Lehigh Valley TORCH Club

On Thursday, March 5, David Keehn will speak on "The Federal Bureaucracy: Help or Hindrance?" The federal government has a critical impact on the lives of all of us from the strength of our economy, to our health and that of our environment, as well as the substantial taxes we pay to sustain it. But there has been a continuous partisan divide over the proper role for the federal bureaucracy and whether it really works for the people. Some favor using private contractors rathe...r than unionized government employees, giving more authority to the states, and substantially cutting back on federal functions and subsidies. Others, such as federal employees and liberal legislators and their allies strongly oppose such measures. In his talk, Dave will draw on his own personal experience as a federal employee in consumer protection as well as in representing large and small businesses before the federal government on environmental issues. He will address whether our federal government has the wherewithal to initiate new and ambitious federal programs in light of the fact that more than 70% of Americans feel it is not doing a satisfactory job with existing programs. is the Trump administration’s drive to drain the swamp by gutting federal agencies justified? In what contexts is the federal bureaucracy a help vis-à-vis a hindrance? And where a hindrance, what can we do about it? Dave began his interest in the federal government while at Gettysburg College where he participated in a special Washington semester and worked summers for the Model City program and Planning Bureau of the City of Reading. After college, Dave went on to the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he took a variety of administrative law and agency courses. After graduation, Dave served directly as a federal employee with the Federal Trade Commission in Washington where he was hired as one of the Young Turks brought in to try to reform the agency after scathing reports by Ralph Nader and the A. B. A. At the F. T. C., Dave served as an attorney in its Consumer Protection Bureau and as Attorney-Advisor to one of its five Commissioners. Dave then went on to help Air Products open a Washington office and served for twenty-five years as the Chief Regulatory Counsel in its Law Department. He finished his career as an attorney with the Gross, McGinley law firm in Allentown where he represented its nonprofit and small business clients in dealing with the federal government. (Advanced registration required. Fee includes dinner. If you are interested in attending, please contact the Membership Chair, Gary Schnell, at: 610-398-1217.

On Thursday, February 6, Tom Davis will speak on "The Fermi paradox: Are We Alone?" February’s presentation will NOT be about UFOs, little green men, alien abductions, and the like. Rather, it will be a serious look at the search for life in the universe. There is not one of you who has not at one time or another looked up at those twinkling lights in the night sky and asked Is anyone looking back? or Is anyone out there? No matter how you phrased your own personal que...stion, you were asking Are we alone? The answer, of course, is no one knows. Where are we in answering this question? Frankly, we are in the first few minutes of the first day of kindergarten. Some take great pride in our scientific and technological achievements, but we have a long way to go before we can begin to answer this question. I will spend a few minutes at the end addressing The Fermi Paradox, named after Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi who, in a casual 1950 conversation, inquired that if most scientists are convinced that there are other beings in the universe, where are they? This presentation will include a bit more science than some of you are used to, but it is a scientific topic, so I have lost track of how many Torch presentations I have made, but it must be getting close to half a dozen. Each is completely different from any that preceded it. No exception this time. My interests are eclectic, to say the least, and every once in a while I see something that could be made into a Torch presentation, and I’m off again. It began with The Greatest Maritime Disaster in American History And You Never Heard Of It, and tonight it’s the universe. I have a degree in History and Literature from Lafayette College and an MBA from Penn State. I spent most of my professional life in finance and accounting, ending my career as a self-employed CPA. (Advanced registration required. Fee includes dinner. If you are interested in attending, please contact the Membership Chair, Gary Schnell, at: 610-398-1217.)

On Thursday, December 5, Lona Farr will speak on the "Christmas: Religious or Secular?" Likely from the time humans first walked earth, they noticed, they wondered about and they often feared the ever-shortening days in the fourth quarter of the year. This seems to have led to the development of many rituals to ensure the return of light. We might consider some of these rituals religious. As a small child, our speaker, Lona M. Farr, Ph.D., noticed these phenomena of shorte...ning days and wondered about them. In her talk, Christmas: Religious or Secular she will highlight some of the early rituals that developed around the what we call the winter solstice, discuss the beginnings of Christmas in this context, and outline the origins our modern and some would say secular Christmas traditions and ways of celebrating. Perhaps this background will help each of us answer the question for ourselves, Christmas: Religious or Secular? Dr. Farr’s professional background includes holding leadership positions at Muhlenberg College, DeSales University, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital and Daikon. In 1995 she started her own business providing management consulting, strategic planning, public relations and fundraising services for nonprofit organizations across the country, retiring in January 2016. An active volunteer, she served on the Board of Trustees of Muhlenberg College for 28 years; in 1986 started the local chapter of her professional organization, the Association of Fundraising Executives; and currently serves on the Boards of the Allentown Symphony, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and the Wildlands Conservancy. She holds an undergraduate degree from Muhlenberg College, a Master’s from Temple University and a Ph.D. in American History, Philanthropy and Leadership Studies from the Union Institute Graduate School. (Advanced registration required. Fee includes dinner. If you are interested in attending, please contact the Membership Chair, Gary Schnell, at: 610-398-1217.)

On Thursday, November 7, Pat Bradt will speak on "Climate Change: What Does the Science Say?" This talk will focus on the science of climate change. Included will be findings from the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (2018-19), statistics from various governmental agencies, and statements from recognized experts in the field and scientific societies. Emphasis will be on the science from peer-reviewed studies and reasons for the warming: primarily t...he burning of fossil fuels, but also land-use changes contribute. The major greenhouse (heat-trapping) gas is carbon dioxide, but methane and other greenhouse gases are also of concern. Simply, when heat entering the atmosphere exceeds the heat escaping, the lower atmosphere (troposphere) warms due to the presence of heat-trapping gases. Included will be physical evidence from sea level rise, ocean temperature, glacier and sea ice loss, extreme weather events and increases in both atmospheric carbon dioxide and average temperatures. Biological evidence will demonstrate the movement of certain species toward the poles and higher altitudes. Positive actions will be identified to combat and mitigate climate change and urge action on the local, state, federal and global levels! Having been teaching climate change for over 20 years, I am continually saddened by the current news documenting impacts that were predicted years ago by climate scientists. Environmental textbooks discussed climate change at least since 1996. Geologists expressed concerns much earlier. Extreme weather events have become too common all over the world and vulnerable populations can do little to escape the increasing diseases, rising waters and heat. I have given many talks and written Letters to the Editor in an effort to not only educate the public about the science, but also to encourage political action. However these efforts appear to fall on deaf ears among our leaders. I will continue to hope for positive outcomes. (Advanced registration required. Fee includes dinner. If you are interested in attending, please contact the Membership Chair, Gary Schnell, at: 610-398-1217.)

On Thursday, October 3, John Servis will speak on "John Marshall and the Birth of American Constitutional Law." Chief Justice John Marshall is widely considered one of the most important and influential justices in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. Every high school student learns about Marbury vs. Madison in history class. This 1803 case established judicial review and gave federal courts the power to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional. Marbury was ...evidence that Marshall was determined to have the federal judiciary be a co-equal branch of the government. While we will touch on the importance of Marbury, this talk will focus on four cases in the realm of private businesses and contracts: Fletcher vs. Peck, Dartmouth College vs. Woodward, Gibbons vs. Ogden, and McCulloch vs. Maryland. These cases were bold expressions of Marshall's Federalist ideology that advanced a powerful federal government, and placed strict limits on the powers of state governments. Using a strong interpretation of the Contracts Clause in the Constitution, Marshall established the legal environment necessary to enable the rapid growth of business organizations in the early 19th century. The idea that business corporations were "persons" with constitutional rights, first articulated in the Dartmouth College case, became a permanent principle of American law. This principle enabled the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United vs. FEC, which held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting political expenditures by corporations, non-profit organizations and labor unions. John Servis has practiced law for 35 years. He has presented more than 30 continuing legal education seminars at the Bar Association of Lehigh County. He is a solo practitioner in Orefield, PA with a practice limited to estate planning. He enjoys movies, music, reading, crossword puzzles, and trivia contests. John is married to Moira, a learning support teacher at Northwestern Lehigh High School. They have two adult sons, Stephen and Andrew. (Advanced registration required. Fee includes dinner. If you are interested in attending, please contact the Membership Chair, Gary Schnell, at: 610-398-1217.)

On Thursday, September 5, Ted Schick will speak on "God and the Big Bang: Has Science Found God?" Science often seems to be at war with religion. In his The History of the Warfare of Science with Theology, for example, Andrew White, co-founder of Cornell University, details many of the beliefs once sanctioned by religion that science has shown to be false, such as the belief that the Earth is flat, that the Earth is the center of the universe, that the universe is only 6,000 ...years old, etc. So it is an event of some note when a scientific theory seems to support a religious view, and that is just what the big bang theory seems to do. According to that theory, the universe came into existence about 15 billion years ago in an explosion of unimaginable power. The Judeo -Christian tradition has always taught that the universe came into existence some finite time in the past. It now seems that science has come around to this view. Does that mean that science has found evidence for the existence of God? Some think so. Astronomer Allan Sandage, for example, believes The big bang is best understood as a miracle triggered by some transcendent power. Physicist Stephen Hawking disagrees. He writes, "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going." Who is right? On Thursday, we’ll explore the relative strength of the two positions. Ted teaches philosophy of science at Muhlenberg College and has recently completed the 8th edition of his text: How to Think About Weird Things. (Advanced registration required. Fee includes dinner. If you are interested in attending, please contact the Membership Chair, Gary Schnell, at: 610-398-1217.)