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The Luncheon Society
We began as we always do with Michael Dukakis, 1988 Democratic nominee for the Presidency and 3 term Governor of Massachusetts on building grassroots support for the 2006 midterm races with luncheons in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Former Mass. Governor Michael S. Dukakis emphasized the importance of grassroots campaign strategies to the future of the Democratic Party during a talk to The Luncheon Society. "I'm here to tell you that if you hope to someday be elected to office, a grassroots approach to campaigning is not just the way that you win elections, but the way that you engage people actively in the politics of your state and country," said Dukakis, who graduated from the Law School in 1960. Dukakis, who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988, told the audience that the lack of constituent involvement in current political campaigns will inevitably lead to future Democratic losses. He said that political consultants are currently too focused on fundraising rather than motivating their grassroots resources.
 Then it was back and forth to Los Angeles and San Francisco again with Paul Hackett , Gulf War Veteran and 2004 Congressional candidate, joined us for two gatherings as part of this year's "Emerging Democratic Voices." We sat down with Ohio's rising political star who was exploring a bid to run for the US Senate from Ohio. unsuccessfully sought election to the United States Congress from the Second District of Ohio in the August 2, 2005, special election. Hackett, a Democrat, narrowly lost to Republican Jean Schmidt, a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives, providing the best showing in the usually solidly Republican district by any Democrat since the 1974 election. Hackett's campaign attracted national attention and substantial expenditures by both parties. It was viewed by some observers as the first round of the 2006 elections. In October 2005, Hackett said he would seek the Democratic nomination in 2006 to challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Mike DeWine; however, he dropped out of the race on February 14, 2006, and said that he would return to his law practice.
 Gary Hart retired two term Senator and presidential candidate joined us three times this year, first for lunches in both LA and SF and later for a third lunch late September in Berkeley in conjunction with his book, "Courage of our Convictions," which is a must-read. An impassioned call to arms for Democrats to embrace the principles that made the party and the country great--a true moral vision for leadership at home and abroad. In this powerful and provocative manifesto, a cri de coeur for Democrats who have grown increasingly frustrated with their party's leaders, former senator Gary Hart takes the Democrats to task for choosing caution and calculation in place of moral principles. That path, Hart says, will lead only to sorrow--for the party and for the country. The Courage of Our Convictions is Hart's call to action--a clear-eyed and plainspoken manifesto that urges a return to the principles bequeathed to the party by its great twentieth-century presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt's commitment to a single national community, where no American would be left behind; Harry S. Truman's internationalism, which preserved democracy after World War II and led eventually to the defeat of communism; John F. Kennedy's ideal of civic duty and service to the nation; and Lyndon B. Johnson's insistence on equality for all our citizens. As the midterm elections approach--and with the 2008 presidential election just over the horizon--Hart speaks directly and passionately to the many Democrats who seek a principled change of leadership in Washington. It is the wake-up call that so many Americans have been waiting for.
 Roger Ebert joined us for a memorable dinner in Santa Monica, 48 hours after the final envelopes were opened at this year's Academy Awards. It was a conversation about the winners and losers, the future of film, and some mind-blowing off-the-record tales of Hollywood. Roger Ebert, the famed film writer and critic, wrote biweekly essays for a feature called "The Great Movies," in which he offered a fresh and fervent appreciation of a great film. The book collects one hundred of these essays, each one of them a gem of critical appreciation and an amalgam of love, analysis, and history that will send readers back to that film with a fresh set of eyes and renewed enthusiasm-or perhaps to an avid first-time viewing. Ebert's selections range widely across genres, periods, and nationalities, and from the highest achievements in film art to justly beloved and wildly successful popular entertainments. Roger Ebert manages in these essays to combine a truly populist appreciation for our most important form of popular art with a scholar's erudition and depth of knowledge and a sure aesthetic sense. Wonderfully enhanced by stills selected by Mary Corliss, the film curator at the Museum of Modern Art, The Great Movies is a treasure trove for film lovers of all persuasions, an unrivaled guide for viewers, and a book to return to again and again.
 Janis Karpinski, the commanding officer at Abu Gharib, offered her arguments in Los Angeles on why the prisoner abuse was not the work of a few bad apples, but instead a concerted policy that came from the highest levels of the Defense Department and the Office of the Vice President. In an outspoken memoir that is sure to generate controversy, General Janis Karpinski tells the real story of the tragic and shameful events of 2004 from her first-hand experience.Karpinski had a long, distinguished career in the military: she received a Bronze Star for her service in the Gulf War, and most recently, served as the Commander of the Military Police Brigade and was the first and only female General Officer commanding troops in a combat zone in Iraq. And although she had no training in handling criminal prisoners, she was selected to run Abu Ghraib. In One Woman's Army, Karpinski takes us inside the prison walls and describes unflinchingly what it was like to interact with the Iraqi prisoners, the corruption within the armed forces and the accompanying private firms, and her meeting with Saddam Hussein, who refused to believe that a woman could be in charge. She talks about what life is really like for women in the armed forces and the tremendous obstacles she has faced. Co-written with Newsweek correspondent Steven Strasser, she forcefully argues that the bulk of the blame for the Abu Ghraib scandal goes to the very top of the chain of command -- to Lieutenant General Sanchez; Ambassador Bremer; Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld -- and tells why she has been made a scapegoat. Hers is a story of military leaders run amok, and a moving portrait of a woman who spent her life defying the odds in pursuit of her dream.
 Frank Drake, the father of SETI Research, joined us in Los Angeles and discussed on the possibilities of microbial life within our solar system as well as the potential of intelligent life outside our nine (or eight) planets, during the great planetary debate. Planet hunters keep finding distant worlds that bear a resemblance to Earth. Some of the thousands of exoplanet candidates discovered to date have similar sizes or temperatures. Others possess rocky surfaces and support atmospheres. But no world has yet provided an unambiguous sign of the characteristic that still sets our pale blue dot apart: the presence of life. Spotting signs of life on those planets will be possible because of progress in detecting not only planets, but their atmospheres as well. When a planet passes in front of its host star, atmospheric gases reveal their presence by absorbing some of the starlight. Oxygen, water vapor or other gases that do not belong on dead worlds could very well provide the first evidence of life elsewhere.
 Ambassador Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame joined The Luncheon Society this year in San Francisco and Los Angeles where they talked about their upcoming legal fight against Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, et al. Through the last three presidential administrations and two wars with Iraq, no one has personally witnessed, influenced, or fueled news over more history-making events than Joseph Wilson. The last American diplomat to sit face-to-face with Saddam Hussein, he is a consummate insider who has the intelligence, principles, and independence to examine current American foreign policy and the inner workings of government and to form a candid assessment of the United States' involvement in the world. In February 2002, Joseph Wilson was sent to Niger by the CIA to investigate claims that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium in that country. Wilson's report, and two from other American officials, conclusively negated such rumors, yet all were brushed aside by the White House. Startled by the infamous words uttered by George W. Bush in his 2003 State of the Union Address: "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," Wilson decided to reveal the truth behind the initiation of the Iraq war. The Politics of Truth is an explosive and revelatory book by a man who stands for the accurate recording of history against those forces bent on fabricating truth.
 Will Wright, the virtuoso game designer, who created "The Sims" and other digital landmarks, joined us in Berkeley and gave us an insight into "Spore," one of the most hotly awaited games for 2007, where you start out as a single celled creature and evolve outward. Electronic artificial life game, electronic game genre in which players nurture or control artificial life (A-life) forms. One of the earliest examples is The Game of Life, a cellular automaton created by the English mathematician John Conway in the 1960s. Following a few simple rules, various "organisms" evolve on the basis of where starting "seeds" are placed. More than any other individual, American computer programmer and cofounder of Maxis Software William (Will) Wright is associated with the development of commercial A-life games. His first commercial A-life release was SimEarth (1990), a world-builder simulation for personal computers (PCs) in which players select from various landforms and climates for their planet, seed the planet with very primitive life forms, and wait to see if advanced life will develop. Compared with his hit electronic management game SimCity (1989), it was a flop. Undeterred, Maxis tried again with a simpler simulation, SimAnt (1991), in which players take the role of a black ant (yellow in the game) as it helps its colony compete for resources with a computer-controlled colony of red ants. Maxis followed with the critically acclaimed SimLife (1992), an A-life simulation in which players adjust numerous environmental and genetic parameters to influence the evolution of plants and animals within the game. It has often been used as a tool for teaching children how plants, herbivores, and carnivores interact to maintain a sustainable ecosystem. Maxis (now part of Electronic Arts) returned to this format with Spore (2008)
 While on a fund raising tour throughout California to support his gubernatorial aspirations Eliot Spitzer joined us in San Francisco to offer his vision on the future of New York State. After serving for six years as a prosecutor with the office of the Manhattan District Attorney, Spitzer worked as an attorney in private practice with several New York law firms. He was then elected to two four-year terms as the Attorney General of New York, serving from 1999 to 2006; during this period, Spitzer became known as the "Sheriff of Wall Street" for his efforts to curb corruption in the financial services industry. Spitzer was elected Governor of New York in 2006 and served as the 54th Governor of New York from January 1, 2007 until his resignation on March 17, 2008 in the midst of a prostitution scandal.
 Joining us in San Francisco was Sheldon Whitehouse, running for the US Senate from Rhode Island, who told us how he was going to beat Lincoln Chafee, which he soundly did. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Sheldon served as Rhode Island's U.S. Attorney and state attorney general before being elected to the Senate, where he serves on the Finance Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, and the Budget Committee. He and his wife Sandra, a marine biologist and environmental advocate, live in Newport. They have two grown children.
 Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.com, inaugurated the very first Luncheon Society in Manhattan and offered a spirited defense of Net Neutrality now that the future of "The Internets," as W called them, are in great peril. Newmark, who created the site in 1995, has emerged on the fringes of the community as a kind of cranky, self-deprecating hippie uncle. He seems always to be hovering nearby to offer advice to citizens. And he's happy to offer perspective on the mad dash many Bay Area residents are making to start up their own versions of his enormously popular site. He says he even drops in on apartment building addresses he recognizes from postings on his site--"That's always met with disbelief and panic," he says.
 The complete inside story of the shocking steroids scandal that turned the sports world upside down. For years, in the shadowy reaches of the world of sports, there were rumors that some of our nation's greatest athletes were using steroids, human growth hormone, and other drugs to run faster, jump higher, and hit harder. But as track stars blazed their way to Olympic medals and sluggers brought fans back to baseball, sports officials, the media, and fans looked past the rumors and cheered on the athletes to ever-higher levels of performance. Then, in December 2004, San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams broke the story of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, a tiny nutritional supplement company that, according to sworn testimony, was supplying elite athletes with banned drugs. The stories shocked the nation and the exposés led to congressional hearings on baseball's drug problems and a revived effort to purge the US Olympic movement of drug cheats. Now, in "Game of Shadows," Fainaru-Wada and Williams tell the complete story of BALCO and the investigation that has shaken the foundations of the sporting world. And at the center of the story is the biggest star of them all, Barry Bonds, the muscle-bound MVP outfielder for the San Francisco Giants whose suspicious late-career renaissance has him threatening Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.
 Peter Bart, Variety's Editor and Chief, brought his keen insight to San Francisco on the intersection of movies and culture and is one of the few voices in Hollywood that has been on both sides of the fence. When Bart was lured to Paramount by his friend and fellow newcomer, the legendary Robert Evans, the studio was languishing, its slate riddled with movies that were out of touch with the dynamic sixties. By the time Bart left Paramount, in 1975, the studio had completed a remarkable run, with films such as The Godfather, Rosemary's Baby, Harold and Maude, Love Story, Chinatown, Paper Moon, and True Grit. But this new golden era at Paramount was also fraught with chaos and company turmoil. Drugs, sex, runaway budgets, management infighting, and even the Mafia found their way onto the back lot, making Paramount surely one of the most unpredictable, even bizarre, studios in the history of the movie industry. Bart reflects on Paramount's New Hollywood era with behind-the scenes details and insightful analysis; here too are his fascinating recollections of the icons from that time: Warren Beatty, Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polanski, and Frank Sinatra, among others. For over four decades, first on the inside as a studio executive and later as the longtime editor in chief of Variety, Peter Bart has viewed Hollywood from an incomparable vantage point. The stories he tells and the lessons we learn from Infamous Players are essential for anyone who loves movies.
 Joseph Margulies, the lead litigator in the Rasul v. Bush case and who successfully petitioned the United States Supreme Court to extend the right of judicial review to all prisoners at Guantánamo, reminded us that the US Constitution is something special and cannot be sold down the river to achieve some narrow political end. In his address to the nation on September 20, 2001, President Bush declared war on terrorism and set in motion a detention policy unlike any we have ever seen. Since then, the United States has seized thousands of people from around the globe, setting off a firestorm of controversy. Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power explores that policy and the intense debates that have followed. Written by an expert on the subject, one of the lawyers who fought -- and won -- the right for prisoners to have judicial review, this important book will be of immense interest to liberals and conservatives alike. With shocking facts and firsthand accounts, Margulies takes readers deep into the Guantánamo Bay prison, into the interrogation rooms and secret cells where hundreds of men and boys have been designated "enemy combatants." Held without legal process, they have been consigned to live out their days in isolation until the Bush administration sees fit to release them -- if it ever does. Joseph Margulies warns Americans to be especially concerned by the administration's assertion that the President can have unlimited and unchecked legal authority.
 Kitty Dukakis gave us two great luncheons in San Francisco and Los Angeles and spoke bravely how she battled her addictions and depression and how she found relief through Electroconvulsive Therapy. Coupled with drug and alcohol addictions that both hid and fueled her suffering, Kitty's despair was overwhelming. She tried every medication and treatment available; none worked for long. It wasn't until she tried electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, that she could reclaim her life. Kitty's dramatic first-person account of how ECT keeps her illness at bay is half the story of Shock. The other half, by award winning medical reporter Larry Tye, is an engrossing look at the science behind ECT and its dramatic yet subterranean comeback. This book presents a full picture of ECT, analyzing the treatment's risks along with its benefits. ECT, it turns out, is neither a panacea nor a scourge but a serious option for treating life threatening and disabling mental diseases, like depression, bipolar disorder, and others. Through Kitty Dukakis's moving narrative, and interviews with more than one hundred other ECT patients, Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy separates scare from promise, real complications from lurid headlines. In the process Shock offers practical guidance to prospective patients and their families, boldly addressing the controversy surrounding ECT and awakening millions to its capacity to heal.
 Dr. Donald Glaser, professor at Cal and a Nobel Laureate, led a great conversation about Visual Illusions in both art and science. He talked about how they impact what we see-and most interestingly-what we don't in a great luncheon in Berkeley. Glaser has received many honors for his work, among which can be mentioned the Henry Russell Award of the University of Michigan, 1953, for distinction and promise in teaching and research; the Charles Vernon Boys Prize of the Physical Society, London, in 1958, for distinction in experimental physics; the American Physical Society Prize (sponsored by the Hughes Aircraft Company) for his contributions to experimental physics in 1959; and the award, in the same year, of the honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the Case Institute of Technology.
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The Luncheon Society™
 is a series of private luncheons and dinners that take place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Boston. During the Pandemic, we are on Zoom. Discussions center on politics, art, science, film, culture, and whatever else is on our mind. Think of us as "Adult Drop in Daycare." We've been around since 1996 and we're purposely understated; 2021 will be our 26th season. In these gatherings, you interact with the main guest and conversation becomes the end result. There are no rules, very little structure, and the gatherings happen when they happen. Join us when you can.
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