Sunday, July 11th, 2010, 11 am.

Genetically Modified Crops
presentation and discussion
by Margaret Rose Taylor

They call it FrankenFood -- should we run for the hills?

Ms. Taylor is a biological scientist, recently graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, although she has California roots. Carleton has an arboretum, prairie fields left to study the natural biota, plus student-tended organic food plots. Margaret has been accepted for graduate study at the University of Minnesota for a Ph.D. program.

Some hail genetically modified food as the salvation of the hungry world, others fear as a narrow wedge for a world disaster. And why won't Monsanto let you plant seeds from the plants you grow on your own farm?

Besides her studies, Margaret is a blogger, cartoonist, reporter, photographer, and an author of two fantasy-science fiction novels which she makes available as podcasts (Search for Steam Trains and Ghosts on the web). Maybe she will blog about us.

Sunday, June 13th, 2010, 11 am.

A Visit with Robert Green Ingersoll
with Richard McNally

Atheists United longtime member Richard McNally will present his one-man show, A Visit With Robert Green Ingersoll, a biographical sketch of Ingersoll’s life along with a sampling of the speeches and writings of “The Great Agnostic.” Afterward Richard will welcome a discussion of Ingersoll and his works.

Ingersoll lived from 1833 to 1899 and was considered by many to be the greatest orator of his day. He was also a nationally prominent attorney who represented several defendants in the then-infamous “Star Route” political scandal, akin to the Watergate scandal of our day.

As an agnostic atheist, as he called himself, he devoted much of his adult life to combating the false, degrading, and inhuman teachings of organized religion. Ingersoll traveled the length and breadth of the United States speaking to crowds numbering in the thousands.

He was a friend of the most prominent politicians, writers, entertainers and businessmen of his day. Andrew Carnegie and Mark Twain were among Ingersoll’s friends and admirers who paid tribute to his memory upon his death.

Richard McNally has appeared in more than 50 stage productions during his years as an actor. In earlier days he was seen around Los Angeles in many featured roles including: The Music Man (Harold Hill), Bleacher Bums (Decker), Kvetch (George), The Fantasticks (Hucklebee), Hello Dolly (Horace Vandergelder), A Christmas Carol (Scrooge), Guys And Dolls (Nathan) and Mother Courage (Chaplain). In August 2008, Richard wrote, directed and appeared in a staged reading of The Scopes Monkey Trial for Atheists United. He has been an AU member for over 20 years and currently works as our administrative assistant.

The Humanist Association is offering today's performance free to the public, as usual. Because of expenses related to the performance, we will "pass the hat" for voluntary contributions.

Sunday, May 9th, 2010, 11 am.

Trina L. Ray presents

Keeping California Elections Fair and Clean

Trina L. Ray will tell us how to keep California election clean and fair by limiting the influence of big money.

Trina is an astronomer working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. She is currently working on the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn, and is an active public speaker for JPL and her mission. She became active in politics around 2000, and has been involved in local progressive politics, and Clean Money (Fair Elections) for many years.

Proposition 15 in California will shortly be before the voters

Humanist Association of Los Angeles, West Side Discussion Group
meets 11 am, April 11, 2010
at Yahoo Center Community Room, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica

All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association.

Sunday, April 11th, 2010, 11 am.

Dr. Phil Zuckerman presents

Society Without God: What the Least Religous Nations Can Tell us about Contentment

Humanist Association of Los Angeles, West Side Discussion Group
meets 11 am, April 11, 2010
at Yahoo Center Community Room, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica

What would a society without God look like? Would it be a lawless jungle, a morass of selfishness? Is a belief in God the foundation of a workable society, as religious conservatives allege?

Phil Zuckerman, an associate professor of sociology at Pitzer College, wondered about this before his research in Scandinavia. As it turns out, the least religious nations in the developed world, including northern and western Europe, as the best places to live according to many measures.

Zuckerman lived in Scandinavia for fourteen months, interviewing 150 Danes and Swedes. He finds these largely godless societies are content without paying much attention to God.

In his book, Society Without God, he draws on his observations and interviews, and prominent sociological theories on how the current situation came about. Did Danes and Swedes lose religion and improve society, or did safe and secure living make believing unnecessary?

He is also the author of the books, Invitation to the Sociology of Religion, and Strife in the Sanctuary: Religious Schism in Jewish Community.

Sunday, March 14th, 2010, 11 am.

LESSONS I'VE LEARNED IN LIFE: ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS, SEX, MONEY, HEALTH, AND HUMAN CONVERSATION

presented by Helen Colton

92-year Helen Colton, will be candid about her own life. She has a big following, and will likely attract a large crowd.

Ms. Colton, author of books on sex in family life and on communications skills, will include in her talk: What are the three things we want in every relationship; sex as we age; the three parts of our brain and how that affects how we vote; the characteristic marking most people's conversation, etc.

She is the popular author of these books, among others: The Gift of Touch, and Sex After the Sexual Revolution.

Sunday, February 7th, 2010, 11 am.

Shirley Potash presents

GPS Tracking Devices as a Threat to Your Privacy

What is a global positioning service device and how does it work?

Why might it be a threat to the Fourth Amendment constitutional guarantee of privacy? Why are GPS tracking devices necessary for civil and criminal activities? How are the courts coping with these issues on case by case basis? What impact do these systems have on California residents?

Shirley Potash is a paralegal, celebrating 42 years in probate services.

All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association.

Contact:
Larry A. Taylor
1850 S. Colby Ave. Apt. 8
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Home phone: (310) 479-2236

Sunday, January 10th, 2010, 11 am.

David Taylor presents

Space Elevators

Space Elevators,
presented by David Taylor.

What future invention could conceivably solve the world's energy problems and make space travel a snap?

Enthusiastic young engineer David Taylor explains how a space elevator could make it easy to travel to space without the waste of rocket boosters. If you could just climb a rope to 22,000 miles out, the distance of geostationary communication satellites, you could put solar plants in orbit cheaply, and beam the energy back to earth. All you have to do is invent the right carbon nanotubes to build the rope.

David Taylor is a student at Rio Hondo Community College in Whittier, California, and wants to study material engineering

Sunday, November 8, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

**Back to our regular time**

Mel Kirschner, MD presents

Every Medicine is a Poison

Every medicine is a poison, so why should you take it? It depends on whether you are better off fighting whatever the medicine is poison to. Too much salt can kill you. Water is lethal is large doses.

Antibiotics can save your life, but prescribed needlessly, can breed super germs.

Kirschner, a long-time member of our group, is Chairman of the ethics commission at the Mission Medical Center in the Valley, and at Presbyterian. He is also involved in the California Bar Association's medical ethics committee.

All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association.

Sunday, October 11, 2009, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

**Back to our regular time**

Larry A. Taylor discusses

The Christian Mafia:
Jeff Sharlet's Book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Now out in paperback, author Jeff Sharlet is getting new attention for his book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Sharlet has been featured on Rachel Maddow's and Bill Maher's shows. The Family itself has been parodied in the Doonesbury comic strip.

The Washington, DC group is best known for its sponsorship of the National Prayer Breakfast. But its cult-like structure includes the C-street residence for five members of congress. Recent attention for the group includes the participation of famous, powerful praying sinners such as governor Sanford and senator Ensign. The Family has been mixing free markets and fundamentalism for seventy years.

"Sharlet's book is one of the most compelling and brilliantly researched exposes you'll ever read -- just don't read it alone at night!" --- Barbara Ehrenreich

From the book back cover:
"They insist they are just friends, yet they funnel millions of dollars through tax-free corporations. They claim to disdain politics, but congressmen of both parties describe them as the most influential religious organization in Washington. They say they are not Christians, but simply believers.

"... the Family [is] an elite network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. Their goal is 'Jesus plus nothing.' Their method is backroome diplomacy. The Family is the startling story of how their faith — part free-market fundamentalism, part imperial ambition — has come to be interwoven with the affirs of nations around the world."

Sunday, September 13, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm

**Note this time only, half hour later to accommodate another group **

Tom Mates presents

How America Became "Christian"

"Christian" is definitely in quotation marks.

Tom Mates, an analytical chemist at UC Santa Barbara, will give us a talk that will focus on the two great evolutionary leaps that Christianity has taken en route to becoming our political faith: the first being its mutation into a law-and-order/leadership religion (Judeo-Islamic), and the second being its abandonment of scriptural teachings on predestination.

(I'm going to have to ask him, as one non-believer to another, why he thinks pre-destination is scriptural.)

Early Protestantism, including American Puritanism, Anglicanism and Baptism, were strictly Calvinistic, and it wasn't until predestination was scrapped that America started to become the religious nation that Tocqueville found in the 1830s. The predestination-vs-free will question has taken some interesting turns historically, and lies at the heart of some fundamental, contemporary political debates about fairness, crime and punishment and taxation.

Tom Mates is an analytical chemist in the Materials Science Department at UC Santa Barbara. He has degrees from Alfred University (NY), MIT, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University, all in the fields of Materials Science and Polymer Chemistry.

His interest in religion and philosophy began early. Baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal Church but always a doubter, he became concerned about the influence of religion in politics in the 1980s and 1990s.

After completing his degrees he began to study religion informally, and also to interview clergy about their beliefs. The relative, personal nature of their beliefs contrasted sharply with the absolutist messages encountered in the political arena.

By the year 2000 he began writing about this contrast, and the development of politicized Protestantism as a religion divorced from its scriptural roots. He has published several feature articles, most recently in the May-June 2009 edition of The Humanist.

He is now at work on a book entitled A Judeo-Islamic Nation: The Evolution of America’s Political Theology.

Sunday, August 9, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm

**Note this time only, half hour later to accommodate another group **

Theodore M. Drange discusses:

"Nontheist Labels: Who's Who, and What's What"

Philosophy professor Ted Drange returns to us with the question of "Nontheist Labels." The question would be how best to define and use such words as:

• theist        
• atheist
• nontheist
• agnostic
• apatheist     
• (theological) noncognitivist
• humanist
• freethinker
• secularist
• rationalist
• (metaphysical) naturalist (or "a Bright")
• skeptic

An online essay related to Drange's topic is entitled "Atheism, Agnosticism, Noncognitivism." It can be found at: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/definition.html

Dr. Drange has been a long-time professor at West Virginia University, and taught at several colleges before that. His teaching specialties include Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Language, and Theory of Knowledge. His books include Nonbelief and Evil: Two Arguments for the Nonexistence of God (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998).

Sunday, July 12, 2009 11 am to 1 pm.

A Humanist Looks at Graham Greene

Presented by David Hernandez

Graham Greene was an English author, playwright and literary critic. You may know him as the writer of the screenplay for The Third Man, a famous film noir. His work consisted mostly of novels, many of which became movies.

David Hernandez, member of HALA and a literary aficionado, will examine the writings, life and philosophy of Graham Greene. Nominally a Catholic, Greene's work explores themes of ambivalent morality and meaning in a chaotic world.

I intend to ask Dave whether Greene's story, Dr. Fischer of Geneva, is an allegory of a cruel God.

Dave has had varied experience, including teaching English and literature in Belize, and beekeeping and honey production in that country. In California, he has been a scuba diver, and has worked as a journalist, desktop publisher and customer representative.

 

Sunday, June 14, 2009 11 am to 1 pm.

"A Brief History of Disbelief"
DVD by Jonathan Miller

I will share from the television series shown in this country by PBS. There were three aired episodes, but the DVD has an extra hour of material.

I intend to show regular episode 2, "Noughts and Crosses", about the conflict of free thinking with European religion, and their mutual development.

The series, developed by the BBC, was sponsored in the USA by the American Humanist Association, the Ethical Culture Union, the Center for Inquiry, and other associations and foundations. Miller is a comedian, medical doctor, and award-winning producer of documentaries.

In addition to the three hours aired on American public television, there are two additional segments on the DVD distributed to AHA chapters. Let's have a look at them.

HALA: Sunday, May 10, 2009, 11 AM

From MECCA to AMERICA:
FERIAL MASRY and her Personal and Political Journey in American Democracy

Ferial is the author of an engaging and moving book. She is a spirited, smart, intelligent women who has a passion for democracy and community.
Please come and hear her share her story and views on American society, running for CA State Assembly, and the contrasts Arabia and Southern California.

In 2004, Ferial Masry, born in Mecca, became the first Saudi American to run for political office in U.S. history. A recent immigrant and naturalized citizen Masry made a spirited run for the California State Assembly seat in a staunchly Republican district, which sparked worldwide interest. She was ABC's Person of the Week, was interviewed by Peter Jennings, and made headlines in the New York Times and Associated Press. Against all odds, her grassroots campaign succeeded in winning the write-in vote, a historic victory for all Arab Americans.

Her book, Running for All the Right Reasons chronicles Masry's remarkable life, from her childhood in Mecca and her decision to emigrate to the United States to her career as an educator and her bold entry into the world of politics. Masry's story, as well as her passionate belief in democracy and commitment to her community, is the stuff of legends. She has lived in Arabia, Nigeria, Britain and now the USA.

Ferial Masry, starting as a write in candidate, ran for California State Assembly in the 37th District in 2004. She almost won in a Republican district. She teaches government and history in Los Angeles and has served on the boards of the Education Committee for the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations and of the National Women's Political Caucus, among others.

From Masry's book:

"I called you because I want your opinion for several reasons: You were born here; you understand the Saudi people and their culture; you are also American and have the respect of the people there; you are involved in their democratic process; and you teach American democracy in American public schools. Who has better qualifications than you to answer my questions?"
-- journalist, Jeddah [Saudi Arabia] Economic Forum

"My Arabian or Muslim roots have never hindered me. I have the ability to fit in assimilate in any culture because it comes naturally to me. I always enjoy learning discovering."

"The humanity of the Middle East was destroyed by violence; everyone blamed each other and no one had the courage to look at him or herself in the mirror and see the reality of his or her role in creating the problem."

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HALA: Sunday, April 12, 2009, 11 AM

FROM MISSIONARY TO UNBELIEVER:
Robert Augat's personal and intellectual journey.

Robert Augat, is a former Christian fundamentalist, is articulate on the change from Christian belief to unbelief, both from a studied and personal experience. He was a missionary in his parents church, here and abroad. He is now a registered nurse. He is  writing a book about his experience as a Christian missionary and missionary program organizer. He has been interviewed for infidel.org which is available online.

> http://odeo.com/episodes/10191303-IG-Robert-Augat-Ex-Christian-Missionary
> http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/1206144

------
All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist
Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association.

HALA meeting: Sunday, March 8, 2009
4 PM *This month only*

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD BE LIKE WITHOUT THE UNITED NATIONS?

Our speaker will be Irving Sarnoff. Irving Sarnoff is founder and director of the international Friends of the United Nations.

Mr. Sarnoff has written many books on the United Nations and human rights, is the author of a standard handbook on the United Nations published by the UN.

Mr. Sarnoff has also been active for peace and nuclear disarmament. He has received recognition and awards on behalf of human rights and the UN. He has been on international tours on behalf of Friends of the United Nations. www.fotun.org .

NOTE: THIS MEETING IS ON THE SECOND SUNDAY, INSTEAD OF ON THE FIRST. According to your response, we may continue on the second Sunday in the future.

Sunday, February 8, 2009, from 11 am to 1 pm

The Conscience of an Israeli

Yossi Khen

What is a 'refuse-nik?' Yossi Khen will tell us how he became one.

Yossi was born in Israel, and served in the Israeli army. Yossi witnessed the daily abuse in the Occupied West Bank where he stayed as part of his service. In April 1973 Yossi refused to serve in the occupied West Bank as a reserve soldier. He spent some time in military jail. When he completed the military service, he joined activities for human rights and peace.

In 1978, he moved to The Unites States. In 1981 Yossi joined the New Jewish Agenda (NJA) in LA, and was active on the Israeli Palestinian issue through this organization. In 1988 he represented NJA in building a coalition in LA that included NJA, Palestine Society of America, ADC, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILF). He was one of the main speakers of the coalition, together with Palestinian friends.

Yossi continues speaking on the Israeli Palestinian issue in different forums. Currently, Yossi is a member of "Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace" or "Brit-Zedek Veshalom," which supports a just peace based on 2 states of Israel and Palestine.

Sunday, January 11, 2009, from 11 am to 1 pm

How do Humanists celebrate life transitions?

Larry A. Taylor
Dr. Rod Gorney, M.D.

The American Humanist Association, through its affiliate, Humanist Society of Friends, is empowered to designate wedding celebrants. Dr. Gorney is one of several Humanist Celebrants in the Los Angeles area.

Humanists, who have no belief in God or an afterlife, have no reason to invoke a higher power to celebrate or mourn. Instead, we celebrate life -- and when it comes, we recognize death.

Larry A. Taylor's previous marriage was celebrated by Humanist Celebrant Dr. Maxine Negri some years ago.

NOTE: THIS MEETING IS ON THE SECOND SUNDAY, INSTEAD OF ON THE FIRST. According to your response, we may continue on the second Sunday in the future.

Sunday November 9, 2008, 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

Humanist Association of Los Angeles (HALA), Westside meeting.

Larry A. Taylor presents:

"Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine and Disaster Capitialism"

We will talk about Naomi Klein's book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. The noted author starts with the shock experiments of the 1950s, which attempted to wipe people clean of their previous personalities, and replace them.

The other, larger shock doctrine is that of the "Chicago Boys" of capitalism. Country after country lands into trouble: Chile, Argentina, Poland, Russia. The International Monetary Fund, or the World Bank, demands total reorganization of the countries' finances. It must be done quickly, effecting a shock, hoping to rebuild the country along the lines laid down by Milton Friedman and his students. Never mind the pain that it causes.

Now the United States and western economies have undergone their own shock. The solutions, so far, have gone in the direction of re-regulation and socialism.

Larry Taylor, a co-president of HALA, has read the book. He has several degrees in interesting subjects, the most nearly relevant of which is his masters in history.

NOTE: THIS MEETING IS ON THE SECOND SUNDAY, INSTEAD OF ON THE FIRST. According to your response, we may continue on the second Sunday in the future.

Sunday October 5, 2008 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

Humanist Association of Los Angeles (HALA), Westside meeting.

Theodore M. Drange: GOD: Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Philosophy professor Ted Drange is an expert in the many ways to try to prove or disprove the existence of God. How could one prove a negative, the non-existence of God?

The "Incompatible Properties Arguments" use properties implied in the word "God" itself, which when taken together imply a contradiction. God is then a self-contradictory concept.

He suggest the following link on this subject to become acquainted with the arguments:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/incompatible.html

Dr. Drange has been a long-time professor at West Virginia University, and taught at several colleges before that. His teaching specialties include Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Language, and Theory of Knowledge. His books include Nonbelief and Evil: Two Arguments for the Nonexistence of God (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998).

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 11 am

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

David Hernandez Presents:
Sixty Years Since the Birth of Israel

HALA David Hernandez will give a followup to our previous presentation by a Palestinian-American.

The presentation would contrast global conditions as they obtained in 1948 and now, and discuss possible resolutions to the present situation either following the two state model or possibly a single state model.

Dave has had varied experience, including teaching English and literature in Belize, and beekeeping and honey production in that country. In California, he has been a scuba diver, and has worked as a journalist, desktop publisher and customer representative.

Sunday, August 3, 2008, 11 am

The Politics of India: Before and After Freedom

Nirmal Mishra, Ph.D.

India is the world's largest democracy. It has at least two Communist parties, and several parties that practice Hindu cultural nationalism, which resembles European fascism.

Dr. Mishra, a professor emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at California State University, Northridge, is a native of India and a long-time member of the Humanist Association of Los Angeles, and a board member of HALA. In 2003, he established a scholarship at Cal State Northridge for students from Asia who wish to study engineering and computer science.

Sunday, July 13, 2008, 11:00 am.

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Panorama City, 91402. [1 mile east of I405]

Annual Valley Organization Meeting

We usually spend our August meeting laying out the activities of the rest of the year. Volunteer to host or present one of our monthly meetings, or arrange an outside speaker of interest.

Step forward, and volunteer! We need somebody to keep track of the year's agenda. You would manage the list of the year's meetings, and make contact with each speaker. Forward the information to the co-presidents, who will send out notices.

Sunday, June 1, 2008, 11 am

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

The Joy Diet

Facilitator: Susannah Lacagnina, MPH, RD, CDE

Susannah's practice with Santa Monica Bay Physicians is located in Santa Monica. Those letters by her name translate to degrees or certifications as: Masters in Public Health, Registered Dietitian, and Certified Diabetes Educator.

Diabetes has taken on the proportions of a modern plague, particularly in the Western world, and those who adopt Western food and lifestyles.

Ms. Lacagnina writes of her program:

"Healthy Nutrition and Lifestyle is a Journey, not a Destination."

• Learn how to cultivate a healthy relationship with food.
• How to get and stay motivated regarding healthy eating.
• NO FADS, NO STARVATION DIETS, just a common sense approach to feeling healthier and more energetic.

What is the worst fast food outlet that sounds like a health food store? One glass might kill a diabetic. Find out what it is.

Besides the impressive scientific background of Ms. Lacagnina, I (Larry Taylor) can show the results of her program, which was on referral from my own doctor. Her website is
www.weightoffsmart.com

---------------------------------------------

Sunday, June 8, 2008, 11:00 am.

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Panorama City, 91402. [1 mile east of I405]

HOLY WRIT and HUMANIST VALUES

Gary the Grouch (aka. Gary Hundertmark) facilitator.

Let's look at a passage or passages from religious texts and compare them (sans God) to our own Humanist Values and Ethics.

How much of our Humanists values and ethics are reflected in old religious scriptures and teachings (which are human!!) and how much are original with Humanist and Atheist philosophical traditions and writing?

The Bible, for example, as we know, is NOT the word of God but a product of human history and human imagination. What parts are meaningful to Humanists?

Bring your ideas and textual examples to share.

Let's explore our personal and humanist history together and think about what influenced us as non-theists in the ancient religious texts, if anything.

Sunday, May 4, 2008, 11 am

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

What is a Humanist Manifesto?

Open discussion with Humanist leaders.

Humanist Manifestos: there are at least four available online. Three of them are from the American Humanist Association: those of 1933, 1973 and 2003; and one of the Council for Secular Humanism of 2003.

HALA member Gary H. asks,

• What other atheistic philosophies are there?

• Which do we think are not Humanism?

• Why do we Humanists hold humanism to be more important or better than other atheist-like philosophies, such as nihilism or objectivism? Are they compatible or incompatible?

HALA co-president Larry A. Taylor will bring copies of all the manifestos for examination.

Humanist Manifestos I, II, III are on the web site of the American Humanist Association,
http://www.americanhumanist.org/3/HumandItsAspirations.php
"Humanism and its Aspirations."

The CSH's manifesto is on-line here:
http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=main&page=manifesto

Sunday, April 13, 2008, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Panorama City, 91402. [1 mile east of I405]

Games Intelligent Humans Should Enjoy Playing

presented by Joy Sanz-Agero

HALA member Joy Sanz-Agero will present an unusual program.

She says,"We are going to play games; intelligent games, so people can show off, or not, as the case may be their own knowledge."

"Depending on the number of people who show up. I have a new game called Chronology ...suggested 8 players, which could be played with pairs, thus doubling the number of players; I have a couple of Trivia Pursuit games always good for six each or team play. I also have a Jeopardy game for about 4 to 6 players circa 1988??

"So, it should be another opportunity for people to loosen up, and enjoy the camaraderie of playing games."

"It is a companion piece to my last year's lecture on Laughter, Humor, and the Humanists."

Sunday, April 6, 2008, **6 PM**

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center), 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

The Roots of Morality

with Roderic Gorney, MD, Ph.D.

Dr. Gorney, psychiatrist, author and television personality, returns to the Humanist Association of Los Angeles after many years.

Writes Dr. Gorney, "I've been working lately on a book that includes a section on Morality: Remote and Recent Roots. It is an examination of why all sorts of people, regardless of their religion, politics, economics and other circumstances, tend to
develop conscience and a sense of what is right and wrong. And a hypothesis as to why all sorts of people tend to be distressed if they violate their conscience and sense of what is right and wrong."

Roderic Gorney is the author of The Human Agenda: the Evolution of Human Values, Man's Way to Survival, a book widely distributed in Humanist circles. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Gorney was the host of the KCET TV showing of Britain's The Prisoner. Longtime HALA members treasure his singing and guitar performances.

HALA meetings are free and open to the public.

NOTE that THIS TIME ONLY, we are meeting at 6 pm. due to availability
of the community room.

All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association. Our web site is hala.org.

Sunday, March 9, 2008, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Panorama City, 91402. [1 mile east of I405]

"It's a Matter of Life and Death"

Mel Kirschner, MD

Doctor Mel Kirschner, who is deeply involved in medical ethics, considers why we let some people die and let others live.

Kirschner, a long-time member of our group, is Chairman of the ethics commission at the Mission Medical Center in the Valley, and at Presbyterian. He is also involved in the California Bar Association's medical ethics committee.

11 am, Sunday March 9, 2008, at the ***Doctor's Lounge*** of the hospital side. Location changed so Dr. Kirschner can show a video.

Mission Medical Doctor's Lounge, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Panorama City, 91402. [1 mile east of I405]

Sunday, March 2, 2008, 11 AM

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

It Can't Happen Here?

Discussion led by Larry A. Taylor

I'd like to present two books for discussion.

It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis, 1935.

It Can Happen Here, by Joe Conason, 2007.

Sinclair Lewis' novel imagines an American election in 1936 that brings a clownish swindler to power inaugurating an era of fascism.

Wrote Lewis, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."

Joe Conason's book documents the current state of the nation and compares it to Lewis' nightmare.

Conason's Introduction is headed: "It's (Still) a Free Country", and quotes Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

You might already be familiar with most of the misrule documented in It Can Happen Here, but I have found a few surprises.

Start reading for March now.

Sunday, February 10, 2008, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Panorama City, 91402. [1 mile east of I405]

Open Forum on Politics and Freedom

Arranged by Nirmal Mishra

Van Nuys Second Sunday 11AM

contact: Nirmal Mishra
Phone: (818)349-5643
Mobile: (818)357-0679

Sunday, February 3, 2008, 11 AM

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

No Child Left Behind

Madeline Shapiro

Madeline Shapiro is a fith-grade teacher and president of the East Whittier Education Association, and of her district's Democratic Club.

Ms. Shapiro has been passionately fighting for public education. As President of her teacher's union, she has dealt with successive administrations, and is in tune with state and federal policies. Teaching "to the test" has distorted education today and has been costly in time and money.

Her great fear is that pending legislation can actually make things worse. If teacher merit pay is based on test scores, then teachers will not want to teach where scores are low, in poor areas where teachers are needed the most.

She says teachers may not respond even to offers of higher pay at all. What would help teachers — and students — would be smaller class sizes, and support from administrators for actual educators.

Sunday, January 13, 2008, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Panorama City, 91402. [1 mile east of I405]

Northern Ireland

Anita Devore
Lucille Malvani

Anita Devore and Lucille Malvani will report the political/cultural conditions they found during their recent trip to Northern Ireland.

Sunday, January 6, 2008,
**This meeting only, 5 PM**

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

THE GOD IN OUR BRAIN: THE EVOLUTIONARY ORIGINS OF RELIGION.

Jay Glass, Ph.D.

Jay Glass has a YouTube clip of chimpanzees kneeling in prayer, worshiping their "gods" of thunder and lightning. Does this give us a clue about how religion got a start in humans?

(Go to www.YouTube.com and search for Nuvolari5 for this clip.)

Glass is the author of The Power of Faith: Mother Nature's Gift, and will have copies for sale at our meeting. He has doctorates in neuroscience and psychology, and is now retired. He makes frequent appearances on radio and TV. An author referred to us, Jay Glass, could speak in January, first Sunday.

His book,despite the title, is about the evolution of group dynamics.

All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association. Our web site is hala.org.

Sunday, December 9, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Panorama City, 91402. [1 mile east of I405]

Happy Holly Days: How the Priests Stole Solstice.

Bobbie Kirkhart

Bobbie Kirkhart is currently vice president of the Secular Coalition for America and has served as co-president of Atheists United, and as president of the Atheist Alliance International.

In addition to her regular President's Messages in The Rational Alternative and in Secular Nation, her work has been printed in Free Inquiry, American Atheist, La Raison and HUMAN magazines, as well as the Humanist Network News. She is a contributing author in three books: Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion; The Fundamentals of Extremism: the Christian Right in America; and in the soon-to-be-released Everything You Know About God Is Wrong (the Book).

Her television appearances include STUN, Food for Thought, OhDrama!, Faith Under Fire, and Midday Sunday.

She has been a guest on several radio programs, including NPR's All Things Considered, To the Point, the nationally syndicated America Live, BBC News, KCRW's Which Way LA? KRLA's The Spiritual Seeker, and The Walsh Report.

She has spoken to freethought groups throughout the United States, and has addressed atheists and humanists in Canada, Germany, France, India, Nigeria and Cameroon.

Sunday, December 2, 2007, 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

Carol Taylor
HALA Board Member

presents

Parkinson's, Pesticides, and Gardening

There are group meetings for people with Parkinson's  and, amazingly, the majority of patients at these meetings do not know how they came to have PD: 'Parkinson's Disease'  (It isn't a 'disease'!)

We will explore the evidence regarding what causes the ever-increasing number of cases of PD, particularly in persons in their late 60s and 70s.

Carol Taylor always advocated evidence-based discussions and decisions, and has an advanced degree.

All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association. Our web site is hala.org.

Sunday, November 11, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

A Brief History of Disbelief

The Video from the Independent Production Fund

The American Humanist Association, as a sponsor of Jonathan Miller's personal series, "A Brief History of Disbelief," sent our chaper a DVD of all three episodes.

Miller, the doctor, writer and television producer, shares with us his personal exploration of different kinds of disbelief over the centuries, starting with the Greeks.

Shown in Great Britain in 2005, it is now being shown on American television for the first time. KCET is currently running the series on Sunday nights. Join us to catch up or race ahead.

We will show at least the first hour. The three episodes are:

• Shadows of Doubt
• Noughts and Crosses
• The Final Hour

The Humanist's interview with Jonathan Miller.

.The BBC's summary page for the series.

Sunday, November 4, 2007, 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

Jim Horwitz
from Bill Rosendahl's office

presents

Tenant Concerns and Rights

Jim Horwitz is a Community Advocate in the office of Councilmember of the 11th District (Los Angeles), Bill Rosendahl.
 
Mr. Horwitz will be discussing issues of concern to tenants, especially rent increase on newer housing stock not under rent control, demolition of apartments to build condos of higher rent apartments not under rent control, and other issues that effect the livelihood of tenants and their rights. Many tenants have been displaced by these market forces and some, even otherwise gainfully employed, became homeless as a result.

Gary, the HALA member who arranged Mr. Horwitz' appearance, was asked what was the connection between Humanism and tenant rights. He replied, "One of the concerns of humanism is the human condition. The concern of rents and landlords and fair land use is as old as civilization."

Sunday, October 7, 2007, 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

Lois Lyons

presents

Critical Thinking

You can just say that I've been a writer of business publications and an editor of business publications and books for most of my career. I started and was editor in chief of Secular Nation, the magazine of Atheist Alliance International, for two years.

I've been Vice President, President or co-President of HALA for more than 15 years, and I've been on the board of the American Humanist Association for two terms, serving as secretary and vice president. I've been a member of Freethinkers Toastmasters for more than 10 years, having held nearly all officer positions there.

Freethought topics have been a special interest to me for more than 20 years.  I consider myself a student, and certainly not an expert, in the field of critical thinking, so my talk will not be a lesson in critical thinking, though I will include definitions of it, but an exploration through audience participation of what the audience thinks critical thinking is, how it works, how we can refine our skills and why it is important.

I will also conduct a  test of the audience's critical thinking skills through a verbal puzzle with few clues that tests people's ability to think outside the box.

Sunday, July 8, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

The Unmitigated Evil of The-War-On-Drugs

Presented by

Ernst Ghermann

---

 

Sunday, July 1, 2007, 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). In the community room (entrance outside, ground floor).

Michael Estes
presents

Atheists and Freethinkers in the Civil Rights Movement,
1901-1950

Mike Estes is currently a member of the Atheist Coalition of San Diego, and has been involved with freethought organizations in the San Diego area for over fifteen years. He was raised as a Baptist until age twelve, when he read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and Introduction to African Civilizations by atheist John G. Jackson; that started him on a journey from religion to atheism that took over ten years to complete.

Mike has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from San Diego State University, is an Air Force veteran, and is currently completing a sabbatical from his career as a Quality Assurance Software Engineer, taken in part to spend more time on issues related to freethought and church-state separation.

Mike has spoken about his personal transition from religion to atheism, atheism in general, and the impact of freethinkers on
the early 20th Century civil rights movement.

Michael Estes, former Air Force Staff Sergeant, also speaks for the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, and has a biography online for that group.

All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association. Our web site is hala.org.

Our meeting place:Yahoo Center Community Room (Colorado Center), 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica

 

Sunday, June 10, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

Health Care For All Californians

Presented by

Dr. Melvin Kirschner

Contact: Mel Kirschner

mhkirschner (AT) aol.com

Sunday, June 3, 2007, 11 am.

Anthony Saidy presents
Israel vs. Palestine: A Religious War?

Peace in the Middle East -- is this an impossible dream?

The religious differences are obvious. But is that the whole story? Our guest speaker asked for the title, "A Religious War?" and don't forget the question mark.

Twenty-three years ago, I was present at another Humanist group with the guest speaker, Alex Odeh. This was within one year of his assasination. Dr. Saidy is familiar with the case, and can give us an update after all these years.

Anthony Saidy, a retired physician, chess master & author, is past pres. of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Cte. in L.A. and past vice-chair of the Coalition for Peace in the M.East. He has visited fifty countries, incl. Israel three times and nine Arab states.

All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association. Our web site is hala.org.

Sunday, June 10, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

Health Care For All Californians

Presented by

Dr. Melvin Kirschner

Sunday, May 13, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

Group or Social Identity

presented by
Gary Hundertmark

Gary Hundertmark will lead a discussion after his brief presentation of ideas found in readings of:

• Amartya Sen
• Arthur Versluis
• Eric Hoffer
• Amin Maalouf
• Karl Marx
• George Simmel
• Tertullian
• Theodor Adorno
• Todd Gitlin
• Karen Armstrong

and others.

The topic will be group or social identity.

Group identity can be positive in providing individuals with a sense of belonging, community and political solidarity and can be negative in
reinforcing prejudice between groups and providing exploited identities by authoritarian institutions and reinforcing divisiveness and social
instability.

They also can limit personal and intellectual growth in individuals and can increase intolerance between groups.
Multiple and single group identities of individuals will be explored in their positive and negative rolls. Also, depending on my mood that day, I
may have some words (perhaps angry) about atheist vs. humanist identity.

Incidentally, I've been told by people knowledgeable in the area of family and breeding that this is also Mother's Day. Let me say that all are welcome including moms, non-moms, wan-a-bee moms, never will be moms, their partners, offspring and their siblings and all ages and social identities.

Some quotes I've heard spoken to provoke some thinking about social identity.

"I don't subscribe to the idea that one shoe size fits all." -- Larry Taylor, Humanist, member of AHA

"I think we should get rid of Humanism." -- spoken by a young lady member of Atheists United of Los Angeles

Hope to see you there at 11 AM on May 13.

Peace,
Contact: Gary the Grouch: gary100dm@yahoo.com

Sunday, May 6, 2007, 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). Now back in the community room.

Bobbie Kirkhart presents
"Don't We all Disbelieve in the Same God?"

When those of us who do not believe in the gods are such a maligned minority, it is an enigma that we can't seem to unite in one group. This talk will discuss the reasons for this, the advantages and disadvantages of our diversity, and the major characteristics of some formal and informal groups. We will look at current cooperative efforts and explore the subtle differences between the terms we use, such as atheist, agnostic, bright, and humanist.

Bobbie Kirkhart is currently vice president of the Secular Coalition for America and has served as co-president of Atheists United, and as president of the Atheist Alliance International.

In addition to her regular President's Messages in The Rational Alternative and in Secular Nation, her work has been printed in Free Inquiry, American Atheist, La Raison and HUMAN magazines, as well as the Humanist Network News. She is a contributing author in three books: Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion; The Fundamentals of Extremism: the Christian Right in America; and in the soon-to-be-released Everything You Know About God Is Wrong (the Book).

Her television appearances include STUN, Food for Thought, OhDrama!, Faith Under Fire, and Midday Sunday.

She has been a guest on several radio programs, including NPR's All Things Considered, To the Point, the nationally syndicated America Live, BBC News, KCRW's Which Way LA? KRLA's The Spiritual Seeker, and The Walsh Report.

She has spoken to freethought groups throughout the United States, and has addressed atheists and humanists in Canada, Germany, France, India, Nigeria and Cameroon.

Sunday, April 8, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

What Shaped Your Life?

Presented by Anita Devore

Anita Devore invites us to tell about a person or event that had a significant positive or negative effect in shaping our life and making us into the person we are.

Anita Devoe

Phone: (818) 705-2301

Sunday, April 1, 2007, 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). Now back in the community room.

Join us for
"APRIL FAITH DAY"

ATHEISTS AND HUMANISTS HAIL THE SECOND COMING!

Please join us in the spirit of the day and bring an example of faith, myth, legend, or just some fib or taradiddle that somebody somewhere actually believed.

In my opinion, every human being should be respected. However, not every idea of every human being should be respected. I think that exposure of bad ideas is an important tool to promote better thinking. And we may have a few laughs.

Think Nicaean Creed, Book of Mormon, Scientology OT III, Heaven's Gate, the Virgin Birth, Second Coming, Buddha being born from his mother's armpit, etc ... What can you come up with?

This meeting will feature mainly audience participation, but the idea is from Larry A. Taylor, so blame him.

All announced HALA meetings are free and open to the public. The Humanist Association of Los Angeles is a chapter of the American Humanist Association. Our web site is hala.org.

Sunday, March 4, 2007, 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). Now back in the community room.

Organ and Tissue Donation

Presented by Jerry Guon

Receive answers to your questions about organ donation and transplantation.

Jerry Guon will hold an open discussion of issues relating to organ donation and transplantation. As expressions of interest are shown by the group, moral, ethical, economic, operational and other issues will be discussed.

Jerry is the recipient of liver transplants and speaks widely on this subject.

Sunday, March 11, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

Humanists and Humor, the Need for Laughter in Our Lives

With member Joy Sanz-Agero.

Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007, 11 am.

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). Now back in the community room.

Why There Really is No God

Presented by Edward Tabash

Edward Tabash, attorney and frequent speaker on the separation of church and state, will tell us, "Why There Really Is No God."

Tabash has represented the skeptical position in a number of public debates on the existence of gods. "Atheism is American as apple pie," he writes on his web site.

He says, "My father was an orthodox rabbi from Lithuania. My mother was in Auschwitz survivor from Hungary. After a lifetime of spiritual searching, I have concluded that the best evidence we have, to date, strongly points to a naturalistic universe in which there are no supernatural beings and no God or gods."

Tabash is currently the chair of the national legal committee of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. He is a
supporter of the Council for Secular Humanism, American Atheists, and the Internet Infidels of the secular web.

Tabash's web site is www.tabash.com.

Sunday, February 11, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

Kara Knack of the Griffith Observatory will speak about the new observatory and the cosmos on February 11.

Hope you can all attend. She got a good reception the last time she spoke at HALA about 9 years ago. It was the time of Hale-Bopp. She's an excellent speaker with a very pleasant personality. Arranged by Lois Lyons.

Sunday, January 14, 2007, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

Nurse-Family Partnership Program

Jeanne Smart, administrator for the LA county NFP program

I'll present information on the Nurse-Family Partnership program that I run within the County Department of Public Health.

We provide nurse home visits for first-time pregnant young mothers (average age is 17 years old) who are living in poverty within Los Angeles County.

I will discuss the evolution of this empirically researched national model, and detail what we expect ...and are getting... for outcomes. I discuss some of the personal stories of the mothers that are both heart-breaking and inspiring, and I'm sure to make some very unpolitical, cynical wisecracks aobut the trials and tribulations of running a proven intervention model in a process driven world of County government.

Sunday, January 7, 2007, 11:00 AM

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). Now back in the community room.

Violence and territoriality in popular culture in relation to Humanism
with special reference to the TV series "The Sopranos"

Discussion led by Beverly Emus.

"I want to discuss particularly territoriality as it applies to our personal, social and political lives, with examples from biology, psychology and history," says Beverly.

Beverly Emus has been a member and on the board of Ethical Culture, and a member of AU., She has studied psychology, has been a musician, and also a mother involved in transracial adoption.

Sunday, December 10, 2006, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208, 14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

Electricity Deregulation: One of the Biggest Frauds in California History

A power-grid dispatcher's point of view - Why it wouldn't lower electric rates the way the State Legislature set it up. (non-technical) Contact: Michael Brodie mhbrodie1948@att.net 1-818-635-2353

Sunday, December 3, 2006, 11:00 AM

Yahoo Center (formerly Colorado Center) , 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway). THIS TIME ONLY, OUTSIDE IN THE OPEN AIR, not in the community room.

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
by Daniel C. Dennett

Book discussion to be led by Larry A. Taylor (author will not be present!).

Daniel Dennett, the consistent philosophical materialist, here discusses the case for the scientific study of religion. The "spell" of the title refers not only to the enchantment of religion itself, in which most of humankind participates, but the "taboo" of some who do not think it should be studied, or that it is beyond scientific analysis.

With arguments and analysis geared specifically for the American audience, Dennett argues not only should religion be studied by scientific methods, it is vital for us to do so now in such dangerous times.

According to Dennett, religions are varieties of "memes", an analogy to biological genes, that constitute entities that can exist and evolve in human beings. Memes were brought to attention by Richard Dawkins, the biologist, in his book, The Selfish Gene. Some memes stick in human minds, and are reproduced when they are spread from person to person like a catchy tune.

Larry A. Taylor has a master's degree in history, and a doctorate in artificial intelligence.

Sunday, November 12, 2006, 11:00 AM

Prison Reform in California

with Geri Silva

Gary Ferguson is responsible for arranging this month's meeting.

Join Geri Silva, the Executive Director of “Families to Amend California's Three Strikes” (FACTS), and some of the Ethical/Humanist family in this discussion Sunday at the Mission Medical Center.

The problems within the California prison system have only recently become a matter of interest to the media. Most of us are not affected by these problems and, as a result of this public apathy, little has been done to address this problem while thousands languish in our State prisons. This problem is so serious as to result in a “take over” threat from the Federal government. The recent change in the department name—from California Department of Corrections (CDC) to he California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (CDRC)--certainly has almost no effect on the problem other than seeming to recognize that there is a problem.

Building new prisons will not even relieve the immediate problems of overcrowding let alone address the future projections. The new inmate transfer program—80 inmates were transferred to Tennessee this week—is not even a “drop in the bucket” and is one with questionable benefit to the inmate or the State with the additional potential of serious negative consequences.

Until society addresses the real reasons for this high rate of incarceration, such as the seemingly cavalier attitude toward family and personal responsibility, the increasing economic divide between the rich and poor, the racial in equities in nearly every aspect of the criminal justice system, the glorification of violence in the media, the lack of educational opportunities, the emphasis on our “material” culture, and other “root” problems we can see in our society today, we must ask, “What are the most immediate and effective steps we as Ethical/Humanists can take right now to address this problem so we will no longer leave that large section of society to languish in the warehouses we call prisons?”

The most obvious start is to review the sentencing practices which, under the current Three Strikes Law, incarcerates even those with non-serious, non-violent offenses for 25 years to LIFE . There are more than 4,500 victims of this law who, even though the politicians say the “slice of pizza” type sentencing no longer occurs, are suffering, along with their families, under these sentences. That this no longer occurs is patently untrue, but we, as a society accept that misstatement. It is the easiest way out of our social responsibility and many of us go on with our lives as these victims and their families of this immoral law continue to suffer out of our sight and minds.

Now that the elections are over and we can take a realistic look at the facts and ask, “ What can we do to begin real reform?”

Sunday, November 5, 11:00 am

"A Freethinker's Experience in Iran"

with Deidre Lashgari

A member of our group had lived in Iran for many years, and will give a Freethinker's impressions of life in an Islamic country. She
may bring slides to illustrate her talk.

This meeting is free and open to the public. HALA is the Humanist Association of Los Angeles, <hala.org>, a chapter of the American Humanist Association.

Yahoo (Colorado) Center Community Room, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway).

Sunday, October 8, 11:00 am

Environmental Justice
with Eugene Tseng, environmental engineer

Eugene Tseng is an Environmental Engineer and Attorney with 35 years of design, regulatory, and construction experience with MRFs, transfer stations, and Alternative Technology Facilities. He holds various process patents on new construction materials made from the recycled wastestream.

Eugene is a Law Professor with the University of West L.A. School of Law, and is the Director of the Center for Environmental Justice. Eugene is the Founder/Instructor of the UCLA Extension’s Recycling and MSW Management Program.

Dr. Tseng was a Charter Member of the U.S. EPA’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology Transfer, and assesses environmental technology for developing countries.

Dr. Tseng will present "Environmental Justice," with special attention to disposal of solid waste. I recently saw him speaking at a UCLA conference our department had arranged.

This meeting is free and open to the public. HALA is the Humanist Association of Los Angeles, <hala.org>, a chapter of the American Humanist Association.

Sunday, August 6, 11:00 am

Professor Eugen Weber
discusses

The World Will End Tomorrow, AGAIN
The History of End-of-the-Worldism

Apocalypses with Eugen Weber, UCLA prof. emeritus of History

Dr. Weber is the author of Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults and Millenial Beliefs Through the Ages, 1999. Other books he has authored concern modern and fin-de-siecle Europe, especially France; fascism and modernization.

He will talk about end-time movements throughout the ages, why they keep happening, and why he was interested in studying them in the first place. (The discussion will *not* focus closely on the book, but you can read up on the general subject if you want.)

Dr. Weber's UCLA homepage is <http://www.history.ucla.edu/weber/>. He is listed in the Wikipedia.

From the book's back cover:

"Apocalyptic visions and prophecies from Zarathrustra to yesterday form the luxuriant panorama in Eugen Weber's profound and elegant book. Beginning with the ancients of the West and the Orient and, especially, with those from whom we received our religion, the Jews and earliest Christians, Weber finds that an absolute belief in the end of time, when good would do final battle with evil, was omnipresent. From this more than two millenia of history, he redresses the historical and religious amnesia that has consigned the study of apocalypses and millennial thought to the ash heap of thought and belief."

Van NuysThird Sunday

 11AM

Sunday, August 20:

ECSLA EMERGENCY BOARD and Membership Meeting, 10 am.

The purpose of this meeting is to plan an orderly shut-down or conversion of the Ethical Culture Society of Los Angeles. The responsibility and relationship to the American Ethical Union and the disposition of the assets need to be addressed. The possibility of continuing as another entity can also be considered. This action is required since our current president and vice-president are unable to continue in those capacities. Our Newsletter publication has also been suspended since we have no editor to carry on this function (email meeting notices have continued). To date, no one has stepped forward to take on leadership responsibility. Unless someone can found to take on leadership the Society will not be able to continue in Los Angeles. An ECSLA Membership vote on the Board recommendations will be required and will take place before the end of the meeting..

Mission Medical Center Auditorium, 14850 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys.

Ethical Culture meetings will be on break until the fall. Meeting in June is on First Sunday.

 

Sunday, August 13, 2006, 10:00 AM

ECSLA/HALA Emergency Meeting

Because we have no one to organize the meetings and to recruit speakers or programs the combined meetings in the San Fernando Valley of the Humanist Association of Los Angeles and the Ethical Culture Society of Los Angeles are ending. We have called this emergency meeting in the hope of finding a way to continue the Second-Sunday SFW meeting. Everyone who is interested in keeping meetings in the SFV is requested to attend.

We are proposing that both members and guests volunteer to take on responsibility for one meeting per year. The room arrangements have been made. The meeting format is at the option of the volunteer and could be a discussion program on a particular subject, a book discussion, a speaker presentation by the volunteer or by a speaker engaged by the volunteer, or any other format that fits our normal one hour plus format. The planning year is for September 2006 through June 2007.

Sheldon C. Plotkin, Ph.D.
discusses

Nuclear Energy

I have asked Dr. Plotkin to tell us of the current state of nuclear power worldwide.

Years after the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters, nuclear reactors are still used worldwide, but stalled in the United States. I asked him how the French, for instance, are handling their disposal of nuclear wastes. He said that they are waiting for the United States to come up with a solution.

We will ask him if worries about global warming will promote the use of nuclear energy. Also, what is the state of renewable technology?

Sheldin C. Plotkin, Ph.D., consulting engineer, is familiar with long-time listeners of the Wizard Show of KPFK. .

Sunday, July 9, 2006, 11:00 am

Immigration: Problems and Promises

presented by

Nirmal Mishra

Nirmal Mishra will initiate the discussion on the century of immigration from Asia, using Ronald Takakis Strangers from a Different Shore, as a guide. Current issues of other immigrations from Mexico, Canada, and other places should be explored. All participants are requested to offer their views and suggestions.

Dr. Mishra, a long-time leader of the Humanist Association of Los Angeles, is a professor at Cal State Northridge.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Immigration: Problems and Promises

presented by

Nirmal Mishra

Nirmal Mishra will initiate the discussion on the century of immigration from Asia, using Ronald Takakis Strangers from a Different Shore, as a guide. Current issues of other immigrations from Mexico, Canada, and other places should be explored. All participants are requested to offer their views and suggestions.

Dr. Mishra, a long-time leader of the Humanist Association of Los Angeles, is a professor at Cal State Northridge.

contact: Nirmal Mishra
Phone: (818)349-5643
Mobile: (818)357-0679

 

Sunday, June 4, 2006, 11:00 AM

Mission Medical Office Building Auditorium, Room 208,
14860 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys. [1 mile east of I405]

Dr. Gerald Larue's Farewell Address.

Dr Larue has been the Leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Los Angeles for 25 years. Dr. Larue has indicated that this will be the last time that he will be able to address our meetings.

Gerald Larue is a Professor Emeritus of Religion at the University of Southern California’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and an Adjunct Professor of Gerontology at the University of Southern California’s Davis School of Gerontology. He has been awarded a Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award and the Leibovitz Award. Gerald A. Larue was honored as Humanist of the Year in 1989 for his work on the rights of the elderly and terminally ill, for his scholarship, and as a Humanist leader and writer.

Dr. Larue received a Th.D. from the Pacific School of Religion (1953), and served pastorates in Canada and the United States (1945-1953). He became professor of Biblical history and archeology at the University of California in 1958.

He was leader of Los Angeles chapters of the AHA and Ethical Culture Society; a director of the AHA; president of the National Hemlock Society; and chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion.

He has authored more than ten books, including Ancient Myths and Modern Life (1988), and The Way of Ethical Humanism (1989). "Humanists are the most positive of humans. They relish their freedom to analyze, to inquire, to evaluate, and to seek conclusions that are not bound by notions generated thousands of years ago, but which may draw from the ancient past the highest and noblest and most exciting dimensions for life and living" (Larue, The Way of Positive Humanism (1989).

Sunday, May 7, 2006 at 11 am in Santa Monica

Colorado Center Community Room, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway).

Dave Hernandez

will discuss John Steinbeck's last novel,

The Winter of Our Discontent

Dave Hernandez asks,
"For instance, does it have a climax? On the surface it seems to be a fatally flawed work with an almost amateurish shift in point of view, which
occurs mid-sentence, mid-paragraph in the middle of a chapter."

"On reflection, although not a psycho-analyst by profession, I am convinced this comes from a deep seated and subconscious revulsion by the author to his subject.

"Steinbeck is generally regarded as a second rate American author, a native son of California, who generally gave an upbeat, if not downright flippant, view of American culture. But he did have a darker side. My conviction is that no one has really understood or come to grips with the message in his last work. Especially in these current times, he may come to be viewed as as great a prophet of American psyche as Graham Greene in his novel, The Quiet American.

"If permitted I will tie this review in with Steinbeck's second to last work, a non-fiction travelogue he made of America with his black labrador,
Charlie, during the height of the civil rights movement."

Mr. Hernandez reports a BA in English from Loyola Marymount Univ., L.A.; in progress an MA in Linguistics from UCLA Grad. School of Social Sciences; an Advanced Level Certificate of Education on Economics from the University of Cambridge, England; and a certificate in Management Systems & Procedures from UCLA Grad School of Business Administration. He has taught extensively in Belize and worked for the government of Belize. He is currently Field Services Representative in the Operations Dept. of So.Cal.Regional Rail Authority, Metrolink.

Sunday, April 2, 2006 at 11 am in Santa Monica

Larry A. Taylor

leads discussion on the book:

Doubt: A History, by Prof. Jennifer Michael Hecht

The full title of the book is "Doubt: A History : The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson."

A published poet as well as a professor of history, Jennifer Michael Hecht brings wit and personality to the history of Doubt. She explains that examining doubt is an exercise in exploring the spaces before and after the certainties of the great civilizations.

Doubt is an essential part of intellectual progress. The great faiths of the world deal with doubt: skepticism in the west preceeded Christianity, and the Christian insistence on belief started with the presumption that it would be doubted.

Hecht makes a grand march through doubt in history, going from Greece to China to India and back again. She carefully elucidates the history of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. There were great doubters in the Jewish and Muslim traditions. Hecht pauses to tell us personally about persons and events that she finds meaningful and interesting.

HALA is the Humanist Association of Los Angeles. This meeting is free and open to the public.

Sunday, March 5, 2006 at 11 am in Santa Monica

John Perkins, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man."

Perkins spent the 1970s working as an economic planner for an international consulting firm, helping wealthy corporations exploit developing nations.

Countries are encouraged to borrow funds for development. When they get in trouble, the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship.

Perkins writes that the whole process is a clever way for the U.S. to expand its 'empire' at the expense of Third World citizens.

(Summary of book taken from two Amazon.com reviews.)

Sunday, March 19, 1005, 11:00 AM

Presentation by Dr. Mel Kirschner :

Medicare Part D Drug Coverage

Dr. Kirschner, a member of the Ethical Society, will give us a summary of the Drug Supplement issue.He will also entertain us with some of his political cartoons

Ms. Lee Baker

"Community Involvement: Los Angeles Unified School District"

A Forum Discussion on this topic will be led by Ms. Lee Baker. Lee is a distinguished member with active involvement among atheists, humanists, and ethical unionists for several years. She has made contributions in literacy projects and community involvement in school level education. With the interests of the Mayor of Los Angeles in the Unified School District she wishes to explore our inputs on matters of school education.

Lee Baker is leading the Literacy Mentoring project of ECSLA in cooperation with Mission Community Hospital. Persons interested in participating in this program should contact Lee at (818) 763-8567 or by email at lee.baker@adelphia.net</p>

contact: Nirmal Mishra
Phone: (818)349-5643
Mobile: (818)357-0679

Sunday, December 11, 2005, 11:00 am

Warren Felt

Impending Peak Oil and its Potential Impact on Freethought

Warren has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, with over 40 years in  Aerospace Electronics and is currently retired. He has been involved  with the topic of Peak Oil and considers it as the world's most pressing  problem. He has been a member of the American Humanist Association since  1973 and has philosophical leanings toward atheism.

contact: Nirmal Mishra
Phone: (818)349-5643
Mobile: (818)357-0679

Sunday, December 4, at 11 am in Santa Monica

Colorado Center Community Room, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway).

Speaker Sameer Wahaj, presents:
"My journey out of Islam."

Born and raised in the US, Sameer Wahaj grew up in a strict Muslim household.  He will be talking about his journey from being a strong believer in Islam to eventually a non-religious humanist. He describes several key events in his life, including 9-11, that shaped his change of perspective.

"Islam has a strong grip on its followers. To break free from that required me to find exact reasons for why eventually I had to let go. I spent a lot of time studying Islam on my own in order to understand the inconsistencies  in the beliefs and hypocrisy among many believers because I could no longer blindly believe what was passed down to me. I will go through these elements and explain step by step how I broke free the the strong grip of  Islam based on the facts that I found."

Wahaj will discuss modern American Muslims and how they are almost becoming a different sect, following the footsteps of American Christians. American Muslims are about 80 years behind in the trail. In  the end, people become Americans and Islam adapts to America. But people  still hold onto the core religious beliefs, which create the oxymoron,  "American Muslim."

Sameer Wahaj is a pseudonym.

Sunday November 20, 1005, 11:00 AM

 "Questions People Should Ask About Organ Donation".

 presentation by Jerry Guon, liver transplant recipient.

 Jerry says that his goals in speaking are four fold:

1. to provide education on the policies and practices relating to organ donation and transplantation;

2. to provide a forum for the discussion of organ donation and transplantation;

3. to encourage people to make a choice as to whether or not they wish to be an organ donor; and, perhaps most importantly,

4.  to encourage people to inform their family of their choice, regardless of whether they decide to be a donor or not to be a donor.

 A question and answer format and will focus on deceased organ donation. However some discussion may occur relating to live donors.

The shortage of organs being donated is acute – for each person receiving a transplant, three will die for lack of an organ. Encouraging people to become organ donors is therefore vital. This presentation should lead to a discussion of key issues such as:

• The current organ transplantation policy is blind to wealth, social status, intellect, achievement or anything else except who is in the greatest need for the organ. Is there a better alternative?

• The current organ transplantation policy is blind to how the need for the transplant occurred but is based on who has the greatest need for the organ. Is there a better alternative?

• Why are not people allowed to buy and sell organs?

• Why can not people advertise for an organ donor?

Humanist Association of Los Angeles

Sunday, October. 2, at 11 am in Santa Monica

Peter Kirby, Internet Infidel, presents,
"The Empty Tomb."

Kirby's essays appear on the internet, and in the book, _The Empty Tomb:  Jesus beyond the Grave_, edited by Robert Price and Jeff Lowder.

Did Jesus rise from the dead? Although 19th- and early 20th-century biblical scholarship dismissed the resurrection narratives as late, legendary accounts, Christian apologists in the late 20th century revived historical apologetics for the resurrection of Jesus with increasingly sophisticated arguments. A few critics have directly addressed some of the new arguments, but their response has been largely muted. The Empty Tomb scrutinizes the claims of leading Christian apologists and critiques their view of the resurrection as the best historical explanation.

What did the authors of the New Testament mean when they said Jesus rose from the dead? What historical evidence is needed to establish the resurrection? If there is a God, why would He resurrect Jesus? Was there an empty tomb? What should we make of the appearance stories? Apart from historical evidence, is belief in the resurrection justified?

(Above two paragraphs from the book description on Amazon.com)

Peter Kirby is the moderator of the "Xianity" email list for discussing the truth or falsity of Christianity, and the webmaster of < http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ >. The web site contains texts of sometimes forgotten early Christian writings, plus links to scholarly discussions. He also writes a blog on Christian Orgins at  < http://www.christianorigins.com/ >

Colorado Center Community Room, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway).

This meeting is free and open to the public. We are a chapter of the American Humanist Association, and we cooperate with the Ethical Culture Society of Los Angeles. HALA is the Humanist Association of Los Angeles (hala.org).

Contact:
Larry A. Taylor
1850 S. Colby Ave. Apt. 8
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Home phone (310) 479-2236
email

Our meeting place:

Colorado Center Community Room,

2500 Broadway, Santa Monica

Contact:

Larry A. Taylor

310 479-2236

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Public Education: What's Wrong, and How We Can Fix It.

Presentation by Lee Baker

Ms Baker, a longtime member of our group, is an Educator/Activist.

For more information call (818) 784-9107 or E-mail: info@ethicalsocietyla.org

Sunday, September 4, 11:00 am, in Santa Monica

The California Clean Money Campaign

with Eric Tang

The California Clean Money Campaign is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to build statewide support for full public funding of election Campaigns, a system commonly known as Clean Money. Already working Arizona and Maine, Clean Money would help create an open and accountable government that is responsive to the needs of all Californians. (www.caclean.org)

This meeting is free and open to the public. We are a chapter of the American Humanist Association, and we cooperate with the Ethical Culture Society of Los Angeles. HALA is the Humanist Association of Los Angeles (hala.org).

August 14, 2005, 11:00 am

Ronald Schaffer will provide a platform presentation of

The Morality of Bombing Civilians in World War II:

What led Some Americans Responsible for Air Attacks to Think About This Issue and Others to Ignore it?

Dr. Ronald Schaffer is Professor Emeritus of History, California State University Northridge. His expertise are in the History of United States, specially its military history, and has contributed extensively as author of

• "Wings of Judgment: American Bombing in World War II"

• "America in Great War: The Rise of the War Welfare State," (both at Oxford Press) and
• "American Military Ethics in World War II: The Bombing of German Civilians" (Journal of American History).

contact: Nirmal Mishra
Phone: (818)349-5643
Mobile: (818)357-0679

Sunday, August 7, 11:00 am

Larry A. Taylor discusses Jared Diamond's book: "Collapse?"

Colorado Center Community Room, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica (near corner of 26th Avenue and Broadway).

UCLA professor Jared Diamond has written a bestseller looking at how societies have grown, then collapsed, from Easter Island to the Maya to Greenland, to modern Australia and Montana. Other  societies have made choices that prevented collapse.  

What factors will influence our future? All nations on earth are now connected in one trading system and one ecosystem. What choices will we have to make to insure our future on Earth?

Larry A. Taylor has a master's degree in History.