The Cowtown Humanist
A chapter of the American Humanist
Association and The Alliance of Secular Humanist Societies.
http://www.freeyellow.com/members6/aha-fw/
http://www.webalias.com/humanism
February 2002 Volume 3,
No. 11
Next
Meeting
This
month's meeting will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 13, at Westside Unitarian
Universalist Church, 6901 McCart. January 9. The speaker is Humanist member
Russell Elleven, and he will be talking about the legacy of Charles Darwin. See
below for details.
Last
month
Professor Earl
Martin, from
the Texas Wesleyan Univ. School of Law, spoke on Governor Perry's
misguided foray into the issue of government-sanctioned public prayer.
Professor Martin showed that when it comes to government-sanctioned public
prayer, the Gov has little (actually, NO Constitutional standing). Then,
adding ignorance to injury, he showed how Perry's public statements were, at
best, misinformed, and most likely, just plain wrong.
When it was
all done, the good professor had chopped up Mr. Perry better than a
Benihana chef, and it was jolly good fun to watch. Our thanks to all who
attended -- and to Professor Martin.
Officers
and A Gentlewoman
Hard to
believe it, but almost a year has passed since we the new officers were
installed. It's time again to start thinking about elections, which occur in
March. Here are the offices we have, and a short description of their
responsibilities:
Chairman:
Arranges for speaker,
schedules and runs meetings, represents group. Also gets to fool around
with interns.
Vice
Chair: Assists
with meetings, other events. Also plans all outings that involve vice.
Treasurer:
Maintains roster,
handles dues and bookkeeping. Works closely with accountants from Arthur
Anderson.
We are VERY
interested in getting some new people to serve as officers for the next term.
If you are at all interested, or have some questions about the positions, don't
hesistate to contact one of the officers or myself. We have grown a lot in the
last three years, but there is still much more to do . . . and did I mention
that we are interested in having some new people serve?
Talk
dirty to me
If you've
driven down Granbury Road lately, you know that our little adopt-a-street is
badly in need of another clean-up. So we're gonna get on it . . . the next
trash pick-up will be Saturday, Feb. 16. If you haven't been
before, the pick is fun and relatively fast; if enough people come, we should
be done in less than two hours.
We will
meet at 8 a.m. at the medical office on the corner of University and Granbury.
Afterward, we will convene from breakfast, and to consider who encountered
the loudest-barking dog. If you can attend, please RSVP to the Yahoo Group, or
to me directly. Be sure to have bright clothing, sturdy shoes and a pair
of gloves; a rosary is optional.
Book-burning
opportunity!
Say, have
you read any good Humanist novels lately? If you haven't, this may be your
opportunity: Dale McGowan has written a new satirical novel with humanist
themes. McGowan's book takes a humorous, but critical look at religion,
and as we all know, that's a risky thing to do -- especially if you are a
professor at a Catholic college, as McGowan is.
McGowan's novel has gotten some
nice early reviews (although not of course, from his local archbishop). But
he's hoping to generate some interest and support from we Humanists. The name
of the book is "Calling Bernadette's Bluff." It will be
availabe at Amazon.com and other outlets in March, or you can get a copy now
through the publisher's website, http://www.xlibris.com/CallingBernadettesBluff.html
We encourage you to support these Humanist works.
Reminder
1
The Atheist
Alliance International convention will be held March 29-31, 2002,
at D/FW Airport. They have an excellent lineup of speakers. For detailed
information, check out the Metroplex Atheists website, http://www.metroplexatheists.org
Reminder
2
As you may
recall, we have agreed to be one of the partner organizations in the upcoming
forum on anti-terrorism laws and civil rights. The forum will be held Saturday,
March 16, at the TWU main campus. The expected panelists include U.S.
Rep Martin Frost; Don Jackson, ACLU, and Lynn Rambo, TWU Law Professor. We will
need some volunteers to assist with putting this event together; if you can
donate even a little bit of time and energy (or a really large sum of money),
please let us know. Thanks!
Saved
by the Dinner Bell
Don't
forget that everyone is welcome to join us for dinner before the meeting. This
month, we'll be meeting at 5:15 at TGI Friday's, at the intersection of South
Hulen Street and I-20. Be sure to get there promptly -- last one done has to do
the dishes!
Next
month
Our very
own Russell Elleven, organization founder, ordained Humanist
minister and TCU professor erroneous (or something like that) will be our
speaker. The title of his program is, "Darwin: What the Hell was He
Thinking?"
Now, that
alone should be enough to entice you to come. But if by some chance you have
never heard one of Russell's talks, you should know that he is always gives a
thought-provoking and amusing presentation. His talks consistently draw a large
turnout, even on the times when he doesn't buy drinks for everyone afterward.
Don't miss it!
Did
you know?
In addition
to being a cellar -- er, stellar, public speaker, Russell also is an ordained
Humanist Minister. He can perform wedding ceremonies for a variety of services,
Humanist or otherwise. If you're interested, you can contact him at
817-370-2171, or e-mail him at r.elleven@tcu.edu.
Just
for fun
Question:
How do you get
holy water?
Answer:
Boil the hell out
of it.
Hope to see
you on the 13th,
Jeff
How
to reach us
Jeff
Rodriguez, Chairman
817-732-4235
Mike Haney,
Vice Chairman
mhaneyinfw@hotmail.com
Bruce
Berggren, Treasurer