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His eagerness to assume the mantel of supreme leader was evident as President Elect Davis gonged us to attention 25 seconds early. We therefor left off chewing the sumptuous repast provided by the Country Club of Lansing; roast port, carrots and green beans and house fries to raise our collective voices in what could pass for “America the Beautiful” unless you have perfect pitch that is. Which we know John Dale Smith has but for the life of me I don’t know how he got such beautiful music out of that huge piano. Try as I might I couldn’t find the electric cord.
Linda Lynch reminded us that while God disposes man must propose in her moving prayer. Julie Thomasma received her Red Badge of welcome and speaking of which the $750 addition to our foundation from 2/3 of the January birthers was heartily welcomed by Nick Heriford for the club. January chair of the month, Maureen Hirten, was gratefully thanked for her contribution to our edification.
Ken Beachler did it yet again, this time his special music included People’s church Senior Pastor and apparently also Canto, Andrew Pomerville, guitarist/vocalist who strummed and sang in pretty good brogue 3 Scottish drinking songs proving yet again it’s a wonder there’s any whiskey left over for them to export.
Our speaker Charles Palmer Es9q, law professor and international didactic legal paladin was honored by not one but two introductions. The first by his lunching partner, PE Davis, and then by his sponsor Kurt Guter each glowing in praise which Professor Palmer then proved well worthy of. While strolling, mike in hand he treated us to a fascinating stream of consciousness recalling his experiences in Beijing lecturing 40 or 50 Chinese law students on American common (constitutional) law since for them statutory law is their focus. I guess for these students tort law is unhealthy since the only deep pocket in their world is the Government. In brief he provided us a sino-philial pictorial travelogue to wit; “Beijing is full of beautiful parks” and “Chinese are not concerned by crime” The latter underscored by observing the arrest of not only a little old street food vendor but also her entire food cart. Honest, you can’t make this stuff up but it did give credence to their lack of crime. He concluded by describing his foray into a countryside village in search of rural china where he ran smack into feudalism and learned why Mao Zedong had to murder several million of his people in the cause of fairness and why there is now a mass migration back into the cities. A big problem apparently since Mao is gone. All in all a very fun ½ hour.
Next week back at the Lansing Country Club, our home away from home, for a program by Philip Knight Director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan. Joe Wald is our program Chair for February. Another great meeting.
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Dr. Phillip Knight is Executive Director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan, a statewide nonprofit organization who mission is to create a food secure Michigan by representing and working with our 7 food banks.