Fables of the reconstruction

Yeeeeaaaaaargh

Cole, funny and true:

I disagree with Dean about the bill, and I recognize I may very well be wrong and he probably is right about that. But what I refuse to back down from is the idea that is somehow good politics for the former head of the DNC to be trashing a Democratic President on a right-wing television show. It is bad politics, it is bad optics, and it is a sign of an uneven temperament and bad judgment. And we can all agree that it is well established that I know a thing or too about being a hothead and having bad judgment.

Local Programming: Wrap Kids' Presents With Organizing for America Thursday

Thursday, December 17th, 1-4 p.m.

Yes We Can: Spread Joy To Philadelphia's Children Thursday Afternoon
This holiday season, Organizing for America is giving back to the Philadelphia community by helping to spread cheer to the cities youngest residents.

OFA staff and volunteers will be sorting and bagging toys on Thursday, Dec. 17 from 1pm to 4pm as part of the Support Center for Child Advocates' Holiday Toy Drive.

The Support Center for Child Advocates is the country's oldest and largest pro bono legal and social services agency for children. Its mission is to advocate for abused and neglected children in Philadelphia, with the goal of securing a permanent, nurturing environment for every child. This year, the group will be providing toys to 850 children throughout the city. Go here to sign up. Support Center for Child Advocates is located at 1880 JFK Blvd, 4th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19103 .

Change, Hope, Blah Blah

While I was busy working today, it apparently became clear that the Obama administration is a trainwreck at passing legislation. Awesome.

Good thing I'm going drinking tonight.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Center City Tonight

Nearly forgot:

Tuesday, December 15th, 6 - 9 p.m.
Drinking Liberally Center City
Center City DL meets from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. every Tuesday in the upstairs bar of Triumph Brewing Co., located at 117 Chestnut St. (between Front and 2nd Streets), Philadelphia, PA 19106. There are $3 beers, $4 wine, $5 well drinks all night as well as happy hour food specials including half-price burgers.

Triumph Brewery is conveniently SEPTA-accessible via the Market-Frankford El (2nd Street station), all the buses that turn around at or near Penn's Landing (12, 17, 21, 33, 42, 48), and a few other buses that pass nearby (5, 25, 47, 57). Driving directions are here.

Shooting Liberally Philadelphia Chapter Starting
Do you like to shoot? Want to learn how to handle a gun? We're now forming the newest chapter of Shooting Liberally right here in center city Philly. Come on out and join other liberals who know their way around firearms. We'll be going to local ranges where, for a surprisingly small amount of money, you can rent a handgun or rifle and ear/eye safety equipment and be shooting properly in no time at all. Sign up for the facebook group here, and future announcements will also come through these regular DL emails.

Drinking Liberally National Needs Your Support
There are no dues for being a Drinking Liberally member and your local Drinking Liberally chapter is run by the volunteer organizers, who pay for printing costs and other expenses themselves. The national Drinking Liberally organization in New York, which oversees all 341 national chapters, does require funding. In a down economy it's become harder for DL National to cover the cost of maintaining the email lists and website and other administrative expenses. Please consider becoming a DL National monthly sponsor through this page. You can also go here to make a one-time donation of $10, $20, $50 or however much you can afford. Thanks!

Save the Date: Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, January 18th
Last January, 65,000 volunteers served in some 900 projects in the 14th annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, the largest King Day event in the nation. Since 1996, some 500,000 volunteers across our region have celebrated Dr. King’s legacy by turning their community concerns into volunteer service and ongoing citizen action on King Day and beyond. Consider coming out and volunteering this January 18th at one of the hundreds of MLK Day service projects, or register a project of your own, at the event's website here.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 341 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

Local Programming: Drinking Coffee Liberally Mt. Airy + DL Football Sunday

Sunday, 13th
12:30 p.m.
Drinking (Coffee) Liberally Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Drinking Liberally meets every Sunday at Infusion Coffee + Tea (7133 Germantown Ave.), from 12:30 until 2:30 PM.

8:00 p.m.
Football Sunday with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistola's
It's Sunday night football, and the Eagles are traveling to the Meadowlands to play the imploding Giants. Join us in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start around 8:00 p.m., kickoff is at 8:20 p.m.

Local Programming; New Orleans Mayoral Candidate James Perry Fundraiser Tonight

Thursday, December 10th, 6-8 p.m.
New Orleans Mayoral Candidate James Perry Fundraiser Thursday Night
New Orleans mayoral candidate James Perry
will be in Philadelphia on December 10th for a fundraising event at the
Vivant Art Collection at 60 N. 2nd Street from 6-8:00 P.M., hosted by Prof. Melissa Harris-Lacewell
of Princeton University. Mr. Perry is a long-time New Orleans
progressive activist who has received a good amount of attention in
both the press and on blogs for his campaign. Email info@JamesPerry2010.com to RSVP.

Shoe, Foot, Etc.

Via P6, this from Lee Daniels:

[W]hen a “problem”—say, mass unemployment—is seen to be largely limited to black Americans ... [it] is racialized as a black problem and a sustained barrage of racially-driven criticism follows. News and opinion columns, the airwaves and the blogosphere rapidly overflow with glib slogans – “no excuses,” “tough love,” “personal responsibility,” and so on – used to disguise callousness masquerading as pragmatism. Such words and phrases were ubiquitous just a few years ago, when many at the top of the society ignored the truism that the financial markets are still ruled by the laws of economic gravity (what goes up must come down). Then, from 2000 to 2008, the white unemployment rate never exceeded 5.2 percent, and often fell below the official definition of full employment.

In sharp contrast, for five of those years the official black unemployment rate ranged from 10 to nearly 11 percent. Indeed, federal labor department statistics show that on an annualized basis the black unemployment rate breached the 10-percent level in 30 of the last 37 years. Throughout that period, the white unemployment rose above 8 percent only twice. In other words, black Americans have been enduring a sustained crisis of mass unemployment crisis since the early 1970s.

Even now, as mass unemployment continues despite an economic recovery appearing to take hold, the black unemployment rate for every category from high school dropouts to college graduates is soaring far above that of whites.

But the racial faux-moralists are silent. Instead, now that masses of whites are suffering, too, one finds an understanding of the harsh toll long-term unemployment can exact on adults and children. That was the point of a November 12 New York Times story which explored in poignant detail the stress on families caused by the long-term or serial joblessness of husbands and/or wives. The predicament, experts said, can have harmful lasting effects on both adults and children.

For me, the story was notable in that it focused on white, middle-class families with a dispassionate sympathy.

As P6 says, "One cannot help but be a little sarcastic."

We Win! We Lose! We Don't Know!

I come back from DL and my neighbor stops me and says the public option is dead, and then I hear there is a deal that includes a public option, but maybe they dealt the public option in exchange for Medicare buy-in at 55, or maybe not, but the specifics are secret until the CBO scores it and ... I fucking hate politics sometimes.

The VRWC v. ACORN

Just like the "elves" going after Bill Clinton in the 90s, we now have free-lance rightwing hostile action in the form of "hackers" attempting to steal information they can use to attack global warming science and the video produced by the ludicrous "pimp and hooker" duo who visited ACORN's offices. On ACORN, this is from a report (pdf) by the former attorney general of Massachusetts, now at Proskauer:

Based on our investigation, we offer the following comments:  
1.  Three of the six videos – Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. – involved only ACORN Housing employees, over which ACORN has no control.
2.  The released videos offer no evidence of a pattern of illegal conduct by ACORN employees.  In fact, out of the three videos involving ACORN employees, at least two involve extenuating circumstances. 
3.  The ACORN employees captured on video were members or part-time staff.  They were not organizers or supervisory level employees.
4.  None of the individuals captured on video consented to being video- or audio-taped, and four of the states where the videos were recorded appear to prohibit such taping without consent.
5.  In offices where the videographers spoke with organizers, videos were not released.  
6.  Police reports regarding the video incidents were filed in Philadelphia and San Diego.
7.  The released videos were edited or manipulated by the videographers and/or individual(s) acting on their behalf. 
8.  There is no evidence that any action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by ACORN employees on behalf of the videographers.
9.  Experienced forensic investigators would be able to determine the extent to which the released videos have been manipulated to distort, rather than merely shape, the facts and the conversations, as ACORN alleges [pdf].

The report blames ACORN management for expanding the organization too fast without providing the proper training and oversight that would have prevented the conservatives from getting past the first sentence of their ploy. In my experience, this kind of deficiency is common in liberal nonprofit organizations which are usually staffed by activist types who are focused on the mission and either don't know or don't care about proper management procedures.

(Via.)

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Center City Tonight

Note: This week, DL Center City will be held downstairs at Triumph at the platform bar on the first floor.

Tuesday, December 8th, 6 - 9 p.m.

Drinking Liberally Center City
Center City DL meets from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. every Tuesday in the Triumph Brewing Co., located at 117 Chestnut St. (between Front and 2nd Streets), Philadelphia, PA 19106. There are $3 beers, $4 wine, $5 well drinks all night as well as happy hour food specials including half-price burgers.

Triumph Brewery is conveniently SEPTA-accessible via the Market-Frankford El (2nd Street station), all the buses that turn around at or near Penn's Landing (12, 17, 21, 33, 42, 48), and a few other buses that pass nearby (5, 25, 47, 57). Driving directions are here.

Local Programming: DL Football Sunday 12:30 p.m. at Jose Pistola's

December 6th, 12:30 p.m.
Football Sunday with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistola's
Come watch as the Eagles visit the Atlanta Falcons. Join us in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start around 12:30 p.m., kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.

Save the Date: New Orleans Mayoral Candidate James Perry in Philadelphia on December 10th
New Orleans mayoral candidate James Perry will be in Philadelphia on December 10th for a fundraising event at the Vivant Art Collection at 60 North Second Street from 6-8:00 P.M., hosted by Prof. Melissa Harris-Lacewell of Princeton University. Mr. Perry is a long-time New Orleans progressive activist who has received a good amount of attention in both the press and on blogs for his campaign. Email info@JamesPerry2010.com to RSVP.

This Goes for the Rest of You, Too

What Digby said:

We had a choice in the Democratic Party between two moderates with almost identical agendas and worlviews. It's not in the least bit surprising that they are working well together. They have never really disagreed. And in the General we had a choice between a centrist and a doddering right wing fool and his ignoramus running mate. These were the choices before us. If Tom Hayden thought we were electing the second coming of Ghandi, Houdini and Jesus Christ, it was all in his head.

Local Programming: DL Football Sunday 12:30 p.m. at Jose Pistola's

Football Sunday with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistola's
Come watch the Eagles play the hapless Redskins. Join us in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start around 12:30 p.m., kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.

Pennsylvania State Job Cuts Undermine Stimulus Effect on Infrastructure Spending and Environmental Safety

Duncan, talking about the self-defeating focus on the federal budget deficit:

I'm not talking about make work, I'm talking about real projects from basic maintenance to sewers to pothole filling to the demolishing and reclaiming of property with abandoned buildings etc... etc... The fact that the administration is signaling that it's more worried about the deficit than unemployment is incredibly frustrating.

He's also complained, rightly, in the past about the fact that stimulus funds for the states were cut at the behest of people concerned about spending too much.

There's a similar process at work here in Pennsylvania. Recently, the Rendell administration announced it was cutting an additional 319 state jobs:

[T]he Department of Environmental Protection will see the greatest reductions, losing 138 positions, or about 5 percent of its workforce ....

I was talking to a civil engineer last night who is working on several stimulus-funded infrastructure projects. He told me that people don't realize that every project requires the DEP to issue a permit before work begins. The DEP staff is already overworked; now, with the cuts, permits will be delayed even further. The net effect is that the stimulus money that Pennsylvania is getting won't be spent as quickly as it could be.

The state officials downplay it:

[DEP secretary John] Hanger said the layoffs, plus unfilled vacancies totaling an additional 120 jobs, would reduce the agency's overall staff complement from 3,011 to 2,760. He said sparing the inspection and enforcement staff was "the highest priority" but said the reductions might lengthen the permit-granting process for certain construction projects.

Making the unfilled vacancies permanent means that DEP is actually losing 258 staff, which is over 8% of the workforce.

But when it comes to development, they have their priorities:

Cuts to the Department of Environmental Protection will not affect oversight of increased natural gas exploration in the so-called Marcellus Shale reserve, the rich vein of gas that underlies most of the state, agency secretary John Hanger said.

He said the 120 salaried staffers who review applications for permits to drill for gas or oil and inspect drilling sites are covered by fees paid by the industry and aren't affected by the cuts.

The fracing that is required to extract the gas from the shale is also going to dump huge amounts of pollutants into the Susquehanna, which is already making people sick. And guess what? Under a law passed by Congress in 2004, fracing is exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act, which means the federal EPA has no jurisdiction over the practice. That leaves the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which is now down 8% in staff, to regulate the problem.

Wake Me When It's Over

It's hard for me to care about events in the Senate when dumbass conservatives from my own party are the ones standing in the way of even a mild kind of reform. What should I do, call Blanche Lincoln's office and scream at her staffer?

Just think, if we had gone all-in on single payer, this never would have happened. All opposition would have been swept away by a tidal wave of public ... wait, why are you laughing?

Local Programming: Drinking Coffee Liberally Mt. Airy + DL Football Sunday

Sunday, November 22nd
12:30 p.m.
Drinking (Coffee) Liberally Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Drinking Liberally meets every Sunday at Infusion Coffee + Tea (7133 Germantown Ave.), from 12:30 until 2:30 PM.

8:00 p.m.
Football Sunday with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistola's
It's Sunday night football with the Eagles for the second time this year. This week they travel to Chicago to play the 4-5 Bears. Join us in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start around 8:00 p.m., kickoff is at 8:20 p.m.

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 343 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Center City Tonight 6-9 p.m.; Ali Eteraz Author Talk

Tuesday, November 17th
6 - 9 p.m.
Drinking Liberally Center City
Center City DL meets from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. every Tuesday in the Triumph Brewing Co. upstairs bar, located at 117 Chestnut St. (between Front and 2nd Streets), Philadelphia, PA 19106. There are $3 beers, $4 wine, $5 well drinks all night as well as happy hour food specials including half-price burgers.

Triumph Brewery is conveniently SEPTA-accessible via the Market-Frankford El (2nd Street station), all the buses that turn around at or near Penn's Landing (12, 17, 21, 33, 42, 48), and a few other buses that pass nearby (5, 25, 47, 57). Driving directions are here.

6-8 p.m.
Ali Eteraz Book Channel Author Appearance Tuesday Night for Children of Dust
Friend of DL Philly and former Philly resident Ali Eteraz has written Children of Dust, a memoir "revealing Islamic fundamentalism and madrassa life in rural Pakistan, the culture shock of moving to the U.S., and a journey of reconciliation to the modern Middle East." On Tuesday night at 6, the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals will host Ali's author appearance at the Brandywine Workshop, 730 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19146. The appearance will be broadcast on C-Span's Book Channel. Some copies of the book will be available for sale at the appearance. RSVP here.

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 343 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Football and Mt. Airy Coffee Tomorrow

Sunday, November 15th
12:30 p.m.
Drinking (Coffee) Liberally Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Drinking Liberally meets every Sunday at Infusion Coffee + Tea (7133 Germantown Ave.), from 12:30 until 2:30 PM.

4:00 p.m.
Football Sunday with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistola's
Want to watch the game? This week the Eagles play the Chargers. Join us in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start around 4:00 p.m., kickoff is at 4:15 p.m.

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 340 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

PA State Rep Perzel Indicted

Good news:

Rep. John M. Perzel, the former speaker of the state House, was charged today with 82 criminal counts in a sweeping scandal involving a sophisticated, multi-million software programs paid for by taxpayers but allegedly used for political campaigning. ...

Nine others with ties to the House Republican Caucus were also charged, including five former top Perzel aides and former Rep. Brett Feese of Lycoming County, who once headed the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Perzel is one of the many Republican state legislators who have repeatedly screwed over the city of Philadelphia and benefited Harrisburg, most notably via the money vacuum known as the Parking Authority.

Also, this:

The Philadelphia Republican is the most prominent political figure thus far to be charged in Attorney General Tom Corbett's long-running investigation unofficially known as Bonusgate. ...

The charges, laid out in a 188-page presentment, come 17 months after Corbett brought charges against a dozen House Democratic insiders - including former House Minority Whip Mike Veon - accusing them of misusing public funds for political purposes

Corbett is a Republican running for Governor and is going to be able to trade on these criminal cases as part of his campaign. In a statement, Perzel said:

"This investigation has lasted for nearly three years, and it's only now, on the eve of his gubernatorial campaign and in response to claims that he was unfairly pursuing only Democrats, that Attorney General Corbett has decided to bring charges against 10 Republicans, including me," said Perzel. "It smacks of political opportunism at the expense of my reputation, and I am going to fight very aggressively to prove my innocence.

Clearly, the timing is politically opportune for Corbett. Whether that means the case against Perzel is any good or not, I don't know.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Center City Tonight 6-9 p.m.

Tuesday, November 10th
6 p.m.
Drinking Liberally Center City
Center City DL meets from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. every Tuesday in the Triumph Brewing Co. upstairs bar, located at 117 Chestnut St. (between Front and 2nd Streets), Philadelphia, PA 19106. There are $3 beers, $4 wine, $5 well drinks all night as well as happy hour food specials including half-price burgers.

Triumph Brewery is conveniently SEPTA-accessible via the Market-Frankford El (2nd Street station), all the buses that turn around at or near Penn's Landing (12, 17, 21, 33, 42, 48), and a few other buses that pass nearby (5, 25, 47, 57). Driving directions are here.

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 340 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

"A Shitty Bill Passed, And It's a Miracle"

Booman:

There is no way anyone could pass a single-payer system through this Congress, even if we won oodles of new seats. It just won't happen. It's not a matter of leadership. Why does the entire South oppose even this lukewarm reform? Look at how far we had to go to get to the point that we could pass something with no support from Republicans and almost no support from Southern Democrats? We just did it, and it's a minor miracle. A shitty bill passed, and it's a miracle.

We could have gone all out for single payer and we'd never even have gotten ... this. We'd have gotten nothing for another 15 years.

As it is, what the fuck is wrong with southern Democrats? Are they really that pathetic?

Health Care Reform Passes on the Backs of Women

Cheers on the floor of the House from Democrats as HR3962, the fucked-up, stupid, compromised health care reform bill passes. This moment brought to you by the assholes in the United States Catholic Church, who demanded that the plan punish poor women who need abortions. Motherfuckers.

Joseph Cao of Louisiana the sole Republican who gives a shit about Americans.

Revoke these motherfuckers tax exemption right now:

The representatives of the nation’s bishops made clear they would fight the bill if there were not restrictions on abortion. In an extraordinary effort over the last 10 days, the bishops conference told priests across the country to talk about the legislation in church, mobilizing parishioners to contact Congress and to pray for the success of anti-abortion amendments.

The bishops sent out information to be “announced at all Masses” and included in parish bulletins, and urged priests and parishioners to tell House members: “Please support the Stupak Amendment that addresses essential pro-life concerns.” They added: “If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed.”

Catholic Church Waging War on Women and Gays

Vote on the Stupak Anti-Abortion Amendment at 7:15 p.m.; Please Call Your Rep

If you haven't heard, Democratic member of Congress Bart Stupak has introduced an amendment to the health care reform bill which will not only prevent the public option plan from covering abortion, but will require any health insurance plan that participates in the exchange to not cover it, either.  Most health insurance plans now cover abortion, and this amendment would have the effect of eliminating that benefit for everyone, whether you buy insurance through the exchange or not.

The vote for the amendment is scheduled for around 6 7:15 p.m. Please see here for a list of members of Congress who need to be called to get them to vote no on the amendment.

Also, send Rep. Stupak a postcard here.

10:08: 34 Dems vote for Stupak amendment. Per Chris Bowers's math, that's not enough.

10:09: Goddamnit. Up to 44 now.

10:26: Amendment passes with a big chunk of Democratic votes (>60). Unfuckingbelievable. Question now becomes if it survives conference, and in what form.

A lot of men hate women.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Football and Mt. Airy Coffee Tomorrow

Sunday, November 8th
12:30 p.m.
Drinking (Coffee) Liberally Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Drinking Liberally meets every Sunday at Infusion Coffee + Tea (7133 Germantown Ave.), from 12:30 until 2:30 PM.

8:00 p.m.
Football Sunday with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistola's
It's the Eagles v. Dallas in Sunday night football. DL Center City regulars been having a good time watching the Eagles on Sunday afternoons; this will be the first evening game. Come out and be liberal football fans with us in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start around 8:00 p.m., kickoff is at 8:20 p.m.

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 340 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

Local Programming: Meet Death Row Exoneree Harold Wilson This Afternoon

Thursday, November 5th

4:30-6:00 p.m.
Meet Death Row Exoneree Harold Wilson at Temple Law
Meet Harold Wilson, who was wrongly sentenced to death for murder and then subsequently exonerated. The event is sponsored by the American Constitution Society, Witness to Innocence, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. The program will be held at Temple University Beasley School of Law, 1719 North Broad St. (southeast corner of Broad and Montgomery Ave.), Philadelphia, PA 19122, Room K2B, from 4:30-6 p.m. Contact Chris Wickman for more information.

Can't Blame Black People For Gay-Rights Defeat This Time

Maine voters decisively rejected same-sex marriage yesterday, 53% to 47%. Last November, when California voters overturned gay marriage there, the exit polls indicated that out of the Obama constituencies, overwhelming opposition from African-American (and, to a lesser extent, Hispanic) voters helped tip the balance. This was controversial, to put it mildly. Well, Maine is 97% white, and Obama won it in a landslide, 58%-42%. 

Something else I hadn't realized: the Christie win in New Jersey means the gay marriage bill expected to have come out of the legislature soon is now dead.

Fear wins again.

Local Programming: Philly for Change Monthly Meeting Tonight at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, November 4th

7 p.m.
Philly for Change Monthly Meetup at Tritone
Come out to the Philly for Change monthly meeting at Tritone, 1508 South St.. If you can volunteer for PFC's election-day canvass, email Sam Durso at samuel.durso@gmail.com or call 267-307-8821. At the meetup, proud progressive State Rep of North/Northeast Philly's 202nd District Mark Cohen will discuss House Bill 1393, which would legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania.

Say Goodnight

Dems lose in VA and NJ governor's race, maybe pick up that weird NY congressional seat, probably win lose on gay rights in Maine. Good time for me to go to bed.

Philly: Go Vote

Polls open at 7. Please see Michele Grant on who to vote for.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Center City Tonight 6-9 p.m.

Tuesday, November 3rd
6 p.m.
Drinking Liberally Center City
Center City DL meets from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. every Tuesday in the Triumph Brewing Co. upstairs bar, located at 117 Chestnut St. (between Front and 2nd Streets), Philadelphia, PA 19106. There are $3 beers, $4 wine, $5 well drinks all night as well as happy hour food specials including half-price burgers.

Triumph Brewery is conveniently SEPTA-accessible via the Market-Frankford El (2nd Street station), all the buses that turn around at or near Penn's Landing (12, 17, 21, 33, 42, 48), and a few other buses that pass nearby (5, 25, 47, 57). Driving directions are here.

Help Us Promote DL

Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

About Us

Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 340 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Football or Coffee

Sunday, November 1st
12:30 p.m.
Drinking (Coffee) Liberally Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Drinking Liberally meets every Sunday at Infusion Coffee + Tea (7133 Germantown Ave.), from 12:30 until 2:30 PM.

1:00 p.m.
Football Sunday with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistola's
Giants v. Eagles! Come out and be liberal while watching another turnpike matchup. We'll be in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start around 12:30, kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.

Upcoming Events
Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission October Community Meetings and Online Survey
The Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission is working on creating a new zoning code for Philadelphia. Several community meetings have been scheduled starting October 22nd to discuss the issue with Philadelphians. Go here for the schedule. Also, the Commission has an online survey up where you can give your input. For the backstory, see here.

Thursday, November 12th
Fundraiser for The Pennsylvania Innocence Project
Arcadia University in Glenside, PA will stage a performance of The Exonerated on Thursday, November 12th at 7:30 pm to benefit the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. Tickets for this special benefit performance can be reserved with a minimum donation of $100 each and can be purchased using a major credit card. Seating is limited, and tickets are expected to sell out, so please purchase tickets soon!

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

House Health Care Reform Bill

I don't want to get into a lot of detail describing a moving target, but I want to note some key features of the House bill that caught my eye:

• The public option and the exchange kick in during 2013. Individuals will then be required to have insurance. Subsidies provided up to 400% of poverty level.
• Ends unwarranted rescission immediately.
• Limits pre-existing condition look-back to 30 days immediately. Eliminates pre-existing in 2013.
• Eliminates lifetime benefit caps immediately.
• Allows parents to keep children on their policies until age 26 immediately.
• COBRA is extended until the exchange with a public option is running.
• Creates a $5 billion fund immediately to subsidize people who can't get health insurance due to a pre-existing condition.
• Creates a long-term care insurance public option immediately.
• Requires the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices starting in 2011.

These are all great things. The health insurance public option gets all the attention, but the last two items impress me just as much.

I think people underestimate how important long-term care insurance is. People carry life insurance as a matter of course, but you have a much greater chance in any given year of becoming permanently disabled than dying. Many people have disability insurance through their employers, but that only guarantees (a percentage of) your pay, which presumably covers your current expenses. It doesn't address the additional costs you will face if you need in-home care. Without long-term care insurance, someone will have to stay home with you, depriving the household of their income. But long-term care insurance is expensive. Bottom line: This is a great benefit.

The government negotiating drug prices will also have positive society-wide effects. Prescription medications are one of the main cost drivers of the health care system. I would bet that this change will result in more cost savings in the long run than covering the uninsured through the public option.

As I said though, we'll see how much of this gets enacted.

(Via Big Baby Blue Blogspot Blog.)

Local Programming: Philly Media + Delaware Drinking Liberally

Thursday, October 29th
6 p.m.
The Future of News Media in Philly
Young Involved Philadelphia hosts a forum on The Future of News Media in Philly from 6-7:30 p.m. at the WHYY Civic Space, 150 N. 6th St. (at Arch St.), Philadelphia, PA 19106. The forum will be moderated by Chris Satullo of WHYY. Panelists include Matt Golas (Managing Editor, PlanPhilly), Bruce Schimmel (Founder, Philadelphia City Paper), Joey Sweeney (Editor & Founder, Philebrity.com), and Sandra Shea (Editorial Page Editor, Daily News). Go harass the people who buy ink by the barrel! RSVP here.

7 p.m.
Drinking Liberally Delaware
It's Delaware Drinking Liberally at 7 p.m. at the Homegrown Cafe, 126 East Main Street, Newark, DE 19711. Delaware DL will be holding a costume contest, to be judged by their very own Death Panel. Sign up for the Delaware DL mailing list here.

Upcoming Events
Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission October Community Meetings and Online Survey
The Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission is working on creating a new zoning code for Philadelphia. Several community meetings have been scheduled starting October 22nd to discuss the issue with Philadelphians. Go here for the schedule. Also, the Commission has an online survey up where you can give your input. For the backstory, see here.

Thursday, November 12th
Fundraiser for The Pennsylvania Innocence Project
Arcadia University in Glenside, PA will stage a performance of The Exonerated on Thursday, November 12th at 7:30 pm to benefit the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. Tickets for this special benefit performance can be reserved with a minimum donation of $100 each and can be purchased using a major credit card. Seating is limited, and tickets are expected to sell out, so please purchase tickets soon!

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

Prematurely Incorrect

I love it when John Cole is wound up:

Although I hear if you wish really hard and scream “Just words” at Obama, Lieberman might change his mind. That is how this shit works- I read it on the internet!

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Center City Tonight 6-9 p.m.

Tuesday, October 27th
Drinking Liberally Center City
Center City DL meets from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. every Tuesday in the Triumph Brewing Co. upstairs bar, located at 117 Chestnut St. (between Front and 2nd Streets), Philadelphia, PA 19106. There are $3 beers, $4 wine, $5 well drinks all night as well as happy hour food specials including half-price burgers.

Triumph Brewery is conveniently SEPTA-accessible via the Market-Frankford El (2nd Street station), all the buses that turn around at or near Penn's Landing (12, 17, 21, 33, 42, 48), and a few other buses that pass nearby (5, 25, 47, 57). Driving directions are here.

Upcoming Events
Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission October Community Meetings and Online Survey
The Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission is working on creating a new zoning code for Philadelphia. Several community meetings have been scheduled starting October 22nd to discuss the issue with Philadelphians. Go here for the schedule. Also, the Commission has an online survey up where you can give your input. For the backstory, see here.

Thursday, November 12th
Fundraiser for The Pennsylvania Innocence Project
Arcadia University in Glenside, PA will stage a performance of The Exonerated on Thursday, November 12th at 7:30 pm to benefit the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. Tickets for this special benefit performance can be reserved with a minimum donation of $100 each and can be purchased using a major credit card. Seating is limited, and tickets are expected to sell out, so please purchase tickets soon!

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Football Sunday+ Picnic for Public Option

Two Philly DL events today:

1:00 p.m.
Football Sunday with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistola's
It's almost halfway through the regular season already, so come out to catch some football with Drinking Liberally Philly. The Eagles play on Monday night this week, so this Sunday we'll be watching the Steelers take on the Vikings instead. We'll be in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start around 12:30, kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.

Noon
Picnic for the Public Option in Clark Park
President Obama needs our help in getting a strong Health Care Reform Bill through congress. We can help him by showing our support, enjoy a wonderful Philadelphia park, and catch up with old friends from the campaign all at the same time. The picnic will be held from noon to 4 p.m. in Clark Park in West Philly.

The picnic will be potluck like so many of our events during the primaries. Alcohol is not permitted in the park. In case of rain we will move the event to the Millcreek Tavern, 4200 Chester Ave and regardless we will probably head there after the picnic. RSVP here.

12:30 p.m.
Drinking (Coffee) Liberally Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Drinking Liberally will not be holding their weekly meeting, but will be at the Clark Park picnic.

David DiSabatino, Center City organizer.
Michele Grant, Center City co-organizer.
Center City DL Facebook group.
Philly DL Flickr group.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 340 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally, Dialing for Health Care, Ali Eteraz and Beer Activism

Tuesday, October 20th
6 p.m.
Drinking Liberally Center City
This week at DL we're having a joint party with the American Constitution Society's local lawyers and law student chapters. Adam Bonin of ACS will give a short talk on the Citizens United case before the Supreme Court, which is widely expected to result in corporations being granted Free Speech rights to make political contributions.

There may also be special guests. Yes, that is intentionally mysterious.

Center City DL meets from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. every Tuesday in the Triumph Brewing Co. upstairs bar, located at 117 Chestnut St. (between Front and 2nd Streets), Philadelphia, PA 19106. There are $3 beers, $4 wine, $5 well drinks all night as well as happy hour food specials including half-price burgers.

Triumph Brewery is conveniently SEPTA-accessible via the Market-Frankford El (2nd Street station), all the buses that turn around at or near Penn's Landing (12, 17, 21, 33, 42, 48), and a few other buses that pass nearby (5, 25, 47, 57). Driving directions are here.

Time to Deliver Health Care 100,000 Call Challenge
The health reform debate is about to move to the full Congress for the first time. With the insurance industry lobby pulling out all the stops to derail progress, we need everyone who supports reform to weigh in. So here's the plan: Set a new OFA record by getting 100,000 calls to Congress placed or committed to on a single day.

On Tuesday, October 20, volunteers from all over Philadelphia will gather to participate in this record-breaking effort by calling constituents and asking them to call on their member of Congress to support reform. President Obama will join the event via live webcast, sharing the latest info on the fight for reform and encouraging everyone to keep up the fight.

6-9 p.m., Organizing for America HQ, 123 S. Broad Street, Suite 820, Philadelphia, PA 19102. RSVP here.

7:30 p.m.
Ali Eteraz at the Free Library
An international lawyer (and former Drinking Liberally Philly attendee) who founded a think tank dedicated to legal reform in the Muslim world, Ali Eteraz writes an award-winning blog on the site Islamosphere. In Children of Dust, Eteraz recounts his schooling in a madrassa in Pakistan, his move to America, and his subsequent return to find a Muslim wife, at which time he becomes the subject of an abduction plot by the Taliban and is forced to grapple with his Islamic identity. Called a "love letter to one man's fading faith," author Yael Goldstein Love insists that the memoir "is a gift and a necessity."

Here's a bit from Phillygrrl's interview with Ali:

My view is that Pakistan gets a very bad rap in American press. The fact that suicide bombings occur there should not be an indictment of average Pakistanis who are really rambunctious and party-loving people. The country is currently in the midst of an awesome musical, artistic and literary renaissance — much of it in response to the turmoil — and more Americans should pay attention to that side of Pakistan. I know that people in Philly appreciate rock music — they would be surprised to know that Pakistan is at the forefront of Third-World rock.

Buy the book. Directions to the event here.

Drinking Liberally Philly: Petition Anheuser-Busch to Leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
We like to share a drink as we share our politics.  But it turns out the makers of Budweiser aren't so concerned about sharing the planet.  They're part of an organization that denies global warming -- pitting the King of Beers against Mother Earth. Anheuser-Busch sits on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- an organization that has taken a radical stand on global warming and has threatened to sue the EPA if it tries to regulate greenhouse gases.

Bud and Bud Lite are supposed to lift our spirits; why would they want to hurt our planet?

That's why Drinking Liberally wants to let them know that we like the "King of Beers," but we like Mother Earth even more.

Join us in asking Anheuser-Busch to step down from the board of the Chamber of Commerce, and show us where their loyalties truly are -- with us, their customers.

Other major companies including Apple and Pacific Gas and Electric have already stepped down. If Anheuser-Busch stands up for our environment, we'll raise up a glass to them, and say, "This Bud's for you."

Join us now and call upon Bud to quit:
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/chamber_dl/?rc=drinking_10192009_chamber

Credible Sources

Shorter nearly everyone in the liberal blogosphere:

I will uncritically accept John Harwood's story that an anonymous White House source said something mean about me, even though his track record shows he's reliable only for attacking liberals.

Get a grip, people. You're being played by the media.

It's even dumber that a conservative law blogger shows more sense.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Football and Mt. Airy Coffee Tomorrow

Sunday, October 11th
Watching Football with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistolas
It's football Sunday and the Eagles are on. Come on out to watch the Birds play the Tampa Bay Bucs with the Drinking Liberally Center City crowd. Discuss health care reform during those boring coaches' challenge timeouts. We're watching the game in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start at noon, kickoff is at 1 p.m.

Drinking (Coffee) Liberally Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Drinking Liberally meets every Sunday at Infusion Coffee + Tea (7133 Germantown Ave.), from 12:30 until 2:30 PM.

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 341 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

U.S. Generals, Off the Record: McChrystal is Just Like Shinseki

Poor babies:

The hallways at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center buzzed with sympathy for McChrystal, who has said the U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan risks failure without a rapid infusion of additional forces. Obama and his advisers are now debating strategy in Afghanistan, with some officials arguing against additional deployments.

"It was definitely a hand slap," one Army officer said of the statement last weekend by national security adviser James L. Jones, a retired Marine general, that military officials should pass advice to President Obama through their chain of command. The Army officer, like others attending the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the politically sensitive issue.

Profile in courage: An anonymous officer criticizing the President publicly for telling a commander he should work on the strategic review that is underway rather than just announce his preferred strategy.

A number of senior Army officers compared McChrystal to Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the Army chief of staff who warned before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 that it would take several hundred thousand troops to secure the country -- advice that was dismissed as "wildly off the mark" by then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz.

"You know what happened to Shinseki," said one Army general, referring to what many officers believe was the Bush administration's punitive treatment of the general, now Obama's secretary of veteran affairs.

Yeah, I know what happened to Shinseki. He was called before Congress to answer questions, he didn't run to the Washington Post to bitch anonymously. And when he answered Congress's questions, he was forced out. Unlike McChrystal. 

Officers said there was no question that McChrystal and other commanders would carry out whatever decisions Obama makes. "We will tell you what we think, but we are also soldiers, so if the president gives an order, we will execute it," the senior officer said.

How nice of them.

Local Programming: Specter Town Hall Friday, 4 p.m. at Drexel

From Drexel Dems:

Join Pennsylvania's Senior Senator, Arlen Specter, and the Drexel Democrats for a Town Hall Meeting on Friday, October 9th at 4:00PM in McAllister 2019 (corner of 33rd and Chestnut, above Bookstore)

Ask Senator Specter about healthcare and the public option, the Employee Free Choice Act, Iraq, Afghanistan, the economy, or his past record such as his vote for President Obama's stimulus plan.

The Senator is coming to Drexel to answer any and all questions from the Drexel community.

Senator Specter is currently running for re-election to the United States Senate, for the first time as a Democrat.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Mt. Airy Sukkot Edition

Thursday, October 8th
Drinking Liberally Mt. Airy in the Sukkah
Drinking Liberally Mt. Airy host Adam Zion says:

"You are all invited to join me in the back yard of my house as we Drink Liberally in the Sukkah! A sukkah is a temporary 'booth' which Jews build to celebrate the harvest festival of Sukkot, which runs through this Saturday night. And, since it's a mitzvah (commandment) to eat + drink in the sukkah, combined w/another commandment to welcome guests into one's house, what better than to invite friends over for beer in the sukkah.

"So, come one, and come all, join us at 6:00 PM this Thursday, 10/8, at my house at 7035 Lincoln Dr. Please send a confirmation via e-mail if you are going to attend, so that I can order adequate beer, munchies, etc. For all of you who attended last year, we'll have the same deal this time around: I'll provide the location + a case of beer, the rest I hope our guests can provide. And I figure we'll order a pizza or so if people feel so inclined."

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 341 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

Local Programming: Philly for Change Monthly Meeting Tonight at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, October 7th
Philly for Change October Meetup Featuring Joe Hoeffel
Montco Commissioner, former Congressman, and Gubernatorial hopeful Joe Hoeffel joins Philly for Change at Tritone, 1508 South St., to talk about the race and his candidacy. Be there at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, October 8.

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally-Related Program Activities

Tonight and several other times this week:

There are four separate Drinking Liberally Philadelphia events this week:

Tuesday, October 6th
Drinking Liberally Center City
6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Triumph Brewing Co. upstairs bar
117 Chestnut St. (between Front and 2nd Streets)
Philadelphia, PA 19106.
$3 beers, $4 wine, $5 well drinks all night.
Happy hour food specials include half-price burgers.

Triumph Brewery is conveniently SEPTA-accessible via the Market-Frankford El (2nd Street station), all the buses that turn around at or near Penn's Landing (12, 17, 21, 33, 42, 48), and a few other buses that pass nearby (5, 25, 47, 57). Driving directions are here.

Thursday, October 8th
Drinking Liberally Mt. Airy in the Sukkah
Drinking Liberally Mt. Airy host Adam Zion invites you to Drinking Liberally in the Sukkah. See more here.

Sunday, October 11th
Watching Football with Drinking Liberally Philly at Jose Pistolas
We're watching the game in the upstairs bar at Jose Pistola's, 263 S. 15th Street (between Locust and Spruce), Philadelphia, PA 19102. We'll start at noon, kickoff is at 1 p.m.

Drinking (Coffee) Liberally Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Drinking Liberally meets every Sunday at Infusion Coffee + Tea (7133 Germantown Ave.), from 12:30 until 2:30 PM.

Other Area Events
Wednesday, October 7th
Philly for Change October Meetup Featuring Joe Hoeffel
Montco Commissioner, former Congressman, and Gubernatorial hopeful Joe Hoeffel joins Philly for Change at Tritone, 1508 South St., to talk about the race and his candidacy. Be there at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, October 8.

Send In Your Event Suggestions
Like all civic-minded liberals, we're here to promote democracy and citizen engagement in the political process, especially if there is beer involved. Whether it is or not, forward any area events for the week to the Philly DL organizer by Sunday to have them included in the weekly email.

Help Us Promote DL
Spread the word to your liberal friends to sign up for a group of like-minded people who get together every week to have fun and talk about what's happening in progressive politics right now. Please forward this email to those who might be interested in coming out and Drinking Liberally.

About Us
Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which builds progressive community through social networks and events. Founded in 2003, Living Liberally has 336 341 chapters across the country. The Center City Philadelphia chapter of DL was started during the 2004 election and has met every Tuesday night since.

Correlation is Not Causation

Let's play spot the fallacy. (Spoiler alert: Don't read the title of this post.) Item one:

Teenagers who eat with their families less than three times a week are more likely to turn to alcohol, tobacco and drugs than those who dine with their families five times a week. ...

Since the first CASA study in 1996 saw an association between the frequency of family dinners and rates of adolescent substance abuse, numerous other studies have pointed to the importance of the family dinner. They suggest that family dinners have a positive impact on nutrition, verbal abilities, mental health and workers’ stress. The news media passionately presses the cause; it’s a cornerstone of the slow-parenting movement.

To get the gist of the rest of the article, it's titled "The Guilt-Trip Casserole."

Item two, from rightwing religion blogger Mollie Ziegler Hemingway on the supposed "opt-out movement":

[P]arents in married relationships were more likely to own their own homes, have higher household incomes, be employed, and have at least a bachelor’s degree. They were less likely to receive food stamps than other family types. ...

It’s almost like all that morality stuff that religious groups are shoving down our throats has some merit or something. At least it has some policy implications.

To their credit, the New York Times does allow an actual researcher to debunk the "guilt-trip" point of the article:

Dr. Philip A. Cowan, a psychologist and former director of the Institute of Human Development at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that the alacrity with which Americans embrace equations like family dinner frequency and substance abuse speaks to their need to find “silver bullet” solutions to profound problems.

But, he cautioned in an e-mail message, there is not a proven cause and effect that more family dinners equal less drug use. “To say that family dinners are associated with good outcomes is not the same as saying that family dinners cause good outcomes,” wrote Dr. Cowan, who has studied families.

The most likely explanation for the CASA results, he added, is that families who place importance on eating together — and can organize themselves to pull it off — are those who are more likely to produce good outcomes for their children anyway.

The conservative journalist Hemingway just goes all-in and says not only that marriage produces better outcomes but that it's all the doing of religion! And when I tried to point out the fallacy in comments, she deleted it. Which is par for the course with rightwingers: Dumb and dishonest.

And of course, both of these pieces place the burden on women to conform to someone else's idea of what a "good mother" is, or else their kids will turn out to be dropout junkies and sluts. The sexism is rank, and it doesn't get a mention in either place.

U.S. Commanding General in Afghanistan Tells the President Which Orders to Give

There's no other way to interpret this:

He was speaking in Britain — America’s close ally in Afghanistan — a day after he had participated by video link from London in a White House strategy session on the war that included President Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and an array of senior advisers.

General McChrystal was asked by a member of an audience that included retired military commanders and security specialists whether he would support an idea put forward by Mr. Biden to scale back the American military presence in Afghanistan to focus on tracking down the leaders of Al Qaeda, in place of the current broader effort now under way to defeat the Taliban.

“The short answer is: no,” he said. “You have to navigate from where you are, not where you wish to be. A strategy that does not leave Afghanistan in a stable position is probably a short-sighted strategy.”

He did not mention Mr. Biden by name.

Right now the White House is engaged in a strategic review of its options in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That review has just gotten underway and is expected to take some time to complete, but McChrystal's statement, if left as is, narrows the range of possible options. The statement is an attempt to tie President Obama's hands by publicly announcing which strategic goals are acceptable and which are not. If Obama decides to support Biden's idea, then Republicans will seize on McChrystal's statement as proof that Obama is undermining American security. 

McChrystal must retract his statement or be removed from his position. If SecDef Gates lets this slide, we'll end up with a decades-long commitment to a war for no reason other than the generals like fighting it.

Census Worker Found Hanged

Too early to tell what happened here:

The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery. A law enforcement official says the word "fed" was scrawled on his chest.

The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found Sept. 12 in the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.

Investigators have said little about the case. A law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, tells The Associated Press the word "fed" was written on the dead man's chest.

But it's worrying, not least because it happened on 9/12, the day of the Teabagger's March on Washington. I would use the word lynching if it had been "ACORN" written on his chest. As it is, I think the most likely explanation (because of "fed") is political murder not directly connected to the anti-Obama stuff but motivated by general anti-government sentiment by someone living out in the woods. It's also possible that he stumbled on some methshiners.

(Via MG.)

Local Programming: Drinking Liberally Philly 5th Anniversary Tonight

Drinking Liberally Philadelphia Turns 5
Tuesday night come out to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the first Philly DL. There will be cake!

Please note that Center City DL will be held on the first floor of Triumph this week.

Tuesday, September 22nd
Drinking Liberally Center City
6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Triumph Brewing Co.
117 Chestnut St. (between Front and 2nd Streets)
Philadelphia, PA 19106.
$3 beers, $4 wine, $5 well drinks all night.
Happy hour food specials: $4 pizza app, half-price burgers.

Triumph Brewery is conveniently SEPTA-accessible via the Market-Frankford El (2nd Street station), all the buses that turn around at or near Penn's Landing (12, 17, 21, 33, 42, 48), and a few other buses that pass nearby (5, 25, 47, 57). Driving directions are here.

Quote of the Day

Is this post title from Nate Silver:

Baucus Compromise Bill Draws Enthusiastic Support of Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

A Reminder of How Much the Heritage Foundation Hates Workers

I read The Foundry, the blog of the Heritage Foundation, and it regularly contains some of the most batshit-crazy economic conservatism you'd ever want to see. Today's example:

 

Geddit? Construction workers don't work, unlike those on wingnut welfare like Conn Carroll.