarthy, which influenced a similar article in the Chicago Tribune and within 2 weeks hundreds of newspapers had covered the same ground. It took years for the press to smear McCarthy, but today less than 2 weeks to spread the McCarthy comparison nationwide. Has the press overplayed its hand and revealed it has dropped all sense of political fairness? What can we learn from how the smear was spread? If McCarthy is not like Trump, who is Trump like? Was the smear itself actually a smart move or did it fail and not effect the polls at all? Michael Flores returns to dismantle the media, Trump and the lies we believe.
Mr. Flores will also discuss what a Trump Presidency will be like.
17 September 2016
Meeting # 3,392 - Andy Anderson reveals what you are not supposed to know about what's really going on in the US.
10 September 2016
Meeting # 3,391 - Bill Lee will present evidence and exhibits he says that will lift the clouds of ignorance concerning conspiracy theories, and takes a brief look at, and refutes, each of the major conspiracy theories, such as the World Trade Center collapse, the military response, WTC Building 7, premature reports, the attack on the Pentagon, and explains how the US was engaged in a new type of war. He maintains that many of the theorists rely on single sources of information. Attendees are recommended to come prepared with issues they wish to raise.
3 September 2016
Meeting # 3,390 - Historian Ted Aranda returns with another well-researched presentation:
"There is in fact no significant threat to the American public from those designated by the government and the corporate media as "terrorists." The mass-murdering orchestrators of most major "terrorist attacks" in the U.S. are the intelligence agencies of the government; their European counterparts are involved in overseas incidents. "Terrorism" is the latest, utterly diabolical means by which the U.S. and world ruling classes keep the masses frightened, fooled, distracted, cowed, and controlled. In this presentation historian Ted Aranda examines/reviews Operation Gladio, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, and (time permitting) the Sandy Hook "mass shooting" incident. Given that the only legitimate purpose of government is to enable the citizenry to organize itself and pursue its own welfare, the colossal criminal enterprises—lie factories and killing machines--masquerading today as democratic governments must be terminated immediately and with extreme prejudice."
27 August 2016
Meeting # 3,389 - Per the Anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and President Obama's visit to the Pease Memorial in Japan, CoC regular Bob Matter reveals little known Japanese military secrets and offers justification for the quick and decisive nuclear conclusion to the War in the Pacific.
20 August 2016
Meeting #3,388 - by Charles Paidock, a union representative of federal employees, who was personally involved in developing government-wide rules regarding email and social media usage, and who has defended other employees in similar disciplinary actions.
Charles was also a whistleblower to Congress about how investigations of alleged misconduct by federal employees were not being done properly.
Charles states that "She is an employee just like any other, and there are no special rules or any higher standard of conduct. I might at most would agree to oral counseling by her immediate supervisor. Criminal prosecution is extreme beyond belief. I campaigned actively for Bernie, so my political views do not in any way influence my assessment of this situation, and I’m certainly no friend of government managers or an agency chief politically appointed.
If the boss wants to get you, he or she will look for something you did, and then turn it into the crime of the century. We see it all the time. When you spend all day reading write-ups about employees you can tell a phony one in a minute. They're fishing expeditions.
Her case isn’t complex, and I would assign it to one of our new stewards if she came to us for representation.
Disclaimer: This is my personal assessment of the case, from what I know about it, and no official position has been issued or taken by an employee association. I have not affiliation with the Clinton for President campaign.
All in attendance, in keeping with College of Complexes adherence to free speech, welcome any and all remarks/rebuttals about the Presidential campaign in progress (5 minutes each)
13 August 2016
Meeting # 3,387 – college regular and librarian Daniel Weinberg returns with another well-researched program. Dan Says: "I will show how medicine is pushed on TV and in magazines, and other media, and how unsafe this has become. I will use personal experience and research to back up my thesis. Can we really ask our doctor for a drug we saw advertised on TV or a magazine? Does this make good medical sense? Does everyone in the USA and the world have a condition? Are we now basically unhealthy animals versus we used to be basically healthy and go to doctors when sick? Can doctors be preventing high blood pressure or heart disease or cancer? Should we all be taking more drugs to stay healthy? Or is exercise and diet more important?" Weinberg will also describe how a single-payer medical system for the USA will keep pharma costs in line.
6 August 2016
Meeting # 3,386 - Michael Kazanjian, who teaches world religion at Triton Community College, says:: "I will argue that all religions are essentially the same. All involve an irreducible whole, the "holy," the "real." Zoroastrians, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taos, Shinto, Confucianism, hold to a higher power beyond and responsible for human existence. This holy structure is or will be manifest in some singular or plural redeemer(s) who has (have), or will, come to save humanity. "
Paul Rescine, College regular and church-goer,says:: "All religions are not the same. In essence and beliefs there are major differences between all of the religions. If they are basically the same, why do we have many religions and not one. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all worship the same God but all three are different in their beliefs and doctrines. I dare anyone to tell a Muslim Fundamentalist that Islam / Allah is the same as Christianity / Judaism / Yahweh. If you were insistent enough, you would end up killed for being an infidel blaspheming Allah."
31 July 2016
Meeting # 3,385 - With the release of Windows 10 and the frustration people are having with Microsoft, are there alternatives available? Paul Resicno, and Tim Bolger will present the good, the bad, and the ugly of Windows 10, Office 365, and the alternatives like open office, the Mac, and Linus, with a particicular emphansis on Ubuntu. Come see how the “empire” of Microsoft is “going to enhance the user experience” with their operating system, as well as the “upstarts” of the world will.
23 July 2016
Meeting # 3,384 - Dr. Seth B. Darling, Argonne National Laboratory
The golden age of abundant, clean, and cheap freshwater is coming to an end. Much like oil conflicts influenced the 20th century, water technology, access, and management figure to shape the 21st century affecting everything from how our food is raised to how our economies function. Come hear a fantastic presentation on how we got to this point, what lies ahead, and what can be done now to respond and adap
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16 July 2016
Meeting # 3,383 - Agnes Loughlin, Who states: "I will speak about that which I have an expertise in: the evolution of consciousness through reprogramming of the subconscious mind. Many of us know of the existence of the subconscious mind and that it runs the programs that keep us safe and the same. Now it is possible to change these programs easily - my expertise is in Theta Healing." My website is www.miraclesinwellness.com
Theta Healing is a technique that focuses on thought and prayer. It enables us to put to use our natural intuition, relying upon an unconditional belief in, and power of, "The Creator Of All" -- 'Infinite Intelligence' (scientific and Metaphysical) aka 'God' (religious). This limitless source of power is to do the actual "work". by changing your brain wave cycle to include the "Theta" state, you can actually watch, feel, and experience, while conscious and alert, instantaneous physical and emotional healing.
2 July 2016
Meeting # 3,381 - Tim Bolger vs. Charlie Paidock
What should everyone know about that took place, and defined the USA? What should be taught to children in all schools about our nation's history? Who or what, for example, should be featured on US postage stamps? All who attend will be afforded 5 minutes to present what they think are the most important episodes in creating our country.
25 June 2016
Meeting # 3,379 - college regular and occasional presenter Li-Ping Yuan, who says:
Legislative branches are having terrible approval rating? Do you like to see changes? (e.g., vote out all incumbencies?)
Let me propose two improvements so that:
• Every voter's voice counts, fair and equal representation,
• No gerrymandering,
• Less on representatives, more on issues,
• Less partisan,
• Less election attacks and spending,
• Best of all, all citizens will be more interested in politics, participate in voting and even become a representative.
18 June 2016
Meeting # 3,379 - Rev. Dr. Terry Gallagher, Chair, Environmental Task Force, Illinois Conference, United Church of Christ
"As Dickens might well have observed: It was the best of Conferences and it was the worst of Conferences. It all came down to a “word” and a “number”: “Shall” or “Should”? “2” or “1.5” ?" In this presentation and discussion, we will explore the 21st meeting for the Conference of the Parties, share some of the experiences of that two week gathering of all nations of this earth, and look at what was accomplished and what wasn’t, and ponder how this calls us to act and what does that portend for our lives?
Background Information:
France hosted representatives from 195 countries for a climate change summit. The meetings have their beginnings with the Rio Summit in 1992, when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) was developed. The treaty called for a stabilisation of emissions and stipulated an annual meeting of nations called the Conference of the Parties (COP).
The meetings have the purpose of detailing the mechanisms by which nations will limit their greenhouse gas emissions to pre-industrial levels. This means a global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius by 2100.
The attendees numbered close to 50,000, including representatives from governments, companies, NGOs and an estimated 3,000 journalists.
11 June 2016
Meeting # 3,378 - Dr. Robert Holland returns with another scholarly essay, in which he states that:
"Since the dawn of modern consciousness, mankind has formulated concepts, metaphors, frameworks, and other abstractions enabling us to encounter outer reality and process it as inner experience. Smuggled in with this false dichotomy -- the separation of mind and body -- is a fundamental alienation from the world and lack of embeddedness where various mental substitutes assume ever greater significance and block accurate appreciation of reality. We are now living in a world of illusions, almost solely in our heads, discounting and/or ignoring the mandates of reality in favor of purely mental phenomena. Substitution is the name of the game."
28 May 2016
Meeting # 3,376 – Mike Flores says that: “While Anonymous represents a new kind of protest movement, the fact is most people neither want to break laws or are not computer savvy enough to hack their own phone. Michael Flores has come up a basic model to create a mass movement that believe it or not includes free speech on college campuses, allowing former Intel agents to speak at rallies and replacing rock bands and folk singers with DJ's. He also agrees with Ralph Nader that such a movement should include libertarians. Mike came to Chicago to become part of the board of SDS ( Students For A Democratic Society) and write for NEW LEFT NOTES. He actually did organize a rally of 1000 people against the bombing by Nixon in Cambodia without flyers or social networking in 24 hours. How could a uniquely American movement work, what is the effect of social networking, how can we trust Intel? What are the goals?”
21 May 2016
Meeting #3,375 - Author and college regular Margaret Goldstein, talks about how incompetence in Government, Business and Organizations harm us and give a litany of examples of how they do.
14 May 2016
Meeting # 3,374 - Chicago VFP works to abolish war as an instrument of national policy, to counteract the perpetual drumbeat for war, to discuss options to conflict resolution by violence, increase public awareness of the costs of war, restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations, and to end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons. http://www.chicagovfp.org/drupal/
Ex-Army Ranger, with two deployments to Afghanistan, published author Rory Fanning will speak about war and life in the military. His writings have appeared in the Guardian, the Nation, Mother Jones, Salon, Truthout, Common Dreams, etc. Rory is concerned that 10,000 students are currently enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corp (JROTC) in the Chicago Public Schools, which is more than any other school district in the country. http://educationnotmilitarization.org/
7 May 2016
Meeting # 3,373 - Louis Silverstein, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Humanities, HHSS Department, Columbia College Chicago
Prof Silverstein states that his presentation will be drawn from the following words of Winston Churchill:
"As the technological capability of humans continues on its relentless march to who knows where, we must remember that there is a thin veil that separates civilized man from savage man. Unless there is as much effort put into the cultivation of the teachings of the heart—compassion, mercy and caring—as there is into the cultivation of the mind, history teaches us that the human race is in store for barbaric tragedies on a scale that dwarfs the imagination."
30 April 2016
Meeting # 3,372 - Lindson (Andy) Anderson will tell us what the scientific community is saying about this, and about the solutions he has come up with to help out with this debacle.
23 April 2016
Meeting # 3,371 - For his traditional "EARTH DAY/EARTH MONTH" presentation, energy-environmental researcher, writer, and speaker DENNIS NELSON, a Neo-Malthusian himself, will examine one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of our environmental controversy--the (in)famous bet between Stanford University population biology professor Paul Ehrlich (author of THE POPULATION BOMB) and University of Illinois-Urbana business administration professor Julian Simon (author of THE ULTIMATE RESOURCE). This wager will be used as a springboard to discuss the contrasting (and conflicting) worldviews of the Neo-Malthusians (represented by Paul Ehrlich) vs. the Cornucopians (represented by Julian Simon). Neo-Malthusianism maintains that the Earth's resources are finite, and that we must use our creativity and innovation to constructively live within limits. By contrast, Cornucopianism maintains that the Earth's resources are infinite, and that there are no "limits to growth." What are the current policy implications of the Ehrlich-Simon bet? How is this wager being (mis)used by right-wing, polluter-funded think-tanks to attack the environmental movement?
17 April 2016
Meeting # 3,370 - Chicago based libertarian author David Ramsay Steele
Szasz argued throughout his career that mental illness is a metaphor for human problems in living, and that mental illnesses are not real in the sense that cancers are real. Except for a few identifiable brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, there are no objective methods for detecting the presence or absence of mental illness. Szasz said that he was not anti-psychiatry, but was rather anti-coercive psychiatry. He was a staunch opponent of civil commitment and involuntary psychiatric treatment but believed in, and practiced, psychotherapy and psychiatry between consenting adults. His views on special treatment followed from libertarian roots, based on the principles that each person has the right to bodily and mental self-ownership and the right to be free from violence from others, although he criticized the "Free World" as well as the communist states for their use of psychiatry. He believed that the use and sale of drugs, the practice of medicine, sexual relations, and suicide should be contractual, legal, and private.
Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.
If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.
Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.
The proverb warns that 'You should not bite the hand that feeds you.' But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself.
9 April 2016
Meeting # 3,369 - Charley Earp of the Chicago Socialist Party who says: "It's debatable whether Bernie Sanders is an actual socialist, but those of us who advocate democratic socialism can't afford to focus on merely getting Bernie elected. A real socialist movement isn't reducible to one candidate or even a presidency, the working people of the world have to fight capitalist exploitation on many levels and fronts."
2 April 2016
Meeting # 3,368 - In this presentation historian Ted Aranda examines the followup to the American Oligarchy's 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy: its further assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. More broadly Aranda will argue that the liberal Left's continual efforts to elect a populist/progressive president are futile. In the past half century presidents have been either members of the Oligarchy, tools of the Oligarchy, or dead. We Americans need an entirely new political system wherein we govern ourselves and the elite has no such all-encompassing power as it now has, extending to murder (JFK, RFK, MLK) and mass murder (9/11) with absolute impunity.
26 March 2016
Meeting # 3,367 - Joan Levin, Legislative Director, - Illinois Right to Know GMOs
"We are a small grassroots organization and we are affiliated with two national coalitions of similar organizations:" GMO Action Alliance and Citizens for GMO Labeling.
What is a GMO? A GMO is a plant developed through a process in which a copy of a desired gene or section of genetic material from one plant or organism is placed in another plant.
19 March 2016
Meetings # 3,366 - college regular Sid Cohen, who states that: "This is about a new type of imperialism designed to make more profits for the bankers and industrialists. Any country that gets in their way gets overthrown."
12 March 2016
Meeting # 3,365 - Rob Sherman is running in the March 15, 2016, Primary Election.
No More Income Taxes
Secular Government For All, State/Church Separation For Everybody
No More Animal Abuse For Entertainment
Election Reform That You Would Love But The Incumbents Would Hate
Environmental Sanity, Labor Sanity, And Financial Sanity
Better O'Hare Airport Noise Mitigation
No More Internet Spying By Corporations on Web Site Visitors
Significantly Reduce Global Warming
Ban Red Light Cameras And Speed Camera
5 March 2016
Meeting # 3,364 - Charles Paidock, Chair of the National Affairs Committee of the Independent Voters of Illinois (IVI), will present his Voter's Guide for deciding who to vote for in the upcoming Presidential primary, with a powerpoint presentation on the election process. Michael Brennan will compare Sanders, Clinton, Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich on health care, winnableness, taxation, the environment, federal spending, gun control, and Social Security.
27 February 2016
Meetings # 3,363 - Chicago -based libertarian author David Ramsay Steel
Kark Popper argued that there can be no predictive science of human history. He rejected Marxist historicism, which he associated with questionable means, and later socialism, which he associated with placing equality before freedom. He co-founded the Mont Pelerin Society, with Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ludwig von Mises. The open society as conceived of by Popper may be defined as "an association of free individuals respecting each other's rights within the framework of mutual protection supplied by the state, and achieving, through the making of responsible, rational decisions."
20 February 2016
Meeting # 3,362 - college regular Steve Kungis says "If diversity is such a wonderful thing in our society, why do we keep voting for the same people over and over to office. He will look at a variety of situations, ad will be looking at this issues from many angles.
13 February 2016
Meeting # 3,361 - Jerry Evans premise is that all of our smart phones, computers, and social media are turning us into Zombies, and we are truly missing out on the human connection.
6 February 2016
Meeting # 3,360 - This talk, by economist Michael Weinert, will focus on the three titans of Political Economy: Smith, Ricardo, and Marx, and on why their contributions are as relevant today as when they were written.
30 January 2016
Meetings # 3,359 - college regular Corina Schusheim states that: “My talk will be an inquiry about whether the Robert Malthus Theory of Population Growth applies to today's society. Does a high rate population growth cause poverty, or does poverty cause a high rate of population growth? Is there a relationship between a society's level of prosperity and its population growth? I will present examples of neo-Malthusian themes in literature, and contemporary media. Then I discuss predictions from demographers and economists. A bibliography will be provided of source materials on this topic."
23 January 2016
Was it by ambitious people with some good ideas and money to invest, or was it built on slavery, war, and brutality?
Meetings # 3,358 - Using "Empire of Cotton" by Sven Beckert as a text, and other books and research, Librarian Daniel Weinberg reviews the period of American history from 1780 to 1850. He encourages everyone to come with questions and opinions.
16 January 2016
Meetings # 3,357 - Stanfield Smith: My trip to Venezuela, featuring a report on what wa happening there during their elections. Talk will feature the main points of US Interference that country, and the economic situation there.
9 January 2016
Meeting # 3,356 - The geopolitical prognostications of college regular Tim Bolger, based upon evidence from various sources. Included will be the role of the United States, and the world situation. Come hear how Tim will tell about the coming defeat finally of the former Soviet Bolc, the expansions of globalization, the aging of the population, and the solving of global warming. Special evidence on how reliable forecasting really is.
19 December 2015
Meetings # 3,355 - College regular Paul Rescino states that "I have been working on a speech for the College for about five years. This is meant to be educational, not preachy. Talk of Christians is everywhere, but what really is a Christian? How do true Christians define themselves? I will explore this topic. It is a topic that I have researched for most of my life. I understand the make- up and temperament of the College and I am ready for that. I am not worried about what someone may say about me, I am prepared for that. I have been preparing to do this for years and I am ready. This is something that I want to do and have been putting off far too long."
12 December 2015
Meetings # 3,354 - Charles Paidock will look over our current, curious collection of holidays celebrated in the United States, many of which have been commercialized, and reflect poorly on our society. He proposes that we should get rid of them altogether, and start all over again with authentic, intelligent ones designed to inculcate intangible values. Attendees are asked to present their own suggestions for civic celebrations. Program includes a design for revising the calendar as well, with a standard, never-changing one of 13 identical,, equal months, all the same length.
5 December 2015
Meetings # 3,353 - Chicago -based libertarian author David Ramsay Steele says that there will never be a marxist refolution
28 November 2015
Meeting # 3,352 – Tim Bolger looks at privacy issues in using the internet - with powerpoint presentation.
Computer Security expert Paul Rescino will also be presenting some technical information on the current threats, and common computer security precautions every member should take.
21 November 21 2015
Meeting # 3,351 - Philosophy Prof. Robert Lichtenbert speaks on his new book of this title on what individuals can do to emphasize meaning in their lives, and ask themselves the question: "What should my life be all about?"
14 November 2015
Meeting # 3,350 - Author Greg Borzo - programs includes a powerpoint presentation Info: http://gregborzo.com/ Discover the world-famous Chicago “L” in all its grit and glory with Greg Borzo, author of The Chicago "L," as he gives a PowerPoint presentation portraying the growth and development of the "L." Why was it built and how did it change the city? And what is its connection with the Eiffel Tower? The "L" has been running 24/7 for 123 years. This rich historical presentation, lavishly illustrated with many images, will entertain and inform. And we'll look at a couple movie clips that feature the "L" in fun, surprising ways. Take this quick, lively tour of the "L" through time. Mass transit never looked so good! An award-winning journalist, Greg Borzo has a Masters Degree from Northwestern. He has been a reporter or editor at Modern Railroads Magazine, American Medical Association, Field Museum and University of Chicago, where he currently freelances. He is a professional tour guide, giving tours about the "L," cable cars, and other subjects for the Chicago History Museum, Chicago Cycling Club, Forgotten Chicago and others. One of Borzo's five books, The Chicago "L", has been favorably reviewed by more than 30 media outlets. He lives downtown in order to take advantage of all the city has to offer.
7 November 2015
Meeting # 3,349 - Alex Zvodinsky - Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.
24 October 2015
Meeting # 3,347 - Lindson P. Anderson of the Northwest Information Service of Palatine, IL, will give a presentation centered on the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2015 from Project Censored, from their book published by Sonoma State University in California Attendees are encouraged to bring their own copy of Censored 2015 to the presentation, to facilitate a lively discussion during the "questions and answers" period of the program.
10 October 2015
Meeting # 3,345 - Historian Ted Aranda presents the basic facts, the historical context, and the present-day political relevance of the Kennedy assassination. As with the false-flag operation of September 11, 2001, the Oligarchy took decisive murderous action in 1963 to maintain its nefarious stranglehold on the American body politic. For the past half century the fascist core of the ruling elite has demonstrated that it will stop at nothing to stay in control of the country and thereby be able to pursue its agenda of multifaceted oppression at home and genocidal imperialism abroad. Unless we wish to remain slaves to these monsters, we must therefore radically alter the political system that keeps them in power.
3 October 2015
Meeting # 3,344 - Four speakers shared their views on the Pope and climate change, the pope and nuclear power, and other various and spurious topics about whet the pope said and did not say, and yes even some mention of the central gospel message was made.
26 September 2015
Meeting # 3,343 - author Charles J. Sven presents a "critical analysis of cosmological assumptions" - as Galileo changed our understanding of the solar system, this book changes our understanding of the universe.
For one hundred years, starting in 1915, modern cosmology has been trying to explain how our Universe arrived on the scene without success. These cosmological scientists have been hampered by relying on those 20th century, preliminary mathematical assumptions formulated that have never been supported by replicable physics.
Many theories on the Big Bang event have been promoted, but none of these have convinced the scientific community of their validity, let alone the general public.
Well, technology was not similarly hampered by such early math and proceeded to carry on, making new discoveries, shedding new light on our understanding of physics.
19 September 2015
Meeting # 3,342 - A. Anne Holcomb, M.S., the Supportive Services Supervisor for Unity Parenting and Counseling, Inc., which has provided housing and services for homeless children, youth, and disabled adults on the Southside of Chicago for over 30 years. She has been working with homeless youth as a direct service provider, community organizer, and policy analyst since 1994.
Unity Parenting and Counseling, Inc. is a private-non-profit organization providing a range of services in the areas of foster and kinship care, foster/kinship care conversion adoptions, violence prevention and parenting training, in-home parenting coaching, counseling, housing for homeless youth and families, low threshold, youth, emergency, overnight shelter, permanent housing for homeless disabled people and their families, transitional housing for individuals affected by HIV/AIDS and reducing underage drinking, particularly in at risk youth and the public school system. More information can be found at http://unityparenting.org/
12 September 2015
Meeting # 3,341 - Bill Lee takes a brief look at, and refutes, each of the major conspiracy theories, such as the World Trade Center collapse, the military response, WTC Building 7, premature reports, the attack on the Pentagon, and explains how the US was engaged in a new type of war. He maintains that many of the theorists rely on single sources of information.
The presentation will consist of answering your questions, rather than a lecture so attendees are recommended to come prepared with issues they wish to raise.
5 September 2015
Meeting # 3,340 - IllinoisCarry.com an organization that represents the voice for armed self-defense on mass transportation, maintains that: "There is an average of 2,000 violent crimes per year committed on or in the close proximity to Chicago mass transportation stops/property. The current Firearm Concealed Carry Act prohibits license holders from carrying on mass transit. There is a worthwhile debate on whether or not this prohibition violates constitutional rights and whether or not it contributes to higher crime rates in these locations?" Speaker: Dr. Paula Bratich: Doctorate degree in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois. After participating in a Basic Hand Gun Course instructed by Vicki Farnam, the top women’s handgun instructor in the nation, Dr. Bratich saw a need for women in Illinois to be involved in pursuing their basic right to defend themselves, which then inspired her to start hosting both small and large self-defense courses to help educate particularly women, in subjects such as mental alertness, situation awareness, and the danger that comes along without knowledge of firearm safety. She is also a coordinator for the Illinois chapter of the Second Amendment Sisters, Inc. This organization is a women’s advocacy group dedicated to preserving the basic human right to self-defense, as recognized by the Second Amendment. They believe in personal responsibility, education and enforcement of laws against violent crimes. She is a certified NRA instructor in Pistol and Personal Protection in the Home.
29 August 2015
Meeting # 3,339 - Panel of Speakers, thus far Dr. Lora Chamberlain of Frack Free Illinois, Mike Lee on transportation, Li-Ping Yuan, Geologist, Charles Paiodck with powerpoint on tank car trains, etc.
They covered everything from Fracking, to climate change and the need to get off oil as soon as possible and replace it with renewables.
22 August 2015
Meeting # 3,338 - a volunteer group working to inspire Chicagoans to take on the challenge of climate change - spearheading “fossil fuels divestment” for Chicago in 2015! What is fossil fuels divestment? It’s getting the City of Chicago’s Council to pull public money away from being irresponsibly invested in fossil fuel companies that are destabilizing the Earth’s natural systems (what is called “climate change” or “global warming”).
15 August 2015
Meeting # 3,337 - AUA is a coalition of individuals, organizations and businesses working to support and expand sustainable agriculture in the Chicago area, from home- and community-based growing to market gardens and small farms. AUA’s Google Group has over 1,800 members, it’s a great place to connect with Chicago’s urban agriculture community! Working groups include a Local Food Economy Campaign for advocacy, a Farmers Market Outreach Campaign, an Urban Agriculture Mapping Project, and an Urban Agriculture Resource Guide Project. Resources available through AUA include a Chicago Urban Agriculture Map, an Urban Agriculture Directory, and an Urban Agriculture Zoning Code for Chicago.
8 August 2015
Meeting # 3,336 - Whether you're an atheist or believer, how the followers of Jesus understand the political meaning of his teachings impacts all of us. Charley Earp will defend a progressive and communist interpretation of the early Jesus movement.
1 August 2015
Meeting # 3,335 - Elevate Energy is a community of thinkers and doers who believe that everyone should have the access to resources that enable more efficient energy use. “Elevate Energy is a non-profit committed to smarter energy use for all. They design and implement energy efficiency programs that cut costs, protect the environment, and ensure that benefits reach those who need them most. Field Organizer Elizabeth Corrado will talk about the switch to a smart electrical grid and pricing programs which leverage new smart meters to allow you to pay based off of when you use your electricity. She will also talk about basic home improvements that can cut energy bills and make homes more comfortable year-round. Finally, she will discuss ways you can support policy that promotes energy efficiency, clean jobs, and renewable energy.”
25 July 2015
Meeting # 3,334 – L. P. (Andy) Anderson of the Northwest Information Service in Palatine, IL, will provide an evening of fact-filled, beneficial sources of information to help America move toward a hope-filled future.
The speaker says: "We will be dealing with documented facts and documented reality on a wide-range of issues, from updates on the Iraq-Afghanistan situation to the global green revolution of solar, wind power, and renewable energy sources. We will especially concentrate on helping people learn where there are highly credible sources of information that can move America and the world forward toward a clean, green, peaceful future without global wars for oil."
18 July 2015
Meeting # 3,333 - Chicago-based libertarian writer David Ramsay Steele
11 July 2015
The College of Complexes, The Playground for People Who Think, presented a special program on Saturday, July 11, at 6:00 PM, marking meeting number 3,333 of its weekly free speech programs. An invitation was extended to anyone who wished to speak on the topic of what they believe are the “Three Things This Country Needs To Do.”
27 June 2015
Meeting # 3,331 – Author Thomas J. Gradel spent 35 years as a media consultant and served on the staff of Governor Dan Walker. He is a freelance writer and political researcher. "Corrupt Illinois is the most comprehensive account of corruption in our state ever published. It proposes cures, which will take decades to implement fully, but which deserve our attention now."
20 June 2015
Meeting # 3,330 - Tom O’Donnell - a 19 yr old independent researcher promises an innovative and simple presentation explaining root causes of and solutions to crime, poverty and poisonous environment, derived at by observation and scientific analysis, with information on 10 significant facts.
13 June 2015
Meeting # 3,329 - Nancy Hill
The speaker asks: “Look at the sky...ever wonder why all those stripes are there, and why our sun gets hazed over almost daily? Why are we seeing sun halos, sun dogs, and scalar clouds so frequently…and such violent weather?" She noticed geoengineering being practiced in the form of "solar radiation management," sun dimming, or "albedo management" for the first time over a year ago, and has logged each day's observations since. She has over a thousand photos documenting these observations as well. Having thoroughly researched the issue, and spoken to some of the most involved experts from all over the world - she is still searching for answers, as we all should. Nancy is a passionate nature photographer & birder. She has been actively involved in various environmental issues including habitat restoration, mountaintop removal, and various coal related issues.
6 June 2015
Meeting # 3,328 - Ron Bettag of the LaRouche Political Action Committee says: “How you and your fellow Americans respond to the drought currently devastating parts of this country will determine the immediate fate of this nation. The President and Governors say cut off the water, destroy the agriculture we all depend on, surrender to nature, and let people die. Wall Street licks its chops and prepares to price “scarce” water out of reach for most Americans. The water exists, in the ocean and in the atmosphere, and it can be accessed with such existing technologies as nuclear-powered desalination, and emerging new technologies as atmospheric ionization. Our nation can continue to submit to these lies, and suffer the murderous consequences."
30 May 2015
Meeting # 3,327 – Allan Lindrup - British researchers Osborne and Frey have found that 47% of current jobs in the U.S. work force are at high likelihood be being automated within the next computer generation, roughly by 2035. What are some of the economic, social and political issues/ramifications that will ensue, and how should American society address these? Looking further out, human emulations are expected to become technologically feasible sometime during the last half of this century. What are the societal implications and issues that would accompany that?
23 May 2015
Meeting # 3,326 - Playwright, producer, and general troublemaker Mike Flores takes us on a journey with clips of the communist influence on Hollywood. From the films made, to the films blocked, how Hollywood aided and abetted Stalin. Did you know there were TWO Hollywood Hearings? - the Hollywood Ten, and another hearing that hauled in 400 people! Why did Humphrey Bogart stop helping the Hollywood Ten? So were there communists in Hollywood, or was it paranoia? The shocking story that files were not declassified on until 2013 - now the truth can be told.
16 May 2015
Meeting # 3,325 - In this presentation historian Ted Aranda lays out more facts of the 9/11 events as well as the incident's wider political implications. He asks: "On September 11, 2001, the U.S. government murdered 3,000 perfectly innocent Americans in cold blood, and then diabolically proceeded to use this disguised homicidal act as the pretext to wage endless, utterly unjustified war, and to construct an Orwellian police/surveillance/military state. What are you going to do about it?"
9 May 2015
Meeting # 3,324 - Greg Sedbrook - Discover how to find some of the world’s best chocolate. We’ll discuss what makes chocolate good—and good for you. Greg has been to Europe’s best chocolate festivals, factories, shops, and museums.
2 May 2015
Meeting # 3,323 -Two original organizers from the UFW from 60's and 70's, Marcos and Andrea Munoz speak on how they were involved with Chávez's efforts to organize 50,000 farm workers in California, some of whom were braceros - temporary workers from Mexico permitted to live and work in the United States in agriculture, and required to return to Mexico if they stopped working. Chávez's efforts were opposed, sometimes violently, by the owners of the large industrial farms. The film touches on several major nonviolent campaigns by the UFW: the Delano grape strike, the Salad Bowl strike, and the 1975 Modesto march.
25 April 2015
Meeting # 3,322 – Howard Cort states that: “It is my conviction that as wide a range of alternatives as possible should be examined before making decisions, particularly in cases of important public policy. Thus, I hope that the material here presented will be a modest but useful contribution toward carrying out that conviction and principle in the context of one of the world's most difficult problems.”
11 April 2015
Meeting # 3,320 - college regular Sid Cohen on how changes come about with his views on Dialectical Materialism
4 April 2015
Meeting # 3,319 – College regular Donald Richie talks about the rise and fall of the neoconservative movement in the Unites States. With some emphasis on his personal involvement in the movement and his disillusionment with it. Also emphasis is placed on the US involvement with the Iraq war and the mistakes of the assumptions that the neoconservatives made. Mention is also made of one of the key documents that the neoconservatives use "the project for a new american century made". An archived copy of the project for the new american century can be found here.
28 March 2015
Meetings # 3,318 - David Ramsay Steele, a Chicago-based libertarian writer. Talks about the way we look at the economic data is all wrong, We should take into account the "longitudinal view" as compared to the "snapshot" view like we do today.
He suggests that looking at the economic data with just a "balance sheet" like we do today does not include the complete picture, that we should also take into account the "income statement" and "cash flow" statements. (Like rising economic standards over time with individuals and take into account some demographic information). It completely changes how we look at inequality and how we think of "how the poor are actually doing" in this society.
For this videographer, this was one of the best presentations I have seen in quite a while.
21 March 2015
Meeting # 3,317 - mental health practitioner Dan Bader - programs includes powerpoint presentation
The speaker states: 'The presentation will discuss mental health from a public health/prevention point of view. Important aspects of emotion management and interpersonal/intrapersonal boundary-setting will be introduced. The connections among chronic emotional pain, human-need deficiencies, and socioeconomic variables will be highlighted."
This particular presentation has been given a vast number of times in the city to churches and community organizations, it is one of the better ones we have had.
14 March 2015
Meeting # 3,316 - AJ Segneri, of the Chicago Socialist Party, who says: "The premise of this is about what a movement really is (building a collective effort) versus what a movement means to most organizations (building an insular effort)."
7 March 2015
Meeting # 3,315 - Antonia Felix, A New York Times bestselling author, from Minneapolis, MN
Program includes a background video. A thriller inspired by the controversy over anti-depressant drug therapies for children, ethical and criminal issues in psychiatry and the power of Big Pharma, FATAL REMEDY is a chilling journey into the darkest corners of modern medicine. Author states that "my presentation is about the facts behind the novel that informs about the dark side of the pharmaceutical industry and criminal activity in psychiatry (a small percentage of psychiatrists are involved, but this is the most disciplined area of American medicine due to unethical and criminal behavior)."
28 February 2015
Meeting # 3,314 - Allan Lindrup, Karla Chew & Gene Horcher.- The workshop will cover what is in the Amendment and why, the process to amend the Constitution, and Move to Amend strategies and progress
14 February 2015
Meeting # 3,312 - Andy Anderson, from the Northwest Information Service in Palatine, IL, will provide an evening of discussion of how and why some Americans come to believe certain myths with a cult-like fervor and total resistance to any facts of evidence that dispute these myths, Particular attention will be presented on the methods used by the "mainstream media" to maintain Americans in a state of uninformed, misinformed cult-like adherence to certain myths that have no basis in reality. A very wide range of social, economic, and environmental problems can be rapidly solved if people put aside their present mythology and move forward with reality-based solutions. Extensive reality-based reference material will be provided throughout the evening for discussion. Cult-Like Beliefs in America: 1. Global warming is not real 2. Reaganomics is a good economic philosophy 3. More nucear power will provide "green" energy 4. George W. Buh was an excellent President ... and many others...
31 January 2015
Meeting # 3,310 - In this presentation historian Ted Aranda lays out the facts of the 9/11 events as well as the incident's wider political implications. He asks: "On September 11, 2001, the U.S. government murdered 3,000 perfectly innocent Americans in cold blood, and then diabolically proceeded to use this disguised homicidal act as the pretext to wage endless, utterly unjustified war, and to construct an Orwellian police/surveillance/military state. What are you going to do about it?"
See following video links for further background material.
https://youtu.be/l0Q5eZhCPuc
https://youtu.be/4fvJ8nFa5Qk
24 January 2015
Meeting # 3,309 - Jac Charlier – seeks a real voice at O'Hare to secure an equitable distribution of takeoffs and landings, day and night, east and west, and using all existing runways including the diagonals. The FAiR Coalition seeks to replace the antiquated institutional practice so common in Chicago and Cook County with a democratic approach involving a modern assessment of the risks and rewards for both O'Hare AND our communities. www.fairchicago.org
17 January 2015
Meeting #3,308 - Kari Lydersen, author, will speak on her book about Chicago politics, is a journalist who has covered labor, housing, immigration and other issues in Chicago for 17 years. She is co-director of the Social Justice New Nexus (www.sjnnchicago.org) at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
10 January 2015
Meeting # 3,307 - Ryan Blitstein, CEO - "CHANGE Illinois is a coalition leading systemic political and government reform. CHANGE (the Coalition for Honest and New Government Ethics) includes a diverse group of civic, business, labor, professional, non-profit and philanthropic organizations that represent more than 2 million members. Guided by our Statement of Principles, the coalition addresses issues that currently undercut the viability of our democracy, including ballot access, competitive elections, increased citizen participation, government transparency, unethical lobbying and redistricting.
CHANGE launched in February 2009 as an informal broad-based coalition of groups and individuals intent on changing Illinois' culture of corruption. Our initiative resulted in the state’s first-ever law limiting campaign contributions. Since then, CHANGE has matured into a stand-alone, non-partisan organization that amplifies the efforts of our coalition members, and brings more innovative ideas into the reform movement.
Through public education, coalition-building, and policy development efforts, CHANGE engages Illinois residents in creating a government more transparent, accountable, and responsive to their needs. By reaching out to those whose voices have long been silent on governmental issues and providing a channel for their talents, vision, and influence, CHANGE has become a powerful coalition throughout the state. In the coming months, we will be setting forth an agenda of both immediate and long-term goals, including work on reforming Redistricting and Campaign Finance." http://www.changeil.org/
3 January 2015
Meeting #3,306 - David Ramsay Steele, author of "Orwell Your Orwell: A Worldview on the Slab" (forthcoming) Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism.
27 December 2014
Meetings 3,305 - Mike Flores challenges common beliefs, and challenges ideas accepted on social networks as reality, such as: Did our founding fathers really base our country on organized religion? Were unions instrumental in getting the minimum wage? Did unions bring us the 40 hour work week? Did feminism begin in the KKK? Did voting bring about abortion rights? Are Christians actually praying to the wrong guy? Which party supported civil rights? Happy Holidaze! A multi media presentation!
20 December 2014
Meetings 3,304 - Doug Baschiere will present his views on the existential question put by Jesus, Mary’s boy child born on Christmas Day, to his followers “Who do you say I AM?” during His earthly life.
13 December 2014
Meetings 3,303 - Charles Paidock will take a brief look at the commercialization of Christmas, followed by an overview of labor conditions in Asia (Apple, Disney, Mattel), with a look at the retail industry in the US (Walmart) – with recommendations for having an exploitation free holiday
6 December 2014
Meetings 3,302 - Peter Pero will give us his observations on South Korea after his most recent trip there, complete with pictures and travelouge.
29 November 2014
Meetings 3,301 - Stanfield Smith observations on the presidents of those countries, with photographs taken on two trips. He recently traveled to those two countries and his report is on his extensive observations of the new "workers paradise." The United States according to him can learn some things from their good examples.
22 November 2014
Meetings 3,300 - college regular Li-Ping Yuan returns, and says: "Democracy has had great success around the world in the past 238 years. However, are you satisfied with what's happening in DC, Springfield and City Hall? We just had the most expensive campaigns but lowest turnout for midterm elections. After election, elected officials are bound by parties and surrounded by lobbyists. Do they still have voters in their mind? Is this why 99% cannot win over the 1%?"
What's wrong with democracy? Let's talk about in on November 22nd.
He adds that: "Democracy depends on the communication technology. With the advance of communication technology, people had more information and became capable of and desirable to make decisions. Democracy is a system to let people to express opinions and make better decisions. However, the current political system is built on the last century's communication technologies. It can no longer satisfy new society needs with large amount of diverse issues and opinions. I would like to make a few suggestions to take advantage of new technologies, change old mindsets and solve some current political problems."
15 November 2014
Meetings 3,299 - Energy-environmental activist Dennis Nelson responds to the climate deniers/delayers
INTRODUCTION: WHY AM I DOING THIS PRESENTATION?
I use "climate disruption" or "disruptive climate change," rather than "global warming" and merely "climate change." This is because my 'messaging' is still accurate, yet more dramatic, and better refers to what the adverse consequences are unless we take the necessary steps NOW to deal with it. HUMAN-CAUSED CLIMATE DISRUPTION IS PROBABLY THE MOST "DEFINING" ISSUE OF OUR TIME--IN DEFINING WHAT KIND OF SOCIETY (AND WORLD) WE ARE GOING TO HAVE, AND DEFINING HOW WE ARE GOING TO LIVE! On Saturday, September 27, 2014, a climate denier/delayer by the name of David Ramsay Steele did what I consider to be one of the most outrageous presentations given here at the College of Complexes. It was a compilation of one climate denier/delayer propaganda tactic after another. I thank the College (in particular, Tim Bolger) for giving me several extra minutes of "rebuttal time." I usually give only one major presentation here each year. However, I am here this evening because David's presentation deserves a full "rebuttal presentation." This is way too important an issue!
8 November 2014
Meeting # 3,298 - Tim Bolger, college regular, will tell why these much maligned institutions are absolutely essential, and how they will ultimately be the "salvation of America"
1 November 2014
Meeting # 3,297 - College regular Sid Cohen describes the Origins of Free Markets, From Imperialism to Neo-Liberalism with his thoughts and ideasq
25 October 2014
Meeting # 3,296 - author Lowell Thompson "not only says America's most avoided 4-letter word, but has a 'brand' new perspective on it. In RMA, Thompson shows the relationship between our nation's history of white-over-black supremacy, and its current extreme 'white-vs-white' inequality. You'll see how both problems are inextricably linked."
18 October 2014
Meeting # 3,295 - author Rosalie Riegle discusses her biography of a social activist who advocated the Catholic economic theory of distributism. Day "believed all states were inherently totalitarian," and was considered to be an anarchist and did not hesitate to use the term. In the 1930's she worked to establish the Catholic Worker Movement, a nonviolent, pacifist movement that continues to combine direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf.
11 October 2014
28 September 2014
Meeting # 3,292 - David Ramsay Steele returns to dispute allegations of the Green community
13 September 2014
Meeting # 3,290 - L.P. Anderson, of the Northwest Information Service, will provide a comprehensive summary on how 13 years later, an enormous amount of published, peer-reviewed scientific evidence has emerged that indicates that every main point of the 9-11 story has been proven to be a hoax. The mainstream media promoted the hoax of an "attack on America by 19 crazed Muslims," while that same mainstream media began a coordinated black out, still in effect today, of all the evidence that shows the white-elephant, money-losing buildings of the World Trade Center were expertly demolished which pre-placed controlled demolition explosives. The bottom line: Muslims, Iraq and Afghanistan had absolutely nothing to do with the pre-planned demolition of the World Trade Center complex.
6 September 2014
Revised and Updated by Marsha Familaro Enright
Meeting # 3,2891 - Marsha Familaro Enright is President of the Reason, Individualism, Freedom Institute, which provides innovative seminars for high school and college students around the world. She has published articles related to Ayn Rand’s ideas in The Daily Caller, Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Montessori Leadership, New Individualist, and Objectivity.
30 August 2014
Meeting # 3,288 - Dale Laakman, author of the new book "For the Kingdom and the Power: The Big Money Swindle That Spread Hate Across America" tells how advertising, PR, and mass communications tactics were used to exploit fear in every corner of America, including the infiltration of Congress.
Some other things that stand out about Laackman's book...
--It demonstrates the power of individuals (even relative unknowns) to affect the course of history
--It shows that important stories of the day can get lost to history and experts
--It shows how one person's curiosity (Dale Laackman's) can uncover such a story one piece at a time.
--It shows the tremendous power of the mass media and the related fields of PR and advertising to manipulate public behavior, esp. when fears and prejudices are involved.
--It shows how we often overlook the power of above communications tools and place accountability elsewhere.
--It shows parallels between the early 1920s and now.
23 August 2014
Meeting # 3,287 - Ralph Martire, Executive Director, CTBA - Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, presented the topic, "social and economic justice through data-driven policy"
with emphasis on the Illinois General Fund.
16 August 2014
Meeting # 3,286 – Bill Geraci will tell us: “Why do people act the way do? Tired of theories which don't work in the real world? Come hear Bill Geraci's answers to these eternal questions!
9 August 2014
Meeting # 3,285 - author David Ramsay Steele discusses his forthcoming book, "Orwell Your Orwell: A Worldview on the Slab," to be published next year by St Augustine's Press of South Bend, Indiana, It is a study of Orwell's ideas as a case study of the ideology of the 1930s left.
2 August 2014
Meeting # 3,284 - Librarian Daniel Weinberg will discuss the story of the USA post-WWII and the creation of the Cold War, and what will NATO do about Crimea and Ukraine, if anything?
26 July 2014
Meetings # 3,283 - Take a "Ghetto Tour" with the Publisher of Chicago Street Journal "Chicago's Newest Media Voice." Ron Carter has been the publisher of South Street Journal on the south side for 19 years, and he says that "The Ghetto is not what you think it is." Come out and meet us at "The Chicago GALA" on 07.07.2014 as we launch a new city-wide voice.
http://issuu.com/ChicagoStreetJournal
Ron Carter has been the Publisher and Editor of South Street Journal since 1993. The bi-weekly publication influenced the social and economic agenda in the neighborhoods and institutions beyond the news to advocacy in the stories addressed. In Addition he is the founding chair of Black Wall Street Chicago since 2007. As chairman/lead organizer of business leaders under quarterly Summits as a means to short and with long-range agenda resolutions in sustaining and increasing businesses--using practical, innovative, and environment means from committees and board development to handle multiple priority projects simultaneously and meet established information on business development and sustainability.
Carter also served with the Chicago Area Project: Principle organizer in a variety of social and political directives to meet its objectives of organizing and representing public housing residents’ interest.
He also served with the Chicago Defender and the The Greater Roseland Organization as a Community organizer to the Executive Director.
19 July 2014
Meeting # 3,282 - college regular L.P. (Andy) Anderson of the Northwest Information Service
An updated summary of underreported stories from all new 2014 sources - what voters need to know to make a difference(e.g., the growing problem with global warming, financial and banking issues, the continuing debate about health care, an ongoing war on the middle class, the home foreclosure crisis, etc.)
12 July 2014
Meeting # 3,281 - Dominick Palella, the founder of United Voters for America, will present ideas for transforming our oligarchy form of government into a true American democracy. He proposes the passage of The American Voter Rights Act (TAVRA), along with a method to identify candidates running for office and political organizations that may actually be worthy of your support. TAVRA is a comprehensive 21st century technological approach for giving voters unprecedented control over how our government is run. It’s only a few pages long, not hundreds filled with the usual loopholes written by corporate politician lackeys. It is designed to restructure our election system and closely monitor the conduct of those elected, appointed or contracted to perform a government service. It will create millions of new jobs for American citizens and reduce government waste and debt created by years of irresponsible conduct by lawmakers from Congress to local legislatures. Along with a discussion of TAVRA, new and alternative definitions of political language will be offered. This will expose the abject moral corruption and cowardice of nearly every member of our American legislatures and their executive leadership from the President down to the city council members of Chicago. Dominick is especially seeking challenging questions and arguments against his straightforward approach to government reform during the question and rebuttal times during the meeting. All are encouraged to visit his site and come prepared to make your challenges: unitedvotersforamerica.org
5 July 2014
Meeting # 3,280 - Ted Aranda - As the 2014 Congressional election approaches, Democracy for the USA will be running an anti-election DON'T VOTE! campaign. We will urge Americans NOT to play the plutocrats' dead-end game. In this CoC presentation Ted Aranda will explain the logic behind a DON'T VOTE! campaign as well as DUSA's radical program for actual democracy in the United States.
28 June 2014
Meeting # 3,279 - Stanfield Smith reports on his recent trip as a member of a "Witness for Peace" delegation - with photos
21 June 2014
Meeting # 3,278 - Ronald Friedman, a VP of Toastmasters, will speak on "fleshing out the interesting perspectives of why a Jewish person 'can't be Jewish and believe in Jesus' but how that view has evolved within the Jewish community. A recent poll among Jews now finds a more accepting acknowledgment that us Jewish Christians are not as verboten as we once were." He will also touch on how a new hybrid of discrimination against Jewish Christians exists within the evangelical/Protestant church.
14 June 2014
Meetings # 3,277 - Glenn Shipley, PhD (Philosophy)
Axioms of Sophology - An Outline
7 June 2014
Meeting # 3,276 - Aris F. Yanibas - to guarantee every America totally free health cae regardless of age, employment status, or previous medical history.
31 May 2014
Meeting # 3,275 - College regular Tim Bolger will present evidence and arguments on:
"Why renewable energy like wind and solar will not cut our demand for fossil fuels nor will it be the "whole" solution, to why we need more than just renewables."
24 May 2014
Meeting # 3,274 - Occupy David Graeber and why he is wrong! Author David Ramsay Steele Critiques the Leading Guru of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. He will get into why David Graeber is wrong about the immenent demise of capitalism, and point out the mistakes the the left has made since the 1930's in its assumptions about Capitalism.
And how harmful the anti-globalization left with its emphasis on climate change will leave the third world still impoverished.
17 May 2014
Meeting # 3,273 - Republican Candidate for the infamous seat lost by President Barack Obama in 2000, Mr. Tillman born and raised in the arms of Chicago's political scene brings tenacity and history to the table in this November's race. The son of notable Chicagoans Dr. Jimmy and Alderman Dorothy Tillman, Jimmy Lee is the founder of the Martin Luther King Republicans. A seat held for many years by Democrat Bobby L. Rush, Tillman said in his questionnaire with the Chicago Tribune that he hopes to have a chance to "be the first [Republican] to break the [Democrat] control on the black community."
10 May 2014
Meeting # 3,272 - Dr. Robert Holland - "In life, men and women pass through many phases, junctions, and doors, all leading to the same eventual destination: death. But what, if anything, lies beyond that inscrutable final boundary? In this modest survey, Robert Holland provides not a glimpse of the fabled afterlife but an exploration of a few of our most potent cultural narratives regarding what happens to the body and mind after death."
5 May 3 2014
Meeting # 3,271 - Fred Mecklenburg of the News an Letters Committees. Speakes on the History and Philosophy of May Day
26 April 2014
Meetings # 3,270 - With April 22 being the 44th anniversary of "EARTH DAY" and April being "EARTH MONTH," energy/environmental/conservation activist Dennis Nelson will discuss what we can do to protect environmental and public health, and enhance economic and national/global security. "The Birds and the Bees": National/international population policies and IL sex education programs, empowering women, protecting our Honeybees (and other pollinators), and saving bird species (and populations). "Why We Should Reject 'Thorium: The Nuclear Power Boondoggle' for a Non-Nuclear, Non-Fossil-Fuel Energy Future."
April 2014
Meeting # 3,269 - Kyle who says: "Many people assume that belief in God is based purely on blind faith. Best-selling books such as Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and Christopher Hitchens' "God is Not Great" have aggressively argued that belief in God is irrational at best. From the academic standpoint, it appears that God may, indeed, be dead.
5 April 2014
Meeting # 3,267 - Meeting # 3,267 - political commentator Mike Flores, who states that:
"Russia in an injured state trying to reclaim its glory days but facing corruption so deep rooted it is headed towards collapse. What will that mean for former colonies, the west, the young and the oppressed Muslim community? Believe it or not, Mike Flores proposed this talk BEFORE the Ukrainian crisis."
29 March 2014
Meeting # 3,266 - Jack Altschuler will make a "presentation focused on the influx of enormous sums of money into politics. We'll explore the strange path of Supreme Court decisions that allowed that to happen and the corrosive effect that has on democracy. Finally, we'll talk about today's efforts to bring better balance to campaign financing and to democracy. Jack Altschuler, leadership workshop and keynote speaker for Fully Alive Leadership©, will present Money, Politics and Democracy, focusing on: How we got here - A brief summary of legislation designed to reign in big money influence and the court ruling that trumped it all, giving corporations the same status as individual citizens. What we have now - Ever-increasing political power in the hands of corporations and a very few extremely wealthy individuals. That has given us contorted elections, national stagnation so that our problems get worse instead of being solved, and the undermining of trust in government and democracy itself. What we can do -- A summary of activities in Illinois, other states and the Congress to level the political playing field for all Americans.
NOTE: This issue has nothing to do with party affiliation or right versus left. This is strictly a non-partisan conversation about America."
Copyright 2014 by Jack Altschuler, all rights reserved. Used by permission. Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.
22 March 2014
Meeting # 3,265 - David Melton , Executive Director, who states that: "I would anticipate covering the history of ICPR, the nature of the issues we focus on (campaign finance; ethics and transparency; and judicial elections, all at the sate and local level), as well as our views on those issues and what we are doing to promote reform on those issues." "The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform is a non-partisan public interest group that conducts research and advocates reforms to promote public participation in government, address the role of money in politics and encourage integrity, accountability, and transparency in government. ICPR is Illinois' leading advocate in the areas of campaign finance, government ethics, judicial selection, and voter education. ICPR has worked hard to maintain a bipartisan dialogue on how best to improve the processes of government and elections. ICPR was the first group in the nation to put state-level campaign finance reports into a searchable, on-line database. The group is frequently acknowledged by Illinois, national, and international media as key resource for Illinois politics and government. ICPR was founded by former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon and former Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra."
8 March 2014
Meeting # 3,263 - Dr.. Lora Chamberlain
ake Fracturing Safer:
1) Safeguard Illinoisans in the Active Earthquake Zones
2) Protect Illinois from Radioactive Waste
3) Fracturing Redefined, All Methods Should Comply with HFRA
4) Safeguard the Mahomet Aquifer
5) Shield Illinoisans with Improved Setbacks
6) Flood Plains Are Unsafe for Fracturing
7) Patients and the Medical Community Deserve Full Chemical
Disclosure
Make Fracturing Fair:
8) Allow Consent from All Local Jurisdictions, and
Create a Fair Permit Challenge Process
9) End the Production Tax 2-Year "Give Away
10) Protect Illinois Taxpayers from Industry-Related Liability
11) Safeguard Illinois' Property Owners from Industry Trespassing
Protect Illinois from All of the Above
12) Ban Fracking and Enhanced Investigative Task Force
To contact us and for more info go to: www.facebook.com/FrackFreeIllinois or email see.legis@gmail.com
22 February 2014
Meeting # 3,261 - Sonja Cassandra Perdue, Founder Chicago's Black Business Network, discusses her book: "Black America: Asking Ourselves The Tough Questions - 2010" is a formalized, five part "Q & A" session that begins in July 2010 and ends with the last publication in 2014. This series of books will challenge Black America to collectively engage in a dialogue that will initiate solutions to our collective concerns and issues. Armed with the knowledge that we are without limitations in spirit or mind, we march forward, together to fulfill the hopes and dreams of our people."
15 February 2014
Meeting # 3,260 - Aj Segneri, Secretary-Treasurer, states that: "In a time where elected officials are ruining our nation, the people need to see effective change. How? By creating a cultural renewal from the bottom up. Free schools, community gardens, creative spaces, and related activities to create social change that will also use democracy to help prevail."
8 February 2014
for eliminating all prohibitions against drugs for adults
Meeting # 3,259 - Tony Ryan, 36 Years Veteran Police Officer coming from Denver, CO
"Tony Ryan sacrificed to protect and to serve. In his more than 36 years of continuous service as a Denver police officer, he endured getting stabbed in the hand and in the back, broken bones in a hand and a foot, a head wound requiring 18 stitches, and a gunshot wound to the chest. He took all of this willingly, though, believing the work he did to be honorable. However, one part of policing under our current system that he feels dishonors the Thin Blue Line is the "War on Drugs," which he labels "a total failure costing billions of dollars while making the problem worse and enriching drug dealers." What he finds perhaps even more distressing is what America's failed prohibitionist policy does to law enforcement itself. "Drug-enforcement activities are one of the highest sources of complaints against law enforcement. [The 'War on Drugs'] costs officers' lives and ruins careers through corruption and a myriad of other ills borne on drug-enforcement activity
During his career, Tony received numerous awards from the Denver Police Department, including the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the Merit Award, and the Community Service Award. He was also named Footprinters Officer of the Year and received a Life Saving Award from the Denver Fire Department for using CPR to stabilize an ailing man until an ambulance arrived. He is now retired from law enforcement but continues to work to make our world a better place as a trained Red Cross volunteer and and for LEAP as a vocal opponent of the "War on Drugs."
1 February 2014
Meeting # 3,258 - David Ramsay Steele, author, states that: "I will argue that everyone is, in fact, rational, and that "irrationality" is a mistaken (but not irrational) accusation. I will show that Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Nazis, and Communists, and yes, even people who believe in Global Warming, are rational (though mistaken).
25 January 2014
Meetings #3,257 - Ted Aranda, a former member of Occupy Chicago, analyzes what happened to this group and the movement, Occupy's relationship to democracy, and why he and a few other Occupiers have started a new organization called Democracy For The USA.
Information:: DemocracyfortheUSA.org
This website contains the full-length book The Racket and the Answer, a couple shorter versions of this book, and several other documents (please see website intro). You are encouraged to download, print, copy, and distribute these documents as much as you wish. The basic message is encapsulated in the following formula:
THE PROBLEM: OLIGARCHY. THE SOLUTION: DEMOCRACY.
18 January 2014
Meetings #3,256 - Mike N, Durschmid and Joan Levin talk about why we should label food as organic, or Genetically Modified Organism, and why this labeling will help the consumer decide if he wants them or
11 January 2014
Meeting # 3,255 - Mike Flores says: "What is film noir? It's a world of stark black and white, with characters whose morality is touched with grey. It was a genre that said just underneath the surface things were rotten and corrupt. Women with sexual power used it to destroy. Cops were on the take and didn't shy from torture. Where bribes and money destroyed the politicians.
Today, perhaps more than when our grandparents first saw these films, there is this disturbing feeling, that they told us the truth. Michael Flores presents clips, trailers and more while discussing the film noir genre, how it developed and how it still impacts pop culture."
2 January 2013
Meeting # 3,203 - Aj Segneri, who says: "The premise of this presentation is how many community leaders and organizations focus on themselves, rather than grow their organization by thinking big picture. I have presented this topic in a number of places; such the 2012 Green Party Presidential Convention and Occupy Springfield (IL) teach-in."
19 January 2013
Meeting # 3,204 - Philosophy Prof. Robert LIchtenbert states that: "I will speak about how personal philosophy offers us many intangibles such as a truly ethical life, a sense of justice, appreciation of beauty, a search for the spiritual, enhanced free will and many others. I would talk about these in very specific ways to make them applicable to our daily lives. We all desperately need more than materialism. This is all that most people have today except for many people going by blind faith in God to give their lives more."
26 January 2013
Meeting # 3,205 - Michael Flores discusses the change in music that is transforming popular culture. Michael discusses the Electronic Dance Music scene and how its use of the internet, twitter, texting and downloading are transforming the industry. Often ignored by the press and radio just as psychedelic rock, rap and punk were, the sound is sweeping the nation. The DJ shows cause worry among the establishment and presents a political message by having all races, religions, gender preferences and beliefs dancing together. Mike will also play music of the EDM scene and selections from ELLIE GOULDING'S HALYCON album which is the first EDM concept album and signals a new direction for the scene. All without the help of the press or media.
16 february 2013
Meeting # 3,208 - Are Things Done Poorly More Because of Limited Thinking Ability Than a Moral Lack?
If So, What Can We Do About It? Author Margaret Goldstein explains.
23 February 2013
Meeting # 3,209 - Dan Linn, Executive Director, Illinois NORML (who could not make it was represented by an associate) - program to include a short documentary on a hemp museum in Polo Illinois thatcelebrates the regions patriotism through hemp farming during WWII.
2 March 2013
Meeting # 3,210 - Diane Shapiro, GOP Ward Committeeman, says it is an "insidious, evil plan to destroy the West and our civilization was signed onto at Rio by GHW Bush in 1992 and enacted by WJ Clinton in 1993. It's real, it's scary and beyond Orwellian. You can get a quick primer on Agenda 21 via Rosa Koire's excellent book "Behind the Green Mask." It is a subject which is "hiding in plain sight."
Agenda 21 is being used to transition the world into a global totalitarian state designed to destroy the individual, create scarcity and make us vulnerable to control. Agenda 21 calls for people to be moved out of the rural areas and into the cities, living in high rise gulag-esque apartments. The middle class is now deemed "un-sustainable" and must fall far for "social equity." The United States is a signatory country to Agenda 21, but because Agenda 21 is not a treaty, the Senate was unable to hold a formal debate or vote on it, nor was it ratified in any way by the executive branch.9 March 2013
Meeting # 3,211 - Richard Wark, who says: "In response to FOI requests, the FBI has released documents showing attacks on the Occupy movement to have been well coordinated efforts involving federal, state, and local levels of government along with the active participation of large banks. Combined with cases such as the Holy Land Five and local actions targeting Palestinian activists in Chicago, we have a clearly demonstrated effort to use the legal system to discourage citizens from engaging in peaceful protest of government actions. The talk will consider the implications of this program as well as approaches to countering it."
16 March 2013
Meeting # 3,212 - Howard Cort - 'Paco' means 'peace' in Esperanto.
It is my conviction, based on a principle I learned from Arthur E. Morgan, first chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and a foremost social planner, that as wide a range of alternatives as possible should be examined before making decisions, particularly in cases of important public policy.I started a research clearinghouse called Political Approaches to Co-existence, or PACO. 'Paco' means 'peace' in Esperanto. Howard Cort will speak on his research particularly on the Arab Israeli conflict.
23 March 2013
Meeting # 3,213 - Lisa Rest, who says: "Basically I will go from a specialized how I got interested in birds and (and their reaction to human music) and how it's changed my life, to the more general (what birds have in common with us, what we are learning from them, and what our common future looks like) and why we should care."
30 March 2013
Meeting # 3,21 - Charley Earp talks about socialism and why the party is relevant today and why it is important to rebuild it.
Meetings # 3,215 - Bill Fong says: "In a quick nutshell, China and the No-Alphabet Hypothesis makes a sweeping claim that China stagnated for 850 years, and lost the race to modernity, because China didn't have an alphabet. The gist of the No-Alphabet Hypothesis presents a surprising view of Chinese (and Western) cultural history. The reasoning is as follows:
* No alphabet means no mathematics.
* No mathematics means no science.
* No science means no technology.
* No technology means no progress.
* No progress means stagnation
* China stagnates for 850-plus years.
* While the West catches up.
* So . . . China stagnated and lost the race to modernity (to Europe) --
* Because China didn't have an alphabet!
This then is the fast, oversimplified essence of the hypothesis - that basically, the lack of an alphabet made it simply impossible for China to invent modernity, to achieve it first on history's first go-around. So lacking an alphabet, China failed to become the modern world's first superpower. This then is the startling story of China and the No-Alphabet Hypothesis. This then is a linguistic interpretation of history, literally.
And then we move on to the next immediate follow-up story: How Modern China Finally Caught Up.
13 April 2013
Meetings # 3,216 - activist Stanfield Smith talks about his recent trip to North Korea and shows some pictures and slides of his trip and gives his thoughts on the recent trip.
20 April 2013
Meetings # 3,217 - environmentalist Dennis Nelson of the Nuclear Energy Information Service will discuss:
Rejecting the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline because it is a "climate catastrophe."
Additional energy and climate policy recommendations for the Obama-Biden Administration's 2nd term.
Saying "NO" to all natural gas 'fracking' here in Illinois.
Radioactive metal mixing is always a bad idea whose time has permanently passed.
Bottled water should be banned in my favorite national park (Everglades NP in South Florida).
My commemoration for the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson's SILENT SPRING.
Joining actress Jessica Alba in calling for stronger protections from toxic chemicals.
(A human rights question is being included: Should the Boy Scouts of America include gay kids?)
27 April 2013
How to Engage in Conflict by Doing - or Refusing to Do - Certain Things Without Using Physical Violence.
Meeting # 3,218 - Tim Bolger et al speak on ideas advanced by Gene Sharp, who says that: and "Nonviolent action empowers population groups by giving them the means to resist oppression and injustice. While nonviolent forms of struggle do not kill, injure, or destroy, they undermine an opponent's social, economic, political, and military power by withholding and withdrawing the pillars of support required by an adversary to maintain its position and to achieve its goals. Rejection of a regime's legitimacy may weaken and destroy the loyalty and obedience of the population. Economic boycotts and strikes can disrupt a regime's economic power. Political noncooperation may nullify oppressive government policies. Disaffection and mutiny of troops facing nonviolent resisters can limit a regime's military might."
4 May 2013
Meeting # 3,219 - Bruce Sewick LCPC, RDDP, CADC, will speak on the therapeutic use of psychedelics to treat intractable conditions. Current research and future possibilities will be part of the discussion.
11 May 2013
Meeting # 3,220 - Rob Burns, a former Green Party candidate for the US House, and PhD. student of political economy, says: "Eisenhower's original goal for the Interstate Highway System was completion in 10 years. Though it eventually took nearly 40 years, much of it was completed within only 15 years. And though the program eventually invested $450 billion (in today's dollars), it has been paid for entirely without federal subsidy: the entire federal investment was paid forthrough user fees (the federal vehicle fuel excise). Therefore an Interstate Railway System could follow that precedent. A ten year goal, uncompromising 220 mph speeds standards, $450 billion infederal investment, state and local partners adding additional funding and implementation input, and all paid for by user fees (passenger rail fares,freight charges, private freight hauler, and private passenger hauleraccess fees). Few today would express regret that we spent $450 billion onthe Interstate Highway System. Even fewer will regret in the future that we embarked on an Interstate Railway System today."
18 May 3013
Meeting # 3,221 - Dr. David Ramsey Steele will explain why there are so many different schools of therapy (over a thousand!), why some of them are misguided and less helpful, while others are scientifically based and more helpful.
David Ramsay Steele is the author of From Marx to Mises (1992), Three Minute Therapy (with Michael Edelstein, 1997), Atheism Explained: From Folly to Philosophy (2008), and Therapy Breakthrough: Why Some Psychotherapies Work Better than Others (with Michael R. Edelstein and Richard Kujoth, 2013).Speaker is working on his new book soon to be published:"Therapy Breakthrough: Why Some Psychotherapies Work Better than Others," by Michael R. Edelstein, PhD, Richard Kujoth, Ed.D., and David Ramsay Steele, PhD
25 May 2013
Meeting # 3,222 - Taigen Dan Leighton, Zen priest and teacher, academic, and author, founder and guiding teacher of Ancient Dragon Zen Gate meditation center in Chicago, 1922 W. Irving Park Rd.
Program will focus on:
"What do Buddhist Practice and Teaching traditions have to offer contemporary social activists and progressives in how to sustain and develop effective approaches to social change?"
1 June 2013
Meetings # 3,223 - Maryam Judar, Community Lawyer at the Citizen Advocacy Center states that his presentaton, with powerpoint, will be "a conversation about democracy movements in Egypt and Morocco, based on the visit arranged through the U.S. Department of State Legislative Fellows Program.
"I returned from a two week visit to the countries and visited many non-governmental and governmental organizations, as well as religious institutions, and the Arab Spring was the main topic of the trip."
8 June 2013
Meetings # 3,224 - L.P. Anderson of the Northwest Information Service of Palatine, IL, will present several summaries of solutions to global problems of energy, environmental pollution, climate-change global warming, health care issues and sever others that are not covered by the mainstream media in the United States. Thousands of groups of people in many countries are busy implementing solutions that were considered "science fiction" just a few years ago.
If you are looking for opportunities to get involved in activities that can forge a brighter future for us all, come to the college on Saturday, June 8th, 2013, and exchange beneficial information with other like-minded individuals. Extensive literature will be provided after the presentation.15 June 2013
Meetings # 3,225 - "Teamster Joe" Balkis returms to report on organizing efforts in the American workforce.
Bargaining between UPS and the Teamsters who represent 250,000 UPS workers is currently underway with both sides looking to complete the settlement before a July 31 contract expiration date. Since a 1997 strike by Teamsters against UPS, each new contract has been signed early in order to ensure no disruptions in service. In 2007, Teamsters took on major concessions despite UPS' record profits. Now, as both sides look to move forward, Teamsters have serious complaints about vague threats of retaliation and GPS surveillance.UPS made $4.38 billion last year yet is demanding that workers pay an added $90 per week for their health premiums. Paul Trujillo, a part-time loader and alternate steward in Lexington, Kentucky, says that Healthcare is the major concern for most workers.UPS drivers are also displeased with having almost every moment of their day under surveillance. Using GPS, touch-screens where customers sign for packages and "telematics" (200 sensors mounted on each truck), UPS can survey every second of a worker's day. They know how long it takes for a worker to get a signature and return to their vehicle and they know if a worker has hit their brakes too hard. If that's not draconian enough for you, fear not. UPS is rolling out a new system TDU calls "telematics on steroids." The new system will route and reroute drivers, stripping them of the decision-making process and turning them into virtual puppets. The never ending data and corresponding reports also give ammunition to managers looking to find a reason to complain about a worker.22 June 2013
Meetings # 3,226 - CReATE is a network of over 100 professors from numerous Chicago-area universities who specialize in educational research and who work collectively to conduct, review, and distribute studies in order to promote public learning and dialogue about education issues, such as school closings. CReATE partners with educators, public interest groups, and community-based organizations. University-based scholars and educational workers are available for comment and discussion on topics raised at their blogspot and in their publications.
29 June 2013
Meeting # 3,227 - Charles Paidock presents a colorful, eclectic look at the events which brought about our independence - powerpoint presentation with art works on topic, and photos by presenter.
6 July 2013
Meetings # 3,228 concerlaed carr advocate Bill Lee returns to update us on Gun Control Laws Nationwide and the Concealed Carry Law in Illinois
13 July 2013
Meetings # 3,229 - Daniel Kaplan, Chicago Divests Campaign Coordinator - a grassroots coalition of academics, shareholders,and concerned citizens across the Chicago area who are demanding that the TIAA-CREF, one of the largest retirement fund providers, divests from several corporations that profit from the illegal occupation of Palestine.
20 July 2013
Meetings # 3,230 - Ish Finister - who states that: "Our vision is to assist private, local, state, and federal law enforcement authorities in pursuing or revisiting cold cases such as homicides, serial murders, child homicides, mysterious disappearances, and child abductions across the country, while also investigating into wrongful convictions. We will raise public awareness to these issues, in an attempt to emphasize the importance of the community's help in solving these cases. We will create alliances, gain information and find support.
There are thousands of unsolved crimes each year in the state of Illinois, and hundreds of thousands nationwide. The problem that this organization has been created to address is real, and not just a television show, it's about irreplaceable persons lives taking away in a act of violence. Currently there is no cure concerning this problem, but there are ways that we can combat the issues in hope to prevent future crimes. Action speaks louder then words."27 July 2013
Meetings # 3,231 - Paul Rescino looks at the book called "A Free People's Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future " by Oz Guiness. This is what reviewers have to say:
"With passion and urgency Os Guinness gives a sweeping historical account of America's past and her prospects for the future. He urges us to pay serious attention to a deeper understanding of freedom and makes a compelling case for why freedom requires virtue. Weaving together a wide-ranging knowledge of classical, constitutional and contemporary history, Guinness warns of America's decline but charts a course for America's renewal." "In a passionate work that blends historical-cultural analysis with moral exhortation, Os Guinness finds at the heart of America's culture wars something different than what many observers have seen. He identifies a 'freedom war,' a struggle over the very concept of freedom itself. As the Founders well understood, it is not enough for Americans to invoke endlessly the name of 'freedom' when they no longer agree as to what it means or what ends freedom is meant to serve. Guinness warns that freedom cannot long endure unless it is consecrated to purposes beyond itself. It is a warning worth heeding." "He essentially claims that Americans are at, or near, the endpoint of the virtue-vice continuum. He argues that Americans are closing in on "no virtue at all."3 August 2013
Meeting # 3,232 -- "a US-based, Muslim-run charity organization, ZF shows the inclusive beauty of Islam through programs that reach the destitute, of all faiths, both at home and abroad. Since its establishment in 2001, ZF has progressed from mostly offering immediate emergency aid and seasonal programs to a focus on severing the roots of poverty, utilizing Zakat and Sadaqa donations to develop long-term, sustainable solutions.
We believe that those whom God has granted wealth need to cleanse that wealth through charity, and those whom God has tried with loss are accorded a rightful share from the resources of the affluent.Zakat Foundation of America accomplishes its mission by bringing immediate relief during and after disasters, building and supporting schools, orphanages and health clinics, supporting community development programs and micro-credit, providing Ramadan Iftars and food distribution, and providing fresh meat for Udhiya/Qurbani and Aqeeqah through the support of community-based initiatives."
10 August 2013
Meeting # 3,233 - Joshua Dwyer is the Director of Education Reform for the Illinois Policy Institute, where he develops and recommends solutions for the problems plaguing Illinois' education system. Previously, Joshua worked as an Adjunct Professor at Governors State University, where he taught public policy and law. Joshua earned his BA degree in Political Science, and his MA in public policy degree from the University of Chicago.
He writes that: "Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn proposed an increase of $900 million in teacher pensions, while calling for a cut of $400 million for classrooms and students. With less money going toward instruction, it is more important than ever to make sure that every education dollar is spent wisely.Neighboring states Wisconsin and Indiana have already begun to change their education systems to empower parents, spur competition, encourage innovation, promote efficiency and improve student performance."17 August 2013
Meeting # 3,234 - Robert F. Jene, Chicago Chapter - "The World Future Society is a nonprofit educational and scientific organization which investigates how social, economic and technological developments are shaping the future. It helps individuals, organizations, and communities observe, understand and respond to social change appropriately and investigates the benign effects of applying anticipatory thinking to society.
Through its magazine The Futurist, media, meetings, and dialogue among its members, it raises awareness of change and encourages development of creative solutions. The Society takes no official position on what the future may or should be like. Instead it provides a neutral forum for exploring possible, probable, and preferable futures. The World Future Society has members distributed world-wide in more than eighty countries."24 August 2013
Meeting # 3,235 -- Henryk A. Kowalczyk explains legislation he has drafted:
- The free market system should govern immigration.
- The government should have no power to limit the freedom of Americans to hire foreigners.
- Commercial agencies should administer and control the flow of foreign workers, for profit.
- Rules governing migration of foreigners with the purpose of work or settlement in the U.S. should have incorporated provisions allowing government security agencies monitoring potential security threats.
See http://www.freedomofmigration.com/ for further information.
31 August 2013
Meeting # 3,236 - John Kutsch, Director, T.E.A., Thorium Energy Alliance vs Andy Anderson, Northwest Information Service
Please note, this is the raw footage of this event, another edited one made for friendly for the youtube audience will be made available very soon.7 September 2013
Meeting # 3,237 - Announces his discusses his bid for the office and will presents the basics of his platform, and political vision. Mr. Nelson, if elected, would identify the principals who are making money from the Chicago Parking Meters LLC, adjudicate the Eugene Wzorek's Shakman case involving the hiring and firing of city workers, and promote Linda Achor's expose of the "Death of the Justice System."
14 September 2013
Meeting # 3,238 - L.p. Anderson of the Northwest Information Service looks at the latest announcment in which Obama is intending to introduce a series of executive actions, which do not need Congress's approval to be made into law. These measures will reportedly include tighter regulation of coal-fired power plants, increased energy efficiency standards and the promotion of renewable energy on public lands.
21 Septembet 2013
Meeting # 3,239 -Moe Shanfield college regular talks about the Zimmerman decision and other varied topics including, Are Many Black Americans Now More Afraid of Getting Shot on the Street as a Result of the Zimmerman Decision?
28 September 2013
Meeting # 3,240 - Mariyana Spyropoulos, Commissioner Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, gives a brief history and overview about what the Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.
The commissioner tells us what happens to Chicago Wastewater, and it is quite a big project, Ms. Spyropoulos is the finance chairman for a 1.6 Billion dollar agency in cook county designed to provide services in the cleaning up of wastewater. Mention is made of the Big Dig project and the three overflow water reservoirs for catchment of storm water runoff after big storms. More information about the Reclamation District can be found at www.mwrd.org.5 October 2013
Meeting # 3,241 - "Under both Bush and Obama, the men at Guantanamo have been used by administration officials, lawmakers, lawyers, judges, and assorted pundits as pawns in a political game - still portrayed as the "worst of the worst" ...They have allowed the impression to remain that its inmates may be dangerous, even though only a few dozen, at most, of the 164 men still held have ever been subjected to allegations of involvement with terrorism. Eighty-four of them were cleared for release in January 2010 by the inter-agency Guantanamo Review Task Force that Obama established when he first took office...These men are still held in part because of legislation passed by fearful or cynical members of Congress, using Guantanamo to keep Americans scared, but also because Obama has been unwilling to spend political capital overcoming lawmakers' restrictions...In response to a prison-wide hunger strike that the prisoners began in February, and subsequent interest and outrage both at home and abroad, Obama promised to resume releasing prisoners from Guantanamo in a major speech on national security issues on May 23. Nearly four months later, however, just two men have been released."
12 October 2013
Join the Democratic Renaissance: "Virtual Voting" is a Human Right
The Altruist Party Candidate for Chicago Mayor
Meeting # 3,242 - The inevitable future of democracy will lead to voting through mobile technology. The Altruist Party (AP) intends to give this concept to 'The People' as a Human Right. The AP wants to know YOUR unique perspective and improvements to our founding concepts and 'Altruist Party Rights,' contributed during our U.S. Presidential campaign last year . Our 2015 Candidate for Chicago Mayor will be presenting the general format of our $0.00 campaign, our founding concepts and proposing how this same concept can be applied to the City of Chicago as a non-profit, NEW industry for Illinois citizens.
For more information, please feel free to e-mail us: altruistparty2012@gmail.com READ (Timeline, bottom-up): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Altrui...WATCH (Posts 1-13): http://www.youtube.com/user/AltruistP...FOLLOW (Twitter; Tweets = Articles reviewed): @APAltruism @APCivilRights @APCommerce1 @APEducation1 @APEmployment @APEnvironment1 @APHealth1 @APImmigration @APInfrastructu1 @APInternationa1 @APNativeAmerica @APVeterans26 October 2013
Meeting # 3,244 - Kyle Deming - "At ONE, we achieve change through advocacy. We hold world leaders to account for the commitments they've made to fight extreme poverty, and we campaign for better development policies, more effective aid and trade reform. We also support greater democracy, accountability and transparency to ensure policies to beat poverty are implemented effectively.
ONE works closely with policy experts, African leaders, and anti-poverty activists to mobilize public opinion in support of ested and proven methods for tackling poverty.
At ONE, we believe the fight against poverty is not about charity, but about justice and equality."Knowledge is power: Learn the basics about the fight against global poverty and disease at http://www.one.org/us/issues/ Then take action at http://www.one.org/us/actnow/2 November 2013
Meetings 3,245 - Marc Loveless - who is considering running for Chicago City Clerk whose campaign these is "We Can Do More!"
16 November 2013
23 November 2013Meetings 3,247 - Michael Peterson - who has done considerable research and written some papers on the topic, and says the best research is his own mind.
23 November 2013
Meetings 3,248 - Dr. Cory Franklin, who says in a Chicago Tribune article: "The evidence is overwhelming that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK, and nearly as overwhelming that Oswald acted alone. However, history is never completely settled, and the conspiracy theorists are out and about. Many, motivated by profit or fame, are more eager to engage in ad hominem tactics than discuss facts. But some are honest and intelligent, and they deserve a hearing. How to separate them?"
30 November 2013
Meeting 3,249 - Seasoned Chicago journalist of 43 years, and college regular, Patrick Butler will give us some highlights from his two books which have recently been published about the history of Chicago concerning accounts of colorful individuals and events, which he uncovered in writing his column and stories, and which aren't found in the more traditional accounts of our city.
Learn about the "Cowboy Mayor" of Chicago, a guy who kept Chicago from falling to the Confederacy, the "North Side's Benedict Arnold" who was apprehended during World War II, how Al Capone reportedly moved booze through a secret tunnel connecting the Green Mill and the Aragon Ballroom, and the "Burglar Cops" gang who operated our of the Summerdale police station.
His books are entitled: "The Hidden History of Ravenswood and Lake View," and "The Hidden History of Edgewater/Uptown."
7 December 2013
Meetings 3,250 - Author Nancy Kurshan presents in her book states:
"Introduction: The Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML) was a movement organization that opposed control unit prisons in particular, and racism and oppression in general. It was founded in 1985 and came to a close in 2000.
Over the course of those 15 years, CEML led and organized hundreds of educational programs and demonstrations in many parts of the country and tried to build a national movement against "end-of-the-line" prisons. Along the way the Committee wrote thousands of pages of educational and agitational literature and pioneered new ways of analyzing and fighting against this national quagmire that morphed into the proliferation of the "prison industrial complex.
I was one of the three founding members of CEML."
14 December 2013
Meeting # 3,251 - L.P. Andy Anderson of the Northwest Information Service presents an update the latest subjects which are not covered by the mass media.
7 January 2012
Meeting # 3,150 - How is it that a popular beverage has fermented revolution, caused the birth of the insurance industry, and even been blessed by the Pope? Tim Bolger shall speak on coffee, the good, the bad and, of course, the caffeine.
14 January 2012
Meeting # 3,151 - Dr. Lora Chamberlain - http://www.illinoispublicbanking.org
Public Banks are ...
• Viable solutions to the present economic crises in US states.
• Potentially available to any-sized government or community able to meet the requirements for setting up a bank.
• Owned by the people of a state or community.
• Economically sustainable, because they operate transparently according to applicable banking regulations.
• Able to offset pressures for tax increases with returned credit income to the community.
• Ready sources of affordable credit for local governments, eliminating the need for large "rainy day" funds.
• Required to promote the public interest, as defined in their charters.
• Constitutional, as ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court.
... and are not
• Operated by politicians; rather, they are run by professional bankers.
• Boondoggles for bank executives; rather, their employees are salaried public servants (paid by the state, with a transparent pay structure) who would likely not earn bonuses, commissions or fees for generating loans.
• Speculative ventures that maximize profits in the short term, without regard to the long-term interests of the public.
21 January 2012
Meeting # 3,152 - long-time college regular Ed Rios returms to talk about religion
28 January 2012
Meeting # 3,153 - Richard Lorenc, Chairman, Chicago Chapter, National Chapter Coordinator - America's Future Foundation was founded in 1995 by a group of young conservatives and libertarians in Washington, DC. Today, AFF is the premier non-profit nationwide network of leaders who will promote and defend free markets, limited government, individual liberty, and personal responsibility
4 February 2012
Meeting # 3,153 - John Edel, Director - "Plant Chicago is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting sustainable food production, entrepreneurship, and building reuse through education, research and development. To this end, Plant Chicago is repurposing a 93,500 sq. ft. retired meatpacking facility, The Plant, into a net-zero energy vertical farm. A complex and highly interrelated system, one-third of The Plant will hold aquaponic growing systems and the other two-thirds will incubate sustainable food businesses by offering low rent, low energy costs, and a licensed shared kitchen. The Plant will create 125 jobs in Chicago's economically distressed Back of the Yards neighborhood -- but, remarkably, these jobs will require no fossil fuel use. Instead, The Plant will divert over 6,500 tons of food waste from landfills each year to meet all of its heat and power needs."
11 February 2012
Meeting # 3,154 - Lindson P. Anderson will present an entire evening of beneficial solutions to the problems facing middle-class Americans and their children as the United States heads toward the national election of 2012. We Will focus specifically on simple, easy to understand solutions to the problems facing children, relating to the pharmaceutical, chemical, educational and military industries. If you're tired of hearing people complain about problems, come hear an evening of solutions that could save trillions of dollars per year for the American middle class. All new state of the art materials for 2012!
18 February 2012
Debate: Obamacare, Medicare, and Social Security.. Time for Change and Solutions.
25 February 2012
Meeting # 3,157 - Rob Burns says that it is "Time to redistribute the wealth and reclaim our unalienable rights. Path to Prosperity for US All (p2p4USA) is an initiative to strengthen ourconstitutional republic and greatly improve our economy by increasing therewards for hard work and ingenuity and drastically diminishing the rewards for rent-seeking, swindle, racketeering, and other get rich schemes (http://path2prosperity4all.us/). Primarily, p2p4USA accomplishes this by democratizing all corporate workplaces and ensuring all revenues from natural resources and monopoly resources accrue only to public treasuries: reducing both exploitation in production and taxation ofcommerce. Rob Burns is a former Green Party candidate for US House from Illinois and PhD. student of political economy.
3 March 2012
Meeting # 3,158 - Lecture and reading by journalist/poet/folksinger Job Conger of Springfield, Illinois, author and publisher of Vachel Lindsay, Strange Gold, a concise biography and compendium of his poems and Lindsay lore.
Springfield, IL, is the birthplace and long-time home of American poet Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931, who became famous in the early part of the 20th Century for his unique style of poetry. He is considered the father of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted. His extensive correspondence with the poet Yeats details his intentions to revive the musical qualities in poetry as had been practiced by the ancient Greeks.Because of his identity as a performance artist and his use of American Midwest themes, Lindsay became known in the 1910s as the "Prairie Troubador." For the final twenty years of his life, Lindsay was one of the best-known poets in America. His reputation was high enough to enable him to befriend, encourage, and mentor other poets, such as Langston Hughes and Sara Teasdale. 10 March 2012
Meetings # 3,159 - Larry Spivack, President, Illinois Labor History Society, speaks on the multitude of events which made the organized labor movement in the United States
17 March 2012
Meetings # 3,160 - Sharon Sanders sharsand@aol.com
"We have repeatedly held that leveling the playing field is not a legitimate government function," said Chief Justice John Roberts, who was joined by Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito in the majority opinion. In the dissent, Justice Elena Kagan argued that the law was "necessary to break the stranglehold of special interests on our system of government.
24 March 2012
Meetings # 3,161 - Peter N. Pero, local author and educator, says: "In recent years, American business has reinvented itself in strange new ways. Learn how fast food, bookstores, apparel, advertising, and banking are reconfiguring their products and messages in order to attract new customers and capital
31 March 2012
Meetings # 3,161 - LEAP is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. Those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs.
LEAP maintains that "By continuing to fight the so-called "War on Drugs," the US government has worsened these problems of society instead of alleviating them. A system of regulation and control of these substances (by the government, replacing the current system of control by the black market) would be a less harmful, less costly, more ethical, and more effective public policy."The speaker will be James E. Gierach, a former Assistant State's Attorney of Cook County, municipal attorney, Village prosecutor, and general practitioner. He was the youngest delegate elected to write Illinois' Constitution in 1970, a former candidate for Cook County State's Attorney and Illinois governor, raising drug policy and prison issues. One newspaper called him, "Illinois' premier conscientious objector to the war on drugs." Info: http://www.leap.cc/author/JamesE/7 April 2012
Meetings # 3,163 - Kurt Johnson, an independent scientist/researcher
The speaker says: "I have wrestled the problems of peace and social justice for several decades. I'm now prepared to present my findings and evidence that peace will not be impossible to achieve but we have been going it the wrong way. The solution will be developed through scientific processes. There are three principles of physics which can be observed moderating all viable and sustainable social systems and all homeostatic systems. The answer to the human desire to build a sustainable, viable and just society is to build social structures that conform to these three physical principles of social organization. The answer, in principle, is exactly the same as was applied to achieve human flight, another quest thought impossible for humans beings for ninety-nine percent of human history. We don't need to change human beings. We are not the problem. We need to change the world around us and we can just as we learned to change it in order to fly."14 April 2012
Meeting # 3,164 - Andrew Robuck, an officer with the United Trainman's Union, UTU, Illinois Central Railroad, Matteson Division, who says there are two precipitating factors: overproduction and currency instabilities. His analysis is based on the careful study of Marxist and contemporary economics, and observations of historical capital movements.
28 April 2012
Meetings # 3,166 - Anti-war and gay rights activist Andy Thayer outlines why NATO and G8, and the May summits themselves, should be opposed by most Chicagoans. Described in a recent Sun-Times cover story as a "gigantic pain in the butt for law enforcement" by retired Deputy Police Superintendent Jim Mauer, Thayer has a unique insight into the civil liberties challenges posed by the summits.
What is NATO?North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO is an alliance of 28 countries from North America and Europe, founded in 1949 with 12 original countries, dedicated to fulfilling the goals of the North Atlantic Treaty signed on April 4, 1949. This treaty established collective defense between its members, meaning �an attack against one or several members is an attack against all (http://www.nato.int/) and member states will practice mutual defense to any attack by an outside party. Its rival in the Cold War was the Warsaw Pact dominated by the USSR. Even after the fall of the USSR and eastern bloc communism, NATO continues to exist and be active. It provides cover for US involvement in countries like Afghanistan and Libya.
What is the G8?Group of 8 or G8 is a group of the 8 richest countries, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Russia, Germany, Japan, and Italy that meet once a year at a Summit. Created in 1975, it was originally made up of 6 countries; Canada joined in 1976 and Russia in 1998. They meet to set a shared agenda for economic and security matters related to their interests (http://www.g20-g8.com/).
5 May 2012
Meeting # 3,167 - Wade Hannon, who says: "We are in the midst of a time of great opportunity to bring about change in our world. This is a moment in which the theory and practice of nonviolence is needed. The only way we can build a egalitarian future is through the use action that is guided by an abhorrence of violence and a respect for our fellow human beings. We also have to be mindful of the fact that the ruling class is very well armed and dangerous and not give them any excuse to squash us."
Wade Hannon is a member of the War Resisters League and a pacifist since the age of 15. He recently moved to Chicago and lives on the southside. His most recent book is "Love and Revolution: Version 2.0"12 May 2012
Meetings # 3,168 - Doug Baschiere says they are the same, and the scientists may have in fact inadvertently discovered the deity.
19 May 2012
Meeting # 3,169 - Walter D. Collins Program Features Slideshow on Electric Transportation
Reducing oil dependency would bring a reduction in air-pollution and make America less vulnerable to enemies. America was able to beat the Axis during World War Two with rationing of food, gasoline, rubber and other goods. War War Two America took advantage of its electric and coal powered transportation. Can there be oil-free salvation for us today? Walter is doing an update of his excellent September 8, 2007 presentation illustrated with historic slides.
26 May 2012
Meetings # 3,170 - Advances in the tools and technology for computer software development would lead us to expect that today's computerized systems are
- more reliable
- easier to maintain
- cheaper to develop
than computerized systems several decades ago.
Alas, we're disappointed. Typical computer programmers of today are actually less aware of enlightened good practices than their predecessors of the 1970s.Conrad Weisert will illustrate common shortcomings of modern computer systems and explain how the business and academic environments inhibit progress toward higher software quality.2 June 2012
Meeting # 3,171 - Ronald Bettig says that N.A.W.A.P.A. (North American Power and Water Alliance) is the concrete embodiment of the American credit system - the only project big enough, wide enough in scope, and immediately ready at hand to begin to build the future beyond the present collapse and related orchestrated world war - thermonuclear war, if we continue to pretend and sleep.
http://larouchepac.com/node/22355 (14:58 mins)
He adds that the following should be undertaken as well immediately:1) Remove Barack Obama from the Presidency using either, a) the 25th Amendment, section 4, of the Constitution for mental and moral incompetence; and/or b) impeachment for serial violations of the U.S. Constitution. http://larouchepac.com/node/22393 (8:46 mins)
2) Ram the reinstatement of the 1933 FDR Glass-Steagall Act through both houses of Congress in emergency legislation. http://larouchepac.com/node/21592 (4:09 mins)
3) Establish the Hamilton Constitutional credit system, housed in a 3rd National Bank. It is obvious that there is not enough 'real wealth' in the present system to facilitate and sustain a recovery and development. The sound application of the American credit system is realized in the production of the future constructed NAWAPA. Our credit is our national ability to build NAWAPA. Our wealth is in our productive creativity.Hamilton did not mean, and did not say, to extinguish the national debt it was necessary to make budget cuts, or simply increase taxes. http://larouchepac.com/node/22254 (36:15 mins)
9 June 2012
Meeting # 3,172 - TIME Magazine's "Person of the Year" (2011) was 'The Protester.' Dennis Nelson, a progressive social activist, presents his work and activities grouped under the following sub-headings:
The Carbon Side of Carbon-Free / Nuclear-Free
No Nukes: The Smart Choice
Fair Trade (Not Free Trade)
Solutions for Wildlife Conservation
How I Commemorated the 10th Anniversary of '9/11 and
Financial Solutions Relating to 'Occupy Wall Street / Chicago'
16 June 2012
Meeting # 3,173 - college regular Sid Cohen, tells us: The Arch of History, Which Way Are We Moving, Capitalism, Social Democrary, or Socialism?
23 June 2012
Meeting # 3,174 - College regular Bob Matter demolishes decades of lies, myths, and falsehoods propagated by the left about the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and reveals the truth about why the Vietnam War was not only imperative, but worth the price paid in blood and treasure. Can you handle the truth?
30 June 2012
Meeting # 3,175 - Bro Joe Balkis of the Teamsters, aka John Brown, speaks on the conditions of employment in the US and the world.
7 July 2012
Meetings # 3,176 - "Two years ago, Gary Christ turned his attention to the anti-personnel land mine problem. He started with a 1947 Farmall Series H tractor on his family's Crystal Lake farm. Today, it's hard to recognize the old Farmall. A huge hoist system in front of the tractor lifts a steel-plated box into place with an electromagnet. The box holds more than 40 solid steel pegs, each about 1 feet long and 2 inches square, and each hanging from its own chain in the box. The total weight of the box and the pegs exceeds 1,000 pounds. A switch in the operator's protected seating area controls the magnet. When the switch is thrown, the magnet deactivates and drops the half-ton box. Because each peg hangs independently, every inch of the area covered by the 4-by-2-foot box is hit with enough force to activate a mine. This is important because the mines are barely bigger than a standard can of tuna, and most are buried in uneven jungle terrain.
DemineCambodia believes that developing a more efficient and less expensive demining method will enable Cambodians to regain agricultural land quicker than current methods. Once an area is demined, farmers can produce much needed food without the constant fear of landmines taking their limbs or their life."14 July 2012
Meetings # 3,177 - John Kutsch, Director - an advocacy organization composed of engineers, scientists, and concerned citizens interested in reducing the costs of energy and protecting the health of the planet and the future of the human race - to educate the public on the need to create a working Thorium powered reactor.
"The world desperately needs sustainable, low carbon energy to address climate change while lifting people out of poverty. Thorium fuelled reactors, such as the Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) pioneered by the late Alvin Weinberg, could radically change perceptions of nuclear power leading to widespread deployment."
21 July 2012
Meetings # 3,178 - Geraldine Perry, Glenn Fritz and Steve Walsh, as advocates of the monetary philosophy of the American Monetary Institute, say: "As you know, many "experts" are now predicting a "second dip" which could be worse that the first. Bernancke himself suggested that a perfect storm has been set up which could cause catastrophic harm to our citizens and our economy (as if that hadn't been done already) by year's end.
Yet, there is a solution. It's called Constitutional money, embodied perfectly in the NEED Act, which necessarily includes millions of good paying jobs and one-time citizen bonuses in order to keep the economy running -- all while paying down debt! We can't afford to wait for some magic pill or other miracle to arrive. We are nearing crisis mode."
28 July 2012
Meetings # 3,179 - David Westling will speak on the subject of the nature of the political left. He states that since its inception, the political left has been saddled with a tension between its egalitarian and libertarian aspects. Majoritarianism has a tendency to influence the body politic in a direction fundamentally opposed to individual prerogatives. Our legal system is designed to defer to majorities while ostensibly protecting the concerns of the individual. In order to examine this state of affairs he will refer back to a now-obscure episode in the history of ideas, the Young Hegelian episode of 1840s Germany. Only by addressing the confusion embedded in the contradiction of the Left can we eradicate the threat corporatism is unleashing in increasingly potent forms.
4 August 2012
Meeting # 3,180 -- Ben Joravsky, who began working as a freelance writer for the Chicago Reader in 1985 after specializing in investigative work for The Chicago Reporter. Throughout his career, Joravsky has worked to uncover information that wasn't readily available to the public so he could illuminate certain situations that were affecting the life of Chicagoans.
11 August 2012
Meeeting # 3,181 - Emile Cambry, Jr. - The festival's mission is to encourage and support the work of independent filmmakers around the world, and to promote filmmaking as a valuable contribution to the understanding of social change. The festival is less an event and more a conduit between information and action - or rather, art and action. With the CISFF formed just this fall, its founders and collaborators are still in the initial stages of planning. The festival is tentatively planned for October 2012.
18 August 2012
Meetings # 3,182 - What is the Mayan Calendar, what are the Mayan predictions for the years 2011 - 2012, and why does this have relevance for Americans in 2012? Lindson P. Anderson of the Northwest Information Service of Palatine, IL, will provide a summary of some of the Mayan prophecies that have already been fulfilled by events in America leading up to the end of the current Mayan cycle on December 21, 2012. We should have a lively evening of discussion based on evidence in the book The 2012 Story, by John Major Jenkins, and other sources.
25 August 2012
Meetings # 3,183 - Kurt Johnson says: "On April 7, I presented my argument that peace among human beings is possible and the solution to war, and our other social problems can be reached through the same scientific process used to achieve human flight and confront polio. I argued war is not inevitable due to the nature of human beings but a consequence of the failure to organize social systems that conform with the physical laws of social organization. We can identify and study successful systems at the level of physics and let our discovery of what causes their success be the foundational science upon which we rebuild our current failing social systems to create successful ones. The starting point for this conversation is human social experience is not a consequence of our nature but the nature of the social system in which human beings are organized. For this to be true there must be a fixed, universal and immutable nature of human beings that is a certain and predictable as the qualities of steel, the behavior of oxygen or the actions of a honeybee, such that we can predictably organize ourselves by physical law into a robust, cooperative community that does not break down into war and social crisis. In this hour I'll discuss our fixed and universal nature of human and show is not unique to us but to all populations organized in successful social systems. If you were not present for the April 7th presentation of A Scientific Theory of Peace I urge you to view it before attending."
See the following link for the April 7th Presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=milBtN...
1 September 2012
Meeting # 3,184 - author Lowell Thompson of the new book African Americans in Chicago.
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
The story of black Chicago is so rich that few know it all. It began long before the city itself. "The first white man here was a black man," Potowatami natives reportedly said about Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the brown-skinned man recognized as Chicago's first non-Indian settler. It's all here: from the site of DuSable's cabin--now smack-dab in the middle of Chicago's Magnificent Mile--to images of famous and infamous residents like boxers Jack Johnson, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Louis. Here are leaders and cultural touchstones like Jesse Binga's bank, Robert S. Abbott's Chicago Defender, legendary filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, Ida B. Wells, the Eighth Regiment, Jesse Jackson, Oprah, and much more . . . including a guy named Obama. Here is the black Chicago family album, of folks who made and never made the headlines, and pictures and stories of kinship and fellowship of African Americans leaving the violent, racist South and "goin' to Chicago" to find their piece of the American Dream. Chicago has been called the "Second City," but black Chicago is second to none.
8 September 2012
Our speaker Sue Schell was not able to make it tonight, so we at the college did our best to "improvise" on the topic of Simplicity, Jeff Schramek, and Tim Bolger did an informal debate on "what is simplicity", Jeff talked about the upcoming economic catastrophe and how to prepare for it by some simple changes, Tim who does not believe such a thing will happen emphasized the materialism is not "the end game" but that simplicity can be found in ever increasing complexity, its the power of choice.
It is simply simplexity.
More of an improvised debate, we at the college sometimes do have an entertaining evening, by being inspired.
Hopefully Sue will be able to make it at a future airing.
15 Septembet 2012
Meeting # 3,186 -- Seena Jacob, Founder - is a non-profit organization whose mission is to collect and distribute children's storybooks, set up libraries, and spread the joy of reading to children of orphanages and children's homes throughout the world.
Bookwallah is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose vision is to transform the lives of children who have undergone hardship by sharing the gift of imagination. Our mission is to collect and distribute children's storybooks, set up libraries, and spread the joy of reading to children of orphanages and children's homes throughout the world. The origin of the name of the organization comes from the Hindi translation "bookwallah" which means "book peddler". We believe by opening a child's world to imagination and exploration, we can greatly improve their lives and the lives around them. We also believe that the magic of stories can help foster creativity and innovation within a society.
22 September 2012
Meeting # 3,187 - Liane Casten says: "I plan to discuss this and other dangers now part of our food production so folks can understand what is really happening to our bodies and to our animals. GMOs are now being promoted by the USDA and pushed onto other countries with huge pressure. Monsanto is part of this; this company controls US ag decisions. I will also discuss what Monsanto does to farmers whose fields are contaminated through no fault of their own, with GM seeds. When GM corn fails and the weeds come back in greater force than ever, Dow Chemical has petitioned the USDA to use 2,4,-D, half the AGENT ORANGE FORMULA. That chemical contains dioxin, the most toxic chemical known to man and dangerous in parts per trillion."
29 September 2012
Meeting # 3,188 - Li-Ping Yuan, who says: "From a historic view, democratic ideas have been around for thousands of years, not only in Greece but around the world (see Wikipedia). Why couldn't democratic systems be successful and sustainable until the last three hundred years. Then all the monarchies faded away and democracy prevailed. The answer, I think, is communication technology. Democracy requires a lot of communications, not just voting. Voters need to know what are the issues. Candidates need to communicate to voters about these issues and their solutions. Discussions and debates are needed between voters and candidates. These communication could not be realized until the newspaper became available. Later, telephone, radio, TV, and Internet certainly strengthen the fundamental of democracy. Any non-democratic or less democratic systems need to control communications in order to keep their system stable.
Communication brought down not only the monarchies, but also colonies. Military forces can no longer control people. War became less meaningful and will be useless if not already. These trends are clear, although there are some ups and downs. Some old culture still exists in current society to slow down the realization of full democracy and world peace. Two examples are loyalty and patriotism. Basically, loyalty and patriotism limit people's thinking and choice. They were needed behaviors in order to build big and strong countries prior to the communication era (before the newspaper available). However, they are part of road blocks for the advance of our world societies." 6 October 2012
Meeting # 3,189 - Will Barnes gives his thoughts on why Global warming is a hoax.
(Videographers note: Due to traffic I arrived a half hour late so the taping of the program actually starts about 30 minutes into the presentation).
13 October 2012
Meeting # 3,190 - Ron Bettag says: "The only issue facing the population of the United States, and the world's population as well, is the immediate danger of thermonuclear war resulting from the aggressive, illegal posturing of British Empire puppet President Obama in Syria, and other areas, against nation-states, targeting specifically the Russians and the Chinese. A vote for Obama is a vote for thermonuclear war. "Unsurvivable" (35:46 min video documentary)
Regarding the Constitutional mandate that only U.S. Congress can legally declare war. HCR 107 sponsored by Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC)Regarding Glass-Steagall, and NAWAPA XXI -The astonishing support for this bill now being discussed again everywhere, the disaster of it's removal completely in 1999, and its necessary reinstatement now before Congress in the form of HR1489. The political insight and muscle to effect this shift and legislation is addressed in "The End of Political Parties," LaRouche's address at his 90th Birthday Celebration September 9th. The use of the political party structure to take down Constitutional representative self-government. The Parties Are Over (59:41 min video)20 October 2012
Meeting # 3,191 - Nancy L. Wade will give outline here views and those of the Green Party for her candidacy for the 5th Congressional District.
She will be assisted by Rob Sherman who is the Green Party Chairman for Cook County and will represent Jill Stein the Green Party Candidate for President of the United States.27 October 2012
College Regulars Michael Brennen and Raj Patel debated at the College of Complexes for the Election.
Videographers Note: The last hour of rebuttals was not recorded due to some power problems with the Camera, sorry folks, did not get the recording of the rebuttals this week.
3 November 2013
Meetings # 3,196 - Andre J.W. Queen, Sr. of Illinois Carry http://www.illinoiscarry.com, and Bill Lee.
Andre Queen is the founder and Executive Director of Fidelity Investigative Training Academy, the largest private law enforcement training facility in Northeastern Illinois. Mr. Queen's background in law enforcement spans twenty-seven years, and includes both private and public law enforcement service. Mr. Queen's career began in private security, and he quickly rose through the ranks to become account manager, regional director and director of security and loss prevention for a private security corporation in Chicago.
Mr. Queen is an NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor, an NRA Civilian Firearms Instructor, a State of Illinois IDFPR-certified Firearms Instructor, a certified firearms instructor for the Concealed Carry Permit Courses for the States of Utah, Florida and Arizona, a certified TASER ECD Instructor, Weapons Retention Instrutor, Force-on-Force Simulation Training Instructor, Handcuffing Techniques Instructor, Certified Retail Investigator and a Defensive Tactics Instructor. Bill Lee, who advocates concealed carry, says: "Guns cross state lines. It doesn't matter where one gets the weapons of death. If "gun control" keeps guns out of the hands of criminals, why are there so many shootings in Chicago? The common factor of the mass murders in the last 20 years has been that they occurred in "gun free zones". I would contrast the shootings that succeeded with those that were thwarted by an armed citizen."10 November 2012
Meeting # 3,194 - As the result of his visit to Cuba this year, Peter Pero will offer a powerpoint presentation on social, economic and cultural conditions in one of the world's last communist nations. What can America learn from the country it loves to hate? For more info, visit http://www.chicagohistorystreets.com
17 November 2012
Meeting # 3,195 - Matthew Lowry, who teach physics & astronomy at Lake Forest HS and the College of Lake County, says: "So the Large Hadron Collider got turned on a few years back, and -- despite the fear-mongering -- a black hole didn't destroy the planet. But what did happen is that physicists now think they have discovered a Higgs boson...so what is a Higgs boson? How does this discovery fit into the Standard Model of physics and other physics theories? And does the discovery of this so-called "God particle" mean that we have reached the end-of-physics? (Hint: the answer to that last question starts with "N") To learn more about these discoveries and where we might be heading in the future of physics, check out this lecture. Audience questions are encouraged!"
24 November 2012
Meetings # 3,196 - Kurt Johnson says:
"There is an argument that carries out every year in the American political scene on the reasons we cannot assemble an honest and truly representative government in the city, state or nation. Three almost inviolate givens that underly this argument as it plays out in public discourse are ( 1.) democracy with its electoral process is the finest form of government ever assembled, (2) the best we could ever hope for, and (3) any fault in our process is not within the governmental system we've designed but in the human race - the population that tries to make democracy work. As Winston Churchill so succinctly put it, 'the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.' The consensus is people are ignorant, idiots, ill-informed, incapable of rational decision-making, apathetic, easily duped, selfish, cursed with an inability to cooperate and otherwise incompetent, thus it is a series of human failures that results in the failure of democracy. It's the same old story; the fault is internal to us, not external. These arguments have it wrong. There is nothing human beings. We are perfectly suited to cooperate and live in safe, sane, equitable and sustainable social systems. Our failure to build an honest, just and representative government is explained by the system we've built to govern us and not explained in the least by the people governing and governed by the system. Democracy, at the level of physics, is no different than theocracy, communism, autocracy, monarchy, oligarchy or socialism or any other form of government currently in use on earth. The problem we face is we've not yet been able to conceive and build an actual, successful government no different than before 1903 we built many machines desiring to fly but were unable to build one that would actually fly. Past failure never converts to future success, and past failure is never proof that success cannot be attained. Success comes through a change of approach. There exist three physical laws of social organization that account for successful social systems. In this hour we'll review those physical laws, identify where democracy and the electoral process (and all other forms of government) violates those laws, We'll then build a theoretical framework for a government that would conform to the laws of social organization physics and deliver the results have people have always tried to attain through the governments we've built. It's all physics, not philosophy."1 December 2012
Meeting # 3,197 - Lindon P. Anderson , of the Northwest Information Service, which offers "Data Base Translations on Environment, Political and Social Issues into Basic English," will present the latest information coming out of NASA and hundreds of climate scientists from many countries.
8 December 2012
Meeting # 3,198 - Charley Earp, who says: "My subject line is a title for a book I am writing about my journey from Pentecostal preacher's kid to my current avocation of philosopher, minister, and aspiring activist. Religion is one of my strong interests, especially how we might be able to transform the zeal some people have for it into an energy that can propel a social revolution. A left-wing version of the Tea Party."
15 December 2012
Meeting # 3,199 - @nthony Rayson says: The Democrats, Republicans, the mainstream press, the various religions, public education - even most of the Internet - have failed to genuinely educate people as to what is actually happening, what has happened and how we can actualize our humanity and become pro-active in forging positive relations with ourselves, those around us and developing useful tactics for dealing with our suffering world, which is rapidly swirling down the toilet - due to induced self-loathing, ignorance, apathy and various addictions, allowing for corporatist government to execute their marching rders to destroy, kill and oppress for profit. Yes, folks! Serious, real-time anarchist-driven free school education is what you need."
22 December 2012
Meeting # 3,200 - author Sue Schell says: "Americans assumed perpetual economic growth was possible. Optimism had been a mainstay since the post-World War II days. Few of us expected the economic slowdown would be more than a pause. A Simplicity Revolution: Finding Happiness in the New Reality is a commentary on this American Boom and Bust decade and the "Corporatocracy," that caused it."
29 December 2012
Meeting # 3,201 - Tim Bolger and Charles Paidock present their findings, and present the results of a survey taken among the faculty and students of the college - with powerpoint presentation. Anyone, by the way, may send in their personal prediction(s) concerning changes in the world they think will take place whether these are societal, economic, geopolitical, scientific or cultural for compilation.
10 September 2011
Meeting # 3,135 -Lindson P. Anderson of the Northwest Information Service of Rolling Meadows, IL, says: "We will present overwhelming evidence from thousands of architects, engineers, pilots, firemen, medical professionals, government intelligence officials and military professionals who have proven beyond any doubt that 9-11 was an inside job. It's time for America to honor those who died on 9-11, open a new investigation and prosecute the corporate criminals who created 9-11 to be America's new Pearl Harbor."
William Lee, a 20 year veteran of the armed services overseas, says that: "My views are that it is irrefutable that Sept 11th happened according to the Government description, minus a few inconsequential errors. Any views to the contrary are nuts, and delusional."5 November 2011
Meetings # 3,144 - Steven Walsh explains all about Money, Society, and You, and gives a remarkable historical approach about the subject.
19 November 2011
Meetings # 3,146 - Paul Recino - We all use email. It has become a part of our lives. Paul will take a took at what email is, where it came from, and how to use it. He will also discuss security issues involved with email.
26 November 2011
Meetings # 3,146 - Eugene Crowley, Jr., authori of "Upside Down World: The Loss of the Sacred Cosmos," proposes that historical texts, archaeology and legends contain evidence of past human-extraterrestrial contact.
3 December 2011
Meeting # 3,147 - Matt Lowry says that "In this talk you will learn about the basics of the big bang, evolution of the universe, and the status of modern cosmology, including as it relates to particle physics & the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. In addition, we will address some interesting speculations, such as questions regarding multiple universes, or multi-verse theory."
Program includes powerpoint presentation.
10 December 2011
Meeting # 3,148 - Bill Bridgman For the past ten years he has been associated with the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and Northwestern University He says: "At some point in time, perhaps soon, we Americans will be willing to tinker with our constitutional system of checks and balances to make our government more responsive to the American citizenry. An excellent outcome would be the Public Check on Conress." http://publiccheckoncongress.com/
17 December 2011
Meeting # 3,149 - Dr. Robert Holland: "Have we lost our grounding in the earthly sensuous? All human experience, including our intellectual life, arises out of the sensations of the flesh. Yet for millennia, people have denied the centrality of human embodiment, first by driving the locus of selfhood into the head and later by seeking to transcend the body through cybernetic augmentation or by projecting oneself onto a wholly imagined noncorporeal plane. Robert Holland explores the origins of this flight from the sensorium, its contemporary manifestations, and unanticipated implications."
16 October 2010
Meetings # 3,090 - Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics was shot down on October 2, 2009. What did we learn from the bid process? What did the bid tell us about Chicago politics and competing visions for economic progress? One year after that decision, Tom Tresser, one of the lead organizers for No Games Chicago (www.nogameschicago.org) will reveal behinds the scenes details of why activists from around the city came together to derail the bid, what happened when they went to the IOC's World HDQ in Switzerland and what happened when they went to Copenhagen.
23 October 2010
Election Eve Open Candidates Forum
Meetings # 3,091- all Illinois candidates and campaigns have been invited to seek your vote
30 October 2010
Meetings # 3,092 - John Gaudette, Organizing Director, will speak on some of the campaigns of the state's largest public interest organization in the fight for social and economic justice. Current activities include health care (control costs and increase quality), jobs and a safety net (extend benefits), corporate dominance (hold them accountable), fair elections (publicly funded), and immigration (pass real reform now).
http://citizenaction-il.org
October 30 Part 2Andy Martin for Senate / Illinois Reform Party
"A Name You Can Trust"
A Leading Corruption Fighter in IL for Over 40 Years
Meetings # 3,092 - ABOUT ANDY: Andy Martin, who Chicago Public Radio calls a âboisterous Internet activist,â is the legendary New York and Chicago-based muckraker, author, Internet columnist, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. He has over forty years of background in radio and television and is the dean of Illinois media and communications. He promotes his best-selling book, âObama: The Man Behind The Maskâ and his Internet movie "Obama: The Hawai'i years." Martin has been a leading corruption fighter in Illinois for over forty years. He is currently sponsoring www.AmericaisReadyforReform.com
20 November 2010
Meeting # 3,095 - Bill Lee takes on a topic which has generated considerable attention by elected officials
27 November 2010
Meeting # 3,096 - Michele Brock, of Michele Brock Enterprises, affirmative vs.Lindson (Andy) P. Anderson, negative.
4 December 2010
Meeting @ 3097 - Michael Flores speaks on the Cuban Missile Crisis, What you think happened is not what really happened. Michael presents "the real story" of the cuban missle crisis.
11 December 2010
Meeting # 3098 - Prof. Robert Lichtenbert, college regular, and organizer of the Chicago Colloquium for a Philosophy of Life. Personal ethics is a new field. It tries to show us how an individual can be fully aware of the good in ones life for their own reasons. This path is best found by a person starting an urgent search for goodness as very problematic. Other topics in personal ethics include high moral standards, personal codes and duties.
