Category: Forums

Category for all Forum posts.

ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) – Buying Our State Legislative System on Behalf of Corporate Interests

Elsa Schafer

March 29, 2015

ALEC was initially founded in the 1970’s as a secret entity based in Washington, D.C. with legislators and corporate members who wrote legislative bills on behalf of corporate interests in exchange for election campaign funding. Over 2,000 companies have joined, writing legislation to:­ privatize public schools and prisons, ­ weaken voting rights, ­ eviscerate clean air, clean water and other environmental laws, ­ cripple public worker unions and endanger public safety.­In 2011, Common Cause helped shine a spotlight on ALEC and its activities, and Common Cause and a coalition of organizations have pressured companies to drop their memberships in ALEC. Elsa Schafer is a progressive activist (Democracy for America and Common Cause) who has long fought for publicly funded elections, while maintaining her day job working on healthcare reform.

Humanist Community Forum (2015-03-29): ALEC–Buying Our State Legislative System on Behalf of Corporate Interests (Elsa Schafer from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

 

Evolution, Adaptation and Bird Behavior – a Video Presentation

March 22, 2015

The basic evolutionary principle is elegant and even simple, but its application in human evolution is controversial to say the least. However, viewing bird behavior in video sequences allows us to more objectively analyze evolution and adaptation in a fellow creature, and then to hypothesize its applicability to human evolutionary drivers. Barry Boulton combines a passion for bird behavior and practical evolution using high definition video as the primary medium.

 
 

Humanist Community Forum (2015-03-22): Evolution, Adaptation and Bird Behavior – a Video Presentation (Barry Boulton) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

 

Psychology and Political Framing

Tom Bergstrom

March 15, 2015

Humanist Community member and Board member Tom Bergstrom will present an overview of how conservatives and liberals think. This information is based on Professor George Lakoff’s writings (e.g., The Political Mind) and videos. Learning how people frame their beliefs helps others learn how to speak to and work with those different world views. Political framing unfortunately can allow selfish political groups to train voters to vote against their best interests. Thus, the goal of this Forum is to help liberals work with conservatives, and to learn how to successfully frame liberal views.

 
 

Humanist Community Forum (2015-03-15): Psychology and Political Framing (Tom Bergstrom) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

 

International Women’s Day

Facilitated by Lois Salo

March 8, 2015

A number of different presentations will be made to celebrate International Women’s Day, beginning with a description of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Dr. Cherrill Spencer, a retired SLAC engineer, will discuss an international conference she attended to advance women working in physics. Aparna Ananthasubramaniam will discuss her work with a women’s shelter in Palo Alto and her current work helping poor women to obtain credit. The Vice President of SEIU Local 250 will talk about organizing health care workers in San Mateo County to gain a living wage.

 
 

Humanist Community Forum (2015-03-08): International Women's Day from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.