Seminar Presentation
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Third Saturday Seminar 2013-2014
Return of the Elders, Unleash your Wisdom
Session 04
“WHAT NEXT”
Including a discussion of Robert Gates’ interviews about his new book
“Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War”
Curt Gibby
Saturday, 25 January 2014
9:30AM til 11:00 AM
Room B-102, Lone Star College – Montgomery
3200 College Park Drive – Conroe, TX – 77384 – 936.273.7000
Our meeting will be informal and we’ll talk about
Robert Gates’ “Duty” and Current Events, finishing by 11:00AM.
Spring 2014 Open House: January 25 (11 a.m.-1 p.m.)
LSC-Montgomery Building E-Upstairs
Since some people will need to leave early to help set up the A.L.L. Open House in Building E, we will reverse our normal order and after a brief introduction, watch Judy Woodruff’s interview of Gates on PBS. The link to the interview (13 min.) is below. I encourage you to view it or read the transcript if you can.
When the media first read or scanned their advance copies of “Duty”they immediately thought they had found plenty of juicy criticisms of people in high place. By the time Gates did the PBS interview on the 14th he obviously had been surprised by the tsunami of media sensationalism that was sweeping through news and comment channels.
In this interview Gates obviously has a better understanding how words that he thought were fair and accurate statements could be distorted and the emphasis be shifted. Here he makes an effort to set his meanings straight by putting them in context. His criticisms, I believe are meant to be constructive in the hope that our governments of the future can act more effectively and maturely. He has served 8 presidents, and accomplished things that had to be accomplished.
Clearly, Gates doesn’t expect people to be perfect, but he has some suggestions to make for those in critical positions in government to serve We the People much more effectively and much less selfishly.
I have the book on order an am looking forward to see what else he has to say.
Following the discussion of “Duty” we will discuss “Current Events” until people feel they need to leave to prepare for the Open House.
Possible Topics include:
Syria – Iran – Iraq – Russia – UN – Rebels (Good and Bad) – etc.
Privacy vs Security – NSA – The Constitution – Obama – Target (and others) Hacked – Snowden.
Wendy Davis v. Greg Abbot campaign – Education – money raising – etc.
The Fed has a new Chairman. Proposed Vice Chairman ran Israel’s central bank. Qualitative easing being eased?
Gates: Obama Made Solid Decisions, But Was Swayed By Factious Staff
In ‘Duty,’ Gates reflects on debates waged behind the scenes of war
In his new book, “Duty,” Robert Gates tackles his time as defense secretary and as witness to how different presidents wrestled with questions of war and peace. Gates sits down with Judy Woodruff to discuss the difficulties of doing business in Washington, the legacy of the Iraq war and nuclear negotiations with Iran. (PBS)
TEXAS ELECTIONS COMING UP
A general election will be held in Texas on November 4, 2014. All of Texas’ executive officers are up for election as well as a Senate seat, and all of Texas’ thirty-six seats in the House of Representatives.
Primary elections will be held on March 4, 2014 for offices that need to nominate candidates. Primary runoffs, if necessary, will be held on May 27, 2014.
Governor
This will be the first open election for Governor since 1990, when Ann Richards was elected.
Republicans Greg Abbott, Lisa Fritsch, Larry Kilgore and Miriam Martinez and Democrats Wendy Davis and Ray Madrigal and Libertarians Gene Chapman, Kathie Glass and R. Lee Wrights and Robert Bell have declared their candidacies.
Early voting period for the primary election. February 18* thru 28, 2014
*First business day after Presidents’ Day
Primary election. March 4, 2014
Local Election Information Sources:
League of Women Voters – Houston Area
League of Women Voters – Montgomery County
About the A.L.L. Spring Session :
If you have not looked at the LSC A.L.L. Spring Schedule yet, you find the all the programs from all the LSC campuses are published in one book. The LSC Montgomery schedule starts on page 28. The Third Saturday Seminar will be found on Page 37.
You will find a rich choice of other A.L.L. courses to choose from in the Spring schedule but for your convenience here is ours.
Please note that due to the vagaries of the Spring Holidays, 3 out of 4 meetings will fall on the 4th Saturday.
Please Mark your Calendar. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Third Saturday Seminars (official schedule)
4 Sessions. No Fee.
To refer to an ancient Chinese saying, “our world is in interesting
times” and individual citizens are assaulted with a blinding array
of propaganda from every conceivable source. The Third Saturday Seminar is about demystification of what is going on around us. Time will also be spent on current events. Meets 2/22, 3/22, 4/26, and 5/17. Meets on Montgomery Campus in B102.
9637 S 2/22-5/17 9:30 a.m.-noon B102 Gibby
Best regards, Happy New Year and see you the 25th of Jan 2014,
Curt Gibby
Director, Third Saturday Seminar