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How to Join the READing Liberally E-mail List
Simply e-mail "ReadingLiberallyEmailList@johnkarls.com" with the subject "EmailListAddition" and the mail box you used will be added.

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August 13th Meeting - Possible Topics
Click here to view possible topics for the August 13th meeting (participants at the July 9th meeting will vote on the topic for August 13th). If you would like to suggest a topic, it is requested as a courtesy that your suggestion be posted here beforehand so that others will have time to give it proper consideration.

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Last post by solutions
on Sat Jul 05, 2008 3:47 pm
Logistics - Next Meeting - WEDNESday July 9th
Our next meeting will be WEDNESday, July 9th, 6:30 pm > whenever (formal discussion = 7:00 pm > 8:30 pm) at the Salt Lake Public Library - 210 East 400 South - Conference Room C (special elevator just inside east entrance).

Our topic for WEDNESday July 9 is "Everything About Oil" including soaring prices, plummeting foreign-exchange rates, devastated family budgets, implications for global warming, political dependence on the Middle East, etc., etc.

Our book is "American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century" by Kevin Phillips available from your local library or from Amazon.com for their special hardcover-closeout price of $5.99 + shipping.

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Comments of Participants - Everything About Oil - July 9th

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Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:55 am
Reference Materials - Everything About Oil - July 9th
Including NY Times Book Review of "American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century" by Kevin Phillips

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Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:07 pm
Tim Russert Eulogies
This is a eulogy contained in our weekly e-mail sent Saturday June 14th between 6:17 am and 7:25 am MDT and the responses from some of our e-mail recipients. Please feel free to add yours.

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Last post by johnkarls
on Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:48 am
July Meeting - Possible Topics (historical)

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Last post by Pat
on Mon May 05, 2008 7:03 pm
Suggested Discussion Outline - "Infidel" - June 11

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Last post by johnkarls
on Thu Jun 26, 2008 5:01 pm
“Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali – for June 11
Ayaan Hirsi Ali came to the attention of the wider world in an extraordinary way. In 2004 a Muslim fanatic, after shooting the filmmaker Theo van Gogh dead on an Amsterdam street, pinned a letter to Mr. van Gogh’s chest with a knife. Addressed to Ms. Hirsi Ali, the letter called for holy war against the West and, more specifically, for her death. A Somali by birth and a recently elected member of the Dutch Parliament, Ms. Hirsi Ali had waged a personal crusade to improve the lot of Muslim women. Her warnings about the dangers posed to the Netherlands by unassimilated Muslims made her Public Enemy No. 1 for Muslim extremists, a feminist counterpart to Salman Rushdie. The circuitous, violence-filled path that led Ms. Hirsi Ali from Somalia to the Netherlands is the subject of “Infidel,” her brave, inspiring and beautifully written memoir. Narrated in clear, vigorous prose, it traces the author’s geographical journey from Mogadishu to Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and her desperate flight to the Netherlands to escape an arranged marriage. At the same time, Ms. Hirsi Ali describes a journey “from the world of faith to the world of reason,” a long, often bitter struggle to come to terms with her religion and the clan-based traditional society that defined her world and that of millions of Muslims all over the world

Available from your local public library or from Amazon.com IN PAPERBACK for $10.20 + shipping

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Comments of Participants - "Infidel" - June 11th
“Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is available from your local public library or from Amazon.com IN PAPERBACK for $10.20 + shipping

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Last post by SamGhosh
on Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:57 am
Reference Materials - "Infidel" - June 11th
“Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is available from your local public library or from Amazon.com IN PAPERBACK for $10.20 + shipping

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Last post by lesurry
on Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:04 am
Suggested Discussion Outline - Bush's Law - May 14

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Last post by johnkarls
on Sat May 10, 2008 1:45 pm
Eric Lichtblau's “Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice” – May 14
Eric Lichtblau, NY Times reporter, won the Pulitzer Prize for his articles disclosing the Bush Administration's secret surveillance program. His new book "off press" 4/1/2008 focuses on the secret-surveillance program but also addresses the famous 2003 Justice Department legal memorandum (1) which gave the legal rationalia for "aggressive interrogation" techniques, (2) which was withdrawn 9 months after its issuance, and (3) which was recently made public as the result of an ACLU "Freedom of Information Act" lawsuit.

JOIN US AS WE COMPARE THE GENESIS OF THE NEXT WAR IN IRAN. IN THIS REGARD, PLEASE SEE QUESTIONS 1 & 2 OF "THE SHORT QUIZ" IN THE "PARTICIPANT COMMENTS" SECTION BELOW AND "BARACK AND HILLARY - STARTING THE NEXT WAR WITH IRAN BEFORE EVEN FINISHING THE LAST WAR IN IRAQ " (ALSO IN "PARTICIPANT COMMENTS")

Suggested by "solutions" on 4/3/2008

"Bush's War" is available from your local library or from Amazon.com for $17.79 + shipping or by e-mailing "readingliberallyemaillist@johnkarls.com" with the subject = "book loan requested."

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Participant Comments - "Bush's Law" - May 14
Eric Lichtblau's "Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice" available from your local library or from Amazon.com for $17.79 + shipping OR by e-mailing "readingliberallyemaillist@johnkarls.com" with the subject = "book loan requested"

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Last post by johnkarls
on Thu May 01, 2008 5:36 pm
Reference Materials - "Bush's Law" - May 14
Eric Lichtblau's "Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice" available from your local library or from Amazon.com for $17.79 + shipping OR by e-mailing "readingliberallyemaillist@johnkarls.com" with the subject = "book loan requested"

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Last post by johnkarls
on Fri May 09, 2008 6:39 am
Suggested Discussion Outline - Apr 9th

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Last post by johnkarls
on Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:33 am
Clone Rights: Involuntary Soldiers, Sex Slaves, Human "Lab Rats" Etc. - Apr 9
How would you like to be an involuntary soldier, sex slave, human "lab rat" etc. WITH NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS JUST BECAUSE (1) the stem cells from which you were created came from skin cells rather than an embryo, or (2) your DNA is only 99% of the way from chimp DNA to human DNA (or any of the chimp-human DNA combinations the Yale U Biology Dept has created and is creating)??? Re (2), how do legal classifications based on % of human DNA differ from legal classifications in the Old South based on % of African-American blood, or legal classifications in Hitler's Third Reich based on % of Jewish blood???

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Last post by johnkarls
on Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:51 pm
Participant Comments/Ref Mats - Clone Rights for Apr 9

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Last post by johnkarls
on Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:39 am
Suggested Discussion Outline - Mar 13

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Last post by johnkarls
on Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:03 pm
Benazir Bhutto's "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West" - for Mar. 13
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Dec. 27 while campaigning for Prime Minister of Pakistan. She had served twice as Pakistan’s Prime Minister (1988-90 and 1993-96, being deposed both times by the military). She was the first female to head the government of any Islamic Country. Her father, Ali Bhutto, also served as Prime Minister – he was executed in 1979 by the military government that deposed him. Benazir Bhutto received her B.A. in Comparative Government from Harvard, where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She then studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics (“PP&E”) at Oxford – the typical educational background of most British Prime Ministers (except Churchill who attended Sandhurst - Britain's West Point). While there, she was elected President of the Oxford Union – the first Asian woman to head Oxford’s most prestigious debating society. DISCOVER WHY BEING THE ONLY ISLAMIC NUCLEAR POWER (AND BEING THE SOURCE OF IRANIAN AND NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY) AND BEING HOME TO AL QAIDA AND THE TALIBAN MAKE PAKISTAN'S FEBRUARY 18TH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION AMERICA'S MOST CRUCIAL 2008 ELECTION!!!

"Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West" (Harper Collins 2008) is available at your local library or from Amazon.com for $17.54 + shipping.

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Last post by johnkarls
on Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:30 pm
Critiques of Benezir Bhutto’s “Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West” - Mar 13th
My critiques in six major areas to “Reconciliation” are collected here. Most of them draw, despite dispensing with footnotes for the sake of brevity and simplicity, on having read 12-15 biographies and historical tomes annually for 33 years of marriage (and the 7 years since) to the co-author of the country’s best-selling H.S. world history text (McGraw-Hill with National Geographic maps/illustrations – now in its 6th edition and counting). Despite these critiques, it is impossible to express how utterly impressed I am with the incredible knowledge and understanding possessed by Benazir Bhutto, how completely devoted she was to the welfare of the Islamic world in general and her country in particular, and how incredibly brave she was in fatally confronting a military that had already assassinated her father and two brothers.

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Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:13 am
Comments of Participants - Mar. 13
Benazir Bhutto's "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West" (Harper Collins 2008) is available at your local library or from Amazon.com for $17.54 + shipping.

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Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:16 pm
Background Materials - Mar. 13
Benazir Bhutto's "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West" (Harper Collins 2008) is available at your local library or from Amazon.com for $17.54 + shipping.

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Last post by johnkarls
on Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:20 pm
DRINKing Liberally Presentation - Fri Eve Feb 29
The 2009-2010 “Old Congress” and Why “Change” Will Never Happen (Again)

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Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:00 pm
Suggested Discussion Outline - Feb 14th

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Last post by johnkarls
on Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:30 pm
"The Best Gov Money Can Buy: Bribery and Extortion" - Text of Original Proposal for Feb 14
Or why Barack Obama doesn't have any greater chance to bring real "change" than William J. Clinton when he ran as "The Candidate of Change" in 1992 promising the same things now on offer from Barack Obama (such as health care, though now not nearly so universal as attempted by the Clintons in the 1990's).

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Last post by johnkarls
on Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:44 am
Proposed Solution to The Cesspool that is Washington DC - for Feb 14

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Last post by johnkarls
on Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:05 am
Illegal “Bribe” vs. “Legal” Campaign Contribution - Feb 14th
Alternate Title = The Crime of Telling the Truth!!!

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Last post by johnkarls
on Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:26 pm
Participant Comments - The Best Gov Money Can Buy: Bribery & Extortion - Feb 14th
Focus for discussion = Robert Kuttner's "The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity" (Alfred A. Knopf 2007) - available at your local library or from Amazon.com for $17.79 ($14.89 used) + shipping

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Last post by johnkarls
on Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:03 pm
Background Mats - The Best Gov Money Can Buy: Bribery & Extortion - Feb 14th
Focus for discussion = Robert Kuttner's "The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity" (Alfred A. Knopf 2007) - available at your local library or from Amazon.com for $17.79 ($14.89 used) + shipping

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Last post by solutions
on Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:50 pm
Suggested Discussion Outline - Jan 10th

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Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:58 am
Illegal Immigration = Topic for Jan 10th
Click here for BillV's provocative issues!!!

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Last post by BillV
on Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:59 am
Participant Comments on Immigration - Jan 10th

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Last post by BillV
on Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:05 pm
Reference Materials - Immigration - Jan 10

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Last post by johnkarls
on Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:18 am
Leading Rep Candidates on Immigration - Jan 10
A wise person always considers what the opposition is saying - Giuliani/Huckabee/McCain/Romney/Thompson (top 5 in polling order as of Dec 16) positions per their official web sites. NB: (1) IMMIGRATION WAS THE FIRST ISSUE ON HUCKABEE'S WEB SITE!!! (2) GIULIANI'S WEB SITE DOES NOT EVEN LIST IMMIGRATION OR BORDERS AS ONE OF HIS 12 ISSUES!!!

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Last post by johnkarls
on Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:55 pm
Leading Dem Candidates on Immigration - Jan 10
Clinton/Obama/Edwards/Biden (top 4 in polling order as of Dec 16) positions per their official web sites. If your favorite candidate is not one of these four and you believe his position should be considered, please feel free to post it here. NB: NEITHER EDWARDS' NOR BIDEN'S WEB SITES LIST IMMIGRATION OR BORDERS AMONG THEIR ISSUES!!!

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Last post by johnkarls
on Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:10 pm
Suggested Discussion Outline - Dec 13th

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Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:17 am
Call to Action - Meeting Report for Dec 13th
This posting comprises our first weekly e-mail following our December 13th meeting – our e-mail list has 108 members.

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Last post by johnkarls
on Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:55 pm
Is War With Iran Inevitable??? - Topic for Dec 13
Including Hillary Clinton's Repeated Bashing of the Bush Administration for "Being Soft on Iran" + Israel's Bombing Syria 9/6/2007 and Israel's Iranian Plans. These three postings include (1) Pat's original proposal of this topic, (2) the careful analysis on 9/18/2007 by the former Editor of the Jerusalem Post of what happened when Israel bombed Syria on 9/6/2007 (a subject about which nobody in the U.S. or abroad was saying anything, and about which very little continues to be said) and (3) the "Face the Nation" transcript for 10/28/2007 of Sen. Armed Services Chair Carl Levin (D-MI) and Minority Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for which Moderator Bob Schieffer said in his introduction: "The foreign-affairs focus of the major Presidential candidates, both Democrat and Republican, seems to have swung from Iraq to Iran. On the Republican side, Guiliani, Romney, et. al., seem to be competing to provide the most emphatic sound bite that they will stop at nothing to insure that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. While Hillary is acting as if she already has the nomination and is already waging a general-election campaign in which she appears to be just as belligerent/militant toward Iran."

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Last post by Pat
on Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:14 pm
Hillary's Bashing Bush as "Soft on Iran" - for Dec 13
Hillary's 1/18/2007 Princeton Speech + 4/24/2007 Speech to the National Jewish Democratic Council + Hilary as the lone Democratic Presidential Candidate to vote for the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment on 9/26/2007

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Last post by johnkarls
on Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:20 pm
Action v. Deterrance (+ Detente) - for Dec 13
Summary of basic considerations for action v. deterrance vis-a-vis Iran's nuclear program (including the Islamic belief that Islamic martyrs by-pass The Judgment Day coupled with Osama bin Ladin's Fatwa to Nuke 10 million Americans (please see below for reference materials re the Fatwa)) + Foreign Affairs article on nuclear detente with Iran

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Last post by johnkarls
on Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:40 pm
Bombing Syria 9/6/2007 Re Iran & N Korea - for Dec 13
Please see above “Is War With Iran Inevitable??? – Topic for Dec 13” for the 9/18/2007 analysis of Israel’s 9/6/2007 bombing of Syria and its connection to North Korea by the former Editor of the Jerusalem Post. The postings collected here comprise (1) the 11/11/2007 analysis by the NY Times of the Pakistani nuclear weapons with reference to the current Pakistani crisis, (2) the 9/25/2007 initial reaction of John Bolton to Israel’s 9/6/2007 bombing of Syria, and (3) the 10/31/2007 analysis of John Bolton THAT ISRAEL HAD BOMBED AN EXACT REPLICA OF NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR FACILITY BUILT IN SYRIA BY THE NORTH KOREANS TO CIRCUMVENT THE SIX-NATION TALKS REGARDING NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT. (John Bolton was U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control (2001-2005) and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2005-20006))

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Last post by johnkarls
on Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:06 pm
Participant Comments Re War With Iran - for Dec 13
The first posting is by "solutions" and comprises the book review by the Wall Street Journal (probably Israel's strongest supporter in the American media) of "Failure Is Not An Option" by John Bolton (U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control (2001-2005) and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2005-20006)). The fourth posting is the "Face the Nation" transcript for Nov. 25 re Condi Rice's Mideast Peace Conference involving 50 nations at Camp David and the inter-relationship between the conference and War on Iran/Iraq/Terror.

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Last post by achamberlin
on Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:09 pm
Ref Mats - Osama's Fatwa To Nuke 10 Million Americans - Dec 13
"Action vs. Deterrence (+ Detente)" reference materials regarding the third reason for action vis-à-vis Iran (the Islamic belief that Islamic martyrs by-pass The Judgment Day coupled with Osama bin Ladin's Fatwa to nuke 10 million Americans) = (A) 9/5/2004 NY Times Book Review of “Nuclear Terrorism” by Graham Allison, the Founding Dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, on Osama’s Fatwa (at that time to nuke only 4 million Americans); (B) 5/29/2005 “Meet the Press” transcript of then Sen Fgn Rel Ch Richard Lugar, his Democratic predecessor Sam Nunn and Messrs. Kean/Hamilton (9/11 Ch & Co-Ch) on Osama’s Fatwa (by then to nuke 10 million Americans); (C) 6/4/2007 proposal of current Sen Fgn Rel Ch & Presidential Candidate Joe Biden to threaten nuclear annihilation against any country whose fissile materials are used by a terrorist in a nuclear attack on the U.S.; and (D) 6/12/2007 proposal of Stanford Prof. William Perry (Clinton’s Sec/Defense) and Harvard Prof. Ashton Carter (Clinton’s Ass’t Sec/Defense for Intl Security Policy) to enact a federal law that the U.S. military (vs. state & local “first responders”) will be responsible for coping with the aftermath of nuclear terrorism and, in passing, blast Biden’s nuclear-annihilation proposal. NB: (1) Dean Allison believes nuclear terrorism is preventable by keeping track of fissile materials while Nunn/Lugar/Kean/Hamilton believe Allison’s approach is “locking the barn after the horse is out” and examine ways to DELAY TEMPORARILY nuclear attacks on the U.S.; (2) Biden’s nuclear-annihilation threat appears to be based on Allison’s “lock the barn” approach.

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Last post by johnkarls
on Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:50 pm
Suggested Discussion Outline - Nov 8th

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1 Posts

Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:06 am
The Controversy That Is Bill Cosby for Nov 8th

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Last post by johnkarls
on Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:57 am
The KKK - "All The Best People In Society Belonged" - for Nov. 8th
This item is a synopsis of a book copyrighted by the Univ. of California Regents documenting the pervasive influence of the Ku Klux Klan IN THE UPPER MIDWEST. Aaron Stander's addition calls attention to the pervasive influence of the KKK in New England.

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2 Posts

Last post by AaronStander
on Sat Nov 24, 2007 2:43 pm
Participant Comments - School Integration & The Jena Six - for Nov 8th

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Last post by johnkarls
on Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:34 am
Background Mats - School Integration & The Jena Six - for Nov 8th

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3 Posts

Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:47 pm
Suggested Discussion Outline - Oct 11th

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1 Posts

Last post by johnkarls
on Fri Nov 16, 2007 2:40 pm
Participant Comments Re Global Warming for Oct 11th
Focus for Discussion = “Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future” by Jeff Goodell © 2006 (available from your local library or in paperback from Amazon.com for $10.17 new/$8.88 used + shipping).

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Last post by johnkarls
on Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:08 pm
Suggested Background Materials Re Global Warming for Oct 11th
Focus for Discussion = “Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future” by Jeff Goodell © 2006 (available from your local library or in paperback from Amazon.com for $10.17 new/$8.88 used + shipping).

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Last post by solutions
on Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:23 pm
October Meeting - Possible Topics (historical)

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Suggested Discussion Outline - Sep 6th

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1 Posts

Last post by johnkarls
on Fri Nov 16, 2007 2:55 pm
Participant Comments on "Assault on Reason" for Sep 6th

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5 Posts

Last post by johnkarls
on Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:48 pm
Suggested Background Materials re "Assault on Reason" for Sep 6th

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Last post by Sabotage Restorer
on Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:32 am
Suggested Discussion Outline - Aug 2d

1 Topics

1 Posts

Last post by johnkarls
on Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:04 pm
Comments of Participants - Universal Health Care for Aug 2nd

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4 Posts

Last post by Sabotage Restorer
on Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:11 pm
Suggested Background Materials on Universal Health Care for Aug. 2d

14 Topics

28 Posts

Last post by Sabotage Restorer
on Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:28 am

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