Peninsula and peace and justice centre

The Peace and Justice Calendar
Table of Contents (details follow): PPJC-Sponsored Events Wednesday 23-Jun - Peter Beinart, "The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris"
Tuesday 6-July - Free Forum: Global Giants in Turmoil - China and India
Friday 9-July - Cuba Caravan 2010
September - Robert Scheer, "The Great American Stickup: Greedy Bankers and the Politicians Who Love Them" (Details to be announced)
Saturday 25-Sept - Robert Fisk, "Lies, Misreporting and Disasters in the Middle East"

Other Groups' EventsFriday 04-Jun - Food and the Environment: Friday Night Films
Saturday 05-Jun - Crude: The Real Price of Oil. Film and discussion
Sunday 06-Jun - Observations on the Bumpy Road of Life
Wednesday 09-Jun - Reversing Global Warming & Nuclear Proliferation
Friday 11-Jun - Free Friday Night Film: Food and the Environment
Saturday 12-Jun - ACLU-SCV Don Edwards Award Celebration



PPJC Event Details


Peter Beinart
The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris
Wednesday, June 23 2010 @ 07:30 AM
Unitarian Universalist Church
505 E. Charleston Road, Palo AltoAn author event with
PETER BEINART
Senior Political Writer for The Daily Beast // Associate Professor of Journalism and Political Science, City Univ. of New York // Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
Copies of "The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris" will be available for purchase and signing by the author.
hu·bris (hyu'bris) n. Overbearing pride or presumption; arroganceIn The Icarus Syndrome, Peter Beinart tells a tale as old as the Greeks -- a story about the seductions of success. Beinart describes Washington on the eve of three wars -- World War One, Vietnam, and Iraq -- three moments when American leaders decided they could remake the world in their image. Each time, leading intellectuals declared that history was over, and the spread of democracy was inevitable. Each time, a president held the nation in the palm of his hand. And each time, a war conceived in arrogance brought untold tragedy.
In dazzling color, Beinart portrays three extraordinary generations: the progressives who took America into World War I, led by Woodrow Wilson, the lonely preacher's son who became the closest thing to a political messiah the world had ever seen. The Camelot intellectuals who took America into Vietnam, led by Lyndon Johnson, who lay awake at night after night shaking with fear that his countrymen considered him weak. And George W. Bush and the post-cold war neoconservatives, the romantic bullies who believed they could bludgeon the Middle East and liberate it at the same time. Like Icarus, each of these generations crafted "wings" -- a theory about America's relationship to the world. They flapped carefully at first, but gradually lost their inhibitions until, giddy with success, they flew into the sun.
But every era also brought new leaders and thinkers who found wisdom in pain. They reconciled American optimism -- our belief that anything is possible -- with the realities of a world that will never fully bend to our will. In their struggles lie the seeds of American renewal today. Based on years of research, The Icarus Syndrome is a provocative and strikingly original account of hubris in the American century -- and how we learn from the tragedies that result.
Peter Beinart is associate professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He is the senior political writer for The Daily Beast and a contributor to Time. Beinart is a former fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and is the author of The Good Fight. He lives with his family in Washington, D.C.
Presented by
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center www.PeaceandJustice.organd
The Commonwealth Club www.commonwealthclub.orgEvent URL: http://peaceandjustice.org/article.php?story=Icarus_Syndrome_June_23


Other Groups' Event Details


Food and the Environment: Friday Night FilmsFriday, June 04 2010 @ 07:30 PM
World Centric
2121 Staunton (Behind JJ&F Market), Palo AltoEstablishing a Food Forest -- Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute has created a real masterpiece with this film, condensing his encyclopedic knowledge and experience of these systems into a 'how to do it' instructional video. Join us for a lively discussion after the film
This event is sponsored by Acterra, Silicon Valley Action Network, Transition Silicon Valley, Transition Palo Alto, Slow Food South Bay, World Centric
Event URL: http://transitionpaloalto.org/2010/05/03/friday-night-film-series-food/


Crude: The Real Price of Oil. Film and discussionSaturday, June 05 2010 @ 01:30 PM
Fremont Main Library
2400 Stevenson Blvd at Paseo Padre, FremontWhat could be more timely than a film that examines the environmental and human cost of oil extraction? Or, even more so, the very film whose outtakes Chevron's lawyers are trying to commandeer so they can fight suits by native peoples living in the rainforest?
Over three years ago this feature from acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger began telling one of the most extraordinary environmental disasters of our time, described as "the Amazon Chernobyl." Over the course of three decades of drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon, US oil giant Chevron deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater in the rain forest, leaving local native peoples suffering from an epidemic of cancers, miscarriages, and birth defects.
Recently re-edited to keep the film current, Crude is a real-life, high-stakes legal drama that offers a ground level view into the lives of those directly impacted by this tragedy while revealing a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most extraordinary legal dramas of our time, one that has the potential of forever changing the way international business is conducted.
Go to the website to read reviews and see a list of the awards this film has won: http://www.crudethemovie.com/
Discussion will be led by a representative of Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network.
Admission free.
This event is sponsored by Tri-City Documentary Series
Event URL: http://www.TriCityPerspectives.org


Observations on the Bumpy Road of LifeSunday, June 06 2010 @ 11:00 AM
Palo Alto High School - Student Center
50 Embarcadero Rd., Palo AltoDon Havis will give a talk based on his 60 years as a Humanist and activist. Havis will discuss his essays, read some of his poems, short stories and favorite "words of wisdom" in a program that promises to be both humorous and profound.
This event is sponsored by Humanist Community in Silicon Valley
Event URL: http://www.humanists.org


Reversing Global Warming & Nuclear ProliferationWednesday, June 09 2010 @ 07:30 PM
Unitarian Universalist Church Fireside Room
505 East Charleston Road, Palo AltoDr. Alex Cannara will present an illustrated talk on climate, energy, & safe nuclear power generation--thorium molden-salt reactors: the best means now available for eliminating power generation using coal and oil, the biggest producers of the CO2 that is largely responsible for global warming. A thorium-fueled reactor generates the same power as a uranium, gas, or coal plant but produces no CO2 & can even consume existing nuclear waste. It has other advantages that will be shown in this presentation.
This event is sponsored by Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto
Event URL: http://www.uucpa.org


Free Friday Night Film: Food and the EnvironmentFriday, June 11 2010 @ 07:30 PM
World Centric
2121 Staunton (Behind JJ&F Market), Palo AltoIn Transition -- An inspirational film about how local communities, like ours, can respond to peak oil and global warming while building community and enjoying life. Stay for a lively discussion after the film.
This event is sponsored by Acterra, Transition Palo Alto, Silicon Valley Action Network, Slow Food South Bay, Transition Silicon Valley, World Centric
Event URL: http://transitionpaloalto.org/2010/05/03/friday-night-film-series-food/


ACLU-SCV Don Edwards Award Celebration
Saturday, June 12 2010 @ 02:30 PM
San Jose Library - West Valley Branch
1243 San Tomas Aquino, San Jose
Young Freedom Fighter Award Presentation
2:30pm - 3:00pm
Don Edwards Civil Liberties Award Presentation
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Honoring the work and achievements of Kathleen "Cookie" Ridolfi & Linda Starr, Directors of the Northern California Innocence Project, working to create a more just and humane world by exonerating innocent prisoners and pursuing legal reforms that address the causes and consequences of wrongful convictions.
This event is free and open to the public! Light refreshments will be served. Donations are accepted and appreciated, but are not tax deductible. For more information, to volunteer, or for Board nominations, please leave a message on the ACLU-SCV voicemail line at 408-327-9357, or email us at acluscv@hotmail.com
This event is sponsored by ACLU-SCV
Event URL: http://www.acluscv.org/docs/DonEdwardsFlyer10.pdf
Our postal address is
625 Hamilton Avenue
Palo Alto, California 94301
United States