September 2012 --- 65-minute documentary film "The Health Care Movie" by Laurie Simons and Terry Sterrenberg <http://healthcaremovie.net/>
October 2012 -- Our speaker was Matt Elmore from Energy Impact Illlinois <http://energyimpactillinois.org/>. This is a government-sponsored program from the US Dept of Energy. According to Matt Elmore <[email protected]>, the cost is $50. An "energy-efficient contractor" is sent to make an improvement evaluation of your home. You are free to accept or reject their analysis. If you accept, you may be eligible for up to $1,750 in rebates for their services. According to Matt, this program may be de-funded in March 2013. Hopefully, it will continue to be funded, but the Yes/No decision is not certain at this time. During the second part of our meeting we viewed the 75-minute documentary film HEIST: WHO STOLE THE AMERICAN DREAM? <http://www.heist-themovie.com/>. QUOTES: "Today, politics is the playground of the rich and powerful, with no thought given to the hopes and dreams of ordinary Americans. No other film goes as deeply as HEIST in explaining the greatest wealth transfer of our time" ... "If you're poor, you're on your own. If you're poor, sink or swim." ... "All that mattered was profit."
November 2012-- Our guest speaker is Amanda Kass <http://ctbaonline.org/All%20Links%20to%20Research%20Areas%20and%20Reports/About/CTBA%20STAFF%20BIOS.htm>, from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a non-partisan organization which analyzes the Illinois budget and makes recommendations to remedy deficiencies within it. Ms. Kass is a research and policy specialist whose expertise is in pensions and local government. She will address the Illinois pension problem and CTBA <http://ctbaonline.org/> recommendations to fix it.
December 2012 -- CANCELLED DUE TO THE THREAT OF SEVERE WINTER WEATHER ....... Our guest speaker will be Steve Alesch, chairman of the DuPage County Green Party and Executive Director of Illinois Move to Amend. Move-To-Amend is a nationwide grass roots organization whose purpose is to negate the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous ruling in Citizens United vs. The Federal Election Commission. Move-To-Amend, as its name implies, is working to amend the Constitution in order to end corporate personhood and money as speech. Steve will do a presentation about the history of corporate personhood, the impact of Citizens United on politics over the last two election cycles, and the future of American politics if we do not deal with its effects. He will also focus on the nationwide actions of Move-To-Amend (https://movetoamend.org) to seek a permanent remedy to eliminate the threat that the Citizens United decision poses to American democracy by ending corporate and other special interest rule. As Steve likes to say, "In a democracy the people rule".