Events

Next Meeting

Sunday, March 21, 2010

3pm-5pm

Host:  Marsha Hymanson

4630 Lone Pine Lane
La Canada Flintridge, CA 91011

Speaker:   Lako Tongun, PhD

   Subject: Darfur and the Sudan

Dr. Lako Tongun is an Associate Professor of International & Intercultural Studies and Political Studies at Pitzer College, where he teaches general courses on development studies in the Third World ( often described as the developing countries, namely, Africa, Asia, and Latin America) and specific courses on African Politics and the International Relations of the Middle East.  Before coming to Pitzer College, Dr. Tongun taught at the University of California, Davis, and California State University, Sacramento.
 
Dr. Tongun's research activities and writing focus on the Sudan and Africa.  He is currently working on a book project on genocide in the Sudan with Sondra Hale (UCLA) and Laura Beny (Univ. of Michigan).  A native of Sudan, he fled the Sudan from the first genocide in 1962, in his tender years of life.

Dr. Tongun received his doctorate in Political Science (with Economics) from the University of California at Davis, where he also received his master's (Economics); his bachelor's degree, in Government and Economics, is from St. Mary’s College of California in Moraga, California.

Past Meetings:

February 2010 Meeting

The speaker was Ahilan T. Arulanantham, Director of Immigrants' Rights and National Security at the ACLU of Southern California, who spoke on detention without trial, in both the immigration and national security contexts

January 2010 Meeting

The speaker was Dr. JoBea Holt of Altadena, California, formerly a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1976 through 1999 where she studied climate change in arctic forests using satellites and the Space Shuttle. Dr. Holt discussed the science of global warming and presented the current evidence surrounding our changing climate. 

November 2009 Meeting

The speaker was Richard Platkin, ABD Sociology, who worked for the City of Los Angeles for 25 years as a senior urban planner. His topic was "The U.S. Infrastructure Crisis: Its Causes, Consequences and Possible Solutions." He focused on both the Los Angeles region and on infrastructure on the national level.

October 2009 Meeting:

Speaker: Brian Brookey, Member of the Board of Governors for the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, on the topic of Marriage Equality in the United States

In his law practice with Christie, Parker & Hale, LLP, Brian K. Brookey specializes in intellectual property litigation.  Mr. Brookey handles lawsuits at the trial and appellate levels involving claims of patent, trademark, and copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and unfair competition. He also has significant experience handling contested trademark matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Mr. Brookey is a past member of the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association.  He currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, where among other duties he chairs the Charitable Outreach Committee.  Mr. Brookey also is active in his community, as a volunteer at Monte Vista Elementary School (which all three of his children have attended), a member of the choir at First Congregational Church of Pasadena, and a newly minted member of the Cañada Crescenta Democratic Club.  Mr. Brookey has been politically active his entire adult life, most recently working with Equality California on the No on Proposition 8 campaign.  Although his "day job" is devoted to intellectual property, as a former teaching assistant for Constitutional Law he retains a passion for, and has frequently written and spoken about, constitutional law issues, especially as relating to marriage equality.

We also voted on endorsements for the La Cañada School Board and CV Water District Board Elections

September 2009 Meeting

Speaker: Jeff Warner, Jewish peace activist in Los Angeles

Topic:   Arab/Israeli conflict.

Jeff Warner is a Jewish peace activist in Los Angeles. He is active in LA Jews for Peace, Jews for Peace Between Israelis and Palestinians, Americans for Peace Now, and Cousins Club of Orange County.Warner organized street demonstrations against the Israeli siege of Gaza since late 2007, and against the Israeli bombardment of Gaza during the December-January massacre. He visited Israel-Palestine several times as a peace activist, including a tripin 2006 to rebuild a Palestinian home that was demolished by Israel, and this past July to Gaza as part of the Viva Palestine Humanitarian Peace mission.

Warner is a retired geologist. During his 35 year career he was an academic studying mountain building in the Appalachian mountainsof New England, was a Moon rock and planetary geology specialist at the NASA-Johnson Space Center, and was a development, reservoir management petrologistfor Chevron Research.

August 2009 Meeting

Speaker: Andrew Lachman, Member, DNC and LACDP
(Los Angeles County Democratic Party)

Topic: Arab/Israeli Conflict

Andrew Lachman has been a leader in improving our communities and defending Democratic values for over 22 years, serving as a Young Democrat officer from two states (Maryland and California). He has risen to become a leader in California Democratic politics.

Mr. Lachman has served as President of Democrats for Israel Los Angeles since 2005 and is actively leading the expansion of the National Jewish Democratic Council in the region as well. He is an alum of the Salvin-Glass Leadership Development Program of the Anti-Defamation League and the Los Angeles Jewish Federation New Leaders Program and is a member of the Los Angeles Jewish Community Relations Council and the Jewish Labor Committee.

Mr. Lachman currently serves as Vice President for Legal Affairs (IT) for Paramount Pictures Corporation. He received his J.D. from George Washington University Law School, serving on the George Washington International Law Review and helping to edit a book on international legal research. He received his BA from American University.

Andrew Lachman's full bio is available on his web site at http://www.andrewlachman.com

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Topic: May Ballot Measures- Prop 1A - 1E
Speaker: Robbie Davis, League of Women Voters

Sunday, April 19, 2009 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Topic: Health Care Economics
Speaker: Speaker: Gerald F. Kominski, PhD.
Associate Director, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research Professor, UCLA School of Public Health.

Gerald F. Kominski, PhD, is associate director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. He is also professor in the Department of Health Services at the UCLA School of Public Health.

Kominski's research focuses on evaluating the costs and cost-effectiveness of medical programs and technologies, with a particular emphasis on Medicare payment policies for hospitals and physicians. His other research interests include estimating the financial impacts of alternative approaches to health care reform; and improving access and health outcomes among ethnic and vulnerable populations.

 

Ambassador Joseph Wilson at LCF Club Luncheon,
September 30, 2007

Ambassador Joseph Wilson did more than speak to a room full of people at the La Canada Flintridge Country Club -- he captivated them. When he entered the room at 1:00 p.m. he was greeted by spontaneous applause. He took the podium at 2:00 p.m. after being introduced by columnist/radio & TV personality, Patt Morrison, who was the master of ceremonies. Wilson talked to 250 people with a down-to-earth and candid style that was not only refreshing, but appreciated by the audience who responded with applause and laughter. Wilson was funny and he was provocative. Details about his experience as a diplomat and the inside workings of Washington were fascinating. Wilson harshly criticized the Bush Administration and the Republican Party and told us to get to work to elect Democrats to office in 2008 so we can protect the U.S. Constitution. After the program, Wilson signed copies of his book, The Politics of Truth, and Morrison signed copies of her book, RIO L.A. Tales from the Los Angeles River.

After he arrived home, Wilson sent this email:
"Thank you so much for a wonderful event, and please extend my sincere appreciation to all of those who worked so hard to make Sunday memorable.
On to victory next November." Joe Wilson

(Photo by Marvin Inouye)

Read the transcript

LA CANADA VALLEY SUN
"Wilson tweaks GOP in talk here",
October 4, 2007

LOS ANGELES WEEKLY
"Mr. Wilson's War"
Former ambassador Joseph Wilson warns the country-club crowd about the "theo-con" threat,
October 10, 2007

March 2009 Meeting:

Topic: Immigration

Speaker: Professor Ivan Light, professor emeritus of sociology at UCLA. He is the author of numerous articles and of six books on immigration, entrepreneurs, and urban sociology.

October 2008 Meeting

 

May, 2008 Meeting
Speaker: Ira Jackson Topic: Social Responsibility and the Elimination of Poverty

Ira A. Jackson is the Henry Y. Hwang Dean of the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, where he is also a professor of management. Throughout his career, Jackson has brought entrepreneurship and excellence to government, higher education, and the nonprofit sector, and has focused his personal and professional life at the intersection of business, government and civil society. He is co-author (with Jane Nelson) of Profits with Principles: Seven Strategies for Delivering Value with Values (Doubleday, 2004), described by Tom Peters as a stunning achievement.and a survival guide for business executives and a survival guide for capitalism itself.

April, 2008 Meeting

Speaker: Carol Liu, Democratic candidate for our State Senate District 21 and our representative in the State Assembly, 2000-2006

Endorsement Meeting for US Congress, Congressional District 26

 

 

 

March 16, 2008 meeting

JPL Senior Research Scientist Robert M. Nelson, and Engineer Susan Paradise spoke about the fight against Homeland Security
Presidential Directive. Twenty-eight senior scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory filed suit against NASA and
the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) on behalf of JPL employees who are being required to waive their privacy rights and submit to an unconstitutional intrusive background investigation in
order to retain their jobs with JPL. None of the plaintiffs have classified or sensitive positions. Plaintiffs challenge Bush's decision to require that all JPL employees submit to a "National Agency Check with Inquiries" and sign a broad written waiver, permitting investigators to obtain records from their past employment files, and to question their friends and associates about their emotional health, financial integrity, and general conduct, including whether they've ever had sex and, if so, what type.

For more information, visit http://www.hspd12jpl.org/overview.html

To read the La Canada Valley Sun article on the meeting visit
http://www.lacanadaonline.com/articles/2008/03/20/news/lnws-jplers.txt