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Rota-Letter February 23

ROTA LETTER FOR FEBRUARY 23, 2010

BLOOMINGTON ROTARY CLUB (www.bloomingtonrotary.org)
Founded 1918

Rotary 2009-2010 “The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands”

NEXT MEETING:
Michael Shelden, Indiana State University English professor and author of book about the final years of Mark Twain (IMU Frangipani). Also, four new members will be inducted.

FEBRUARY 23 MEETING

GREETER: Liz Feitl

PLEDGE AND REFLECTION: Ron Jensen

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Ann Wrenn
Kate Lee, guest of Jon Dilts; Gordon Haack, guest of Lois Haack; Sotaro Murai, guest of Jim Bright; Virginia Hall, guest of Byron Bangert.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The meeting was being held on Feb. 23, the 110 anniversary of Rotary.
$68 in Happy Dollars were collected Feb. 16.
The Rotary District Meeting is in Bloomington in April - see Ron Jensen to help.
The Rotary International Peace Project applications are due by July 1.

PROGRAM
Byron Bangert introduced the speaker, Beth Cate, associate legal counsel at Indiana University who talked about the Supreme Court. She said the court’s current term could be called: Sex, Guns and Videotape.
The “sex” reference was to a case the court will hear about criminalizing the sale and transfer of images portraying animal cruelty. The question is, can you criminalize the sale of depictions of unlawful acts — as with child pornography?
The “guns” reference involves whether the court will decide to revisit old cases to in order to apply the 2nd Amendment to issues that were previously determined to be under state authority.
The “videotape” reference is about the recent case in which corporations were granted the First Amendment right to free speech in elections. The 5-4 decision has been widely debated and criticized because it will make it easier for corporations to buy Congress. The decision was written by Anthony Kennedy, who is widely considered the swing vote.
Cate said the main question ahead is whether Congress will try to draft a narrower statute regarding protected speech.

FUTURE MEETINGS:

March 9 - Robert Arnove, Distiguished Professor of Comparative Education, speaking about his book, Talent Abounds. Frangipani Room.
March 16 - Norman Crampton, partnership specialist, “Census 2010 - and why it is important to Bloomington.” Frangipani Room.
March 23 – Mayor Mark Kruzan. Great Hall, First United Methodist Church.
March 30 - Mayer Maloney, Herald Times publisher, “The Future of Newspapers.” Frangipani Room.

Reporting for the Rota-Letter: Bob Zaltsberg