A lecture and film series about corporations and the role they play in our lives will begin on Jan. 16, with a talk by Brian Kahn, host of Home Ground radio show on KUFM and KEMC public radio, on "American Values for Our Times."

The lecture will be held at the Neighborhood Center on Cruse Avenue and begins from 7- 9 p.m.

Montanans for Corporate Accountability sponsors the series.

According to spokesperson Cedron Jones, MCA formed last spring to explore and address the impacts of corporate power and profit on the quality of citizens' lives.

A project of The Policy Institute and the Montana Human Rights Network, the group seeks frank pubic discussion regarding the impact of chartered corporations on the economy, the environment and our democracy.

"We have granted enormous power to corporations," Jones said, "but that power is not always used to benefit society. Think W.R. Grace, Montana Power Company, and Enron, to name a few."

The series will explore how to hold corporations accountable for their actions.

Additional events in the series are:

- Feb. 20 -- a film: "Independent America, the Two-lane Search for Mom & Pop;"

- March 20 -- two films: "Defending the Commons" (about privatizing water) and "Against the Grain" (about Monsanto's genetic engineering of food crops);

- April 17 -- a talk by State Sen. Jim Elliott on "Corporate Taxation in Montana."

All events are free and open to the public.

Kahn's talk is sponsored by Montanans for Corporate Accountability as a way to recognize and to carry on the efforts of Martin Luther King to address racial, social and economic inequities in this nation, organizers said.

Kahn's talk will emphasize historical expressions of American conscience, including the activism to insure legal protections for equal rights, civil rights and voting rights.