Dr. Sean R. Roberts, Associate Professor and Director of International Development Studies Program at GW spoke about Central Asia, an area he has lived and worked in since 1989. Central Asia has historically been closely tied to its nomadic peoples and the Silk Road. As a result, it has acted as a crossroads for the movement of people and goods between Europe and parts of Asia. Central Asia consists of the five former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.  Islam is the religion most common in the Central Asian Republics & their governments tend to be secular, authoritarian, and autocratic.  Several of the countries are resource rich and have large reserves of oil and natural gas. This leads to geo-political tension as the countries in Europe, as well as China, Russia, and India compete for access to these resources and the means to control the routes taken by pipelines under development.

The B-CC Foundation presented a check to A Wider Circle for their Neighbor to Neighbor Program, furnishing homes of local families in need.

Our Speaker Blair Lee talked about the area elections, and the election of our country's President. This election created a change in the relationship between the American people and the government, driven by the worst economy in 80 years.  Although he will honor the current estate tax laws, Mr. Obama plans to "soak the rich" by lifting the cap on Social Security taxes, and instituting unrepealable middle class entitlements like health care and tax cuts. These programs will create a middle class dependency on government for support.  Mr. Blair doesn't think bi-partisan efforts will work, because of great pressure on the Democrats from the far left, and environmental lobby and unions.  Locally, the Slots are too little too late for our battered state budget, especially as it will take two years to ramp up the program.