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Representing Peace. On June 16, 2005, Representative Neil Abercrombie, Democrat of Hawaii, BRS member since 1989, and man of peace, and Walter Jones (R-NC) introduced a Joint Resolution into the House calling for an end to the Iraq war. If put into effect, the bill would require President Bush to draft a plan for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq starting October 2006. The resolution now has a total of 30 co-sponsors, both Democrats and Republicans. It will be recalled that the Bertrand Russell Society, at its June 2004 BRS Annual Meeting, passed it’s own resolution calling for an end to the Iraqi war and withdrawal of the troops, with the establishment of a secular democratic state by the Iraqi’s themselves under U.N. auspices. Both resolutions seem clearly representative of the Russellian tradition of peace. Till Death Do Us Part. Since the start of year, two more names have been added to the list of BRS life members: Warren Allen Smith, Humanist, BRS founding member, BRS Vice President from 1977-1980, and decades-long member of the BRS board of directors, and William Calder III, professor of classics at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and BRS member since 1996. Not since 1992, when Don Jackanicz and Jim Reid both became life members, have two people become life members of the Russell Society in a single year. We would like to thank our new life members, Warren and William, for their generous contributions to the Society and its activities. Prior to Warren and William, the Society’s life members were: Dennis Darland of Rock Island IL (BRS since 1977), Don Jackanicz, of Chicago Illinois (BRS founding member—since 1974—and rumored owner of the last stock of Red Hackle in the world), Jim Reid of Wellesley MA (BRS member since 1991), and Charles Weyland of Fountain Valley CA (BRS since 1977). Dennis thinks there was previously a fifth life member—a friend, now deceased, of founding member Peter Cranford—but can’t remember his name. Warren and William are welcome additions to this special group of friends of the BRS. Next Year, Iowa City. The BRS Board of Directors met twice at this year’s BRS annual meeting and elected the following members as officers: President, Alan Schwerin; Vice President, Raymond Perkins, Jr.; Secretary, David Henehan; Treasurer, Dennis Darland; Board Chair, Chad Trainer. It was decided that next year’s annual meeting with be hosted by Gregory Landini and held at the University of Iowa. Located in Iowa City, the University of Iowa is readily accessible by plane and public transportation. The date has not yet been set, but the Quarterly will be sure to convey this information to you when it becomes known. The minutes of this year’s board meeting will be published in the next issue of the Quarterly. Hurry! Space Is Limited! Warren Allen Smith is revising his magnum opus Who’s Who In Hell (Barricade Books, 2000, $125.00) in order to put it on the web. If you didn’t make the cut the first time, here’s your chance. The deadline, as it were, is November 15, 2005. New York, New York. The BRS will host a group session at the forthcoming meeting of the Eastern APA, which will take place at the Hilton in New York City December 27 - 30, 2005. Speakers and titles include Gary Cesarz on “McTaggart and Broad on Leibniz’s Law”, Nikolay Milkov on “Lotze’s Influence on Russell” (David Sullivan commenting), and John Ongley on “Lotze at Cambridge”. Related talks at the Eastern APA will be hosted by the History of Early Analytic Philosophy Society (HEAPS) and include Sandra Lapointe on “Husserl and Frege on Formal Meaning”, Chris Pincock on “An Overlapping Consensus Model of the Origins of Analytic Philosophy” (Aaron Preston commenting), and Karen Green on “Fregean Existence and Non-Existence” (Kevin Klement commenting). BRS members are urged to attend for a great time and great talks in a great city. BRS Award: Call For Nominations. Each year, the BRS bestows an annual award to an individual or organization whose work best furthers the interests and commitments of Bertrand Russell. Any member of the Society can nominate a person or organization that meets these criteria. If you have someone you would like to nominate, please submit the nomination, with a short paragraph on why they should be considered for the award, to Kevin Brodie at kevin.brodie@lebanonct.org or mail them to: Kevin Brodie Chair, Awards Committee, 147 Dunn Rd, Coventry, CT 06238. The deadline is September 15th. If you submitted in the past, but your choice did not win, feel free to resubmit your nominee. Nominations not accompanied by reasons for the nomination—in other words, a submitted name and nothing else—will not be considered. Previous winners include: Paul Arthur Schlipp (1980), Steve Allen (1981), Harry Kendall, Union of Concerned Scientists (1982), Joseph Rodblat, 1995 Nobel Peace Prize Winner (1983), Dora Black Russell (1984), Robert Jay Lifton and Lester Denonn (1985), People for the American Way (1986), John Somerville (1987), Paul Kurtz (1988), Paul Edwards (1989), Planned Parenthood Federation of America (1991), Karl Popper (1992), Harry Ruja (1993), Zero Population Growth (1995), Willard Van Orman Quine (1996), Irving Copi (1998), Dr. Henry Morgentaler (1999), Stephen Jay Gould (2000), Stephen Toulmin (2001), Studs Terkel (2002), Katha Pollitt (2003), Daniel Dennett (2004) The Benefits of theft over honest toil. Delete all email requests for information ostensibly from Paypal: Paypal does not send requests for information to its members, and the people sending these requests are not your pals. New Help at the Q. It is our pleasure to introduce Cory Hotnit, our new editorial assistant, to the Russell Society. Cory is a student at Lehman College and the recipient of a $2,000 work-study grant to work at the Quarterly. Special bonus: Cory knows HTML. Please visit the BRSQ’s newly updated website to see the fruits of his labor at: http://www.lehman.edu/deanhum/philosophy/BRSQ/. |