Critical Thinking Club

Critical Thinking Club, St. Paul Location: Kelly Inn, Rice Street and I-94 Date: March 14, 2010 Time: 10:00 a.m. to Noon Presenter: Nathan Curland Topic: Humanism and Libertarianism: Are They Compatible?

Breakfast Buffet $10.00 Coffee only $3.00. We need to plan for the room setup and meal, so if you are going to attend, please RSVP to criticalthinkingclub@gmail.com.

Nathan Curland is currently the Vice President of Humanists of Minnesota and editor of its newsletter “Humanists News and Views”. He is a 27 year resident of Minnesota but prior to that lived in Massachusetts where he was a member and, for a couple of years, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts. (He even ran for state rep as a libertarian!) Nathan has always wondered why there aren’t more humanist libertarians and here attempts to explore this conundrum. (Can we apply critical thinking? Let’s see!)

In the ‘real’ world, Nathan is a Principal Engineer for (to the dismay of his libertarian side) a large technology corporation and holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a MS/BS EE from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

April Bob Schmitz, Military/Industrial/Congressional Complex

May Craig Mullenbach, critical reflections on Marketing

June Jerry Larson, pseudoscience

July Jeff Simon, clinical depression

Sepember Cynthia and Milo Schield present a film from the Creation Museum

The text of George Kane’s February presentation on “The Fallacy Fallacy.”

Stillwater Critical Thinking Club

Location: Family Means Bldg,1875 Northwestern Ave., Stillwater

Date: Monday, March 8

Time: 7:00pm

Topic: American Empire and Imperialism

The presentation will explore the military - industrial - congressional complex and its impact onn our Republic. How close are we to the last days of the American Republic? Bob will explore the question of “has our military empire brought us nearer to that end of our democracy?”

Janet will tackle the methods of deployment of the Economic and Power Elite. How does the messaging of Empire conspire Americans to look at each other as the enemy? Are the sophisticated messaging systems in need of dismantling or do we travel down this road hoping beyond hope that what is transpiring is only a dream?

Both Bob and Janet will explore, "How do we change the message?" How do we ensure that America remains a great country and does not fall into 3rd world status or worse yet, an oligarchy? Can we change the direction of the discussion away from Empire?

Presenters: Bob Schmitz has a long-standing interest in the subject which has led him to research and explore the above questions. As a citizen he is deeply concerned about the future of our country and wonders what it will look like for our children and grand-children, if we do not address the results of empire.

Janet O'Connell, a self-professed news junkie, was an history major in college, went on to the Insurance Industry for 25 years, had a short stint as a local journalist and is now quite simply, a concerned American. As a mother of young adults and teenagers, she is very concerned that the America that was, will not be the America that is, for our young.

Tea Party members welcome!

Critical Thinking Club, West Metro

Location: Ridge Pointe Apartments

12600 Marion Lane W, Minnetonka, MN 55305

Date: Saturday, March 27, 2009

Time: 10:00 a.m. to Noon

Presenter: Dr. Laura Hutt

Topic: A critical look at charitable giving

In 2008, charitable giving to 1,514,821 tax-exempt organizations amounted to more than $300 billion or 2.2 percent of our GDP. Nancy L. Raybin, chair of Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Non-Profits confirms the public’s perceived magnanimity of this statistic, “… the American public agrees with us that charitable giving is an integral part of the country’s economic fabric.” Charitable giving has become a sacred cow that only Scrooge would dare to question. In this interactive presentation, we will critically examine charitable giving, keeping in mind that the Critical Thinking Club is one of those 1,514,821 tax-exempt organizations.

Driving Directions: Exit I-394 at Plymouth Rd, go north to first intersection, turn east on North Frontage Road, go past Haskell’s Wine, Midas Muffler, and Gehrman Animal Hospital, turn north on Marion Ln.

RSVP: think-rsvp@markpaquette.com