After many years of ducking this great responsibility, I felt it selfish not to do my bit for the club that I have grown fond of over the 12 to 13 years that I have been a member. I am in awe of the past presidents and how they handled their year with wisdom and energy. We have had teachers, businesspeople, board chair and such who are used to dealing with large amounts of people at once. So now, you have a doctor and surgeon, used to dealing with one on one.
In the 2016 US Presidential Election, Donald Trump received 46.1% of the total vote (compared with President Barack Obama in 2012 who received 51.1%) and nearly three million fewer votes than his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. Yet he was declared the winner in a convincing victory that gave the Republicans control of the Presidency and ensured they retained control of both houses of Congress. How on earth did that happen? The answer is the 'crazy' American Electoral College system. Barrister, historian, author, Stephen Marantelli will explain all with the help of this electoral map. And could it happen again? This Tuesday, 7:30pm, via Zoom of course.
The Club's Strategic Planning workshop, held via Zoom on June 23rd and led by facilitator Warwick Cavell, has been hugely successful in helping identify club priorities for the next three years, reinforced by the very positive feedback received from those able to participate. Following on from the first workshop on June 9th the purpose of the second workshop was to get input from club members as to what they see as the focus of the club going forward.
Australian and Past Rotary International President Ian Risely, a member of the Rotary Club of Sandringham, has played a key role in the decision this week by The Rotary Foundation to add the Environment into its Areas of Focus. More than US$18 million in Foundation global grant funding has been allocated to environment-related projects over the past five years. Creating a distinct area of focus to support the environment will give Rotary members even more ways to bring about positive change in the world and increase our impact.
The origins of the Four Way Test date back to 1932 when creditors of a near bankrupt aluminum company assigned the author of the Four Way Test, Rotarian Herbert Taylor, to save it from further financial ruin. Competition in the aluminum industry was fierce. Mr. Taylor was looking for a way to distinguish his new company from the others, while at the same time achieving financial prosperity. Mr. Taylor decided that ethics and doing what was right would be the key to the turnaround.
According to the University of Melbourne an estimated 1 billion disposable coffee cups are used by Australians each year. That's approximately 2,700,000 paper coffee cups thrown out every day! We are drowning in disposable coffee cups! Reusable Rotary Keep Cups were ordered for this years District Conference, subsequently cancelled due to Covid-19, and are available now to purchase. Retiring Club Service Director Richard Blakeman is coordinating an order for the cups, which make great gifts or something handy for yourself (when pandemic restrictions are lifted) and help save the environment. Just $18.00 per cup, order now by emailing Richard and letting him know how many cups you would like. Richard will compile the order for the club and get your cups to you asap.
This is the transcript of an actual radio conversation of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations on November 10, 1995.
Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.
Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS, AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
The Electoral College is a complete mystery to most Australians with our Westminister style of parliamentary democracy. And yet it is the very mechanism by which the President of the United States is elected. Stephen Marantelli lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he is, by profession, a barrister. He has a passion for American history, in particular, the history of the presidency. The nature and trend of the American-Australian alliance is better understood in the light of that history. A successful author, Stephen's imaginative and thought provoking book recounts an imaginary meeting in London between Edmund Barton, Australia's first Prime Minister, and George Washington, the First President of the Unioted States.
In the course of Stephen's presentation, we will get an insight into what is going on in the United States at the moment in the lead up to the Presidential Elections in November, and perhaps a little insight also into the strengths and tensions in the long established Australia-United States relationship.
