Fables of the reconstruction

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.

Things to Do On Facebook When You're Dead

Here:

We understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them, which is why it's important when someone passes away that their friends or family contact Facebook to request that a profile be memorialized.

Obama as Prof. Xavier

I perked up when I saw this headline over at the Heritage Foundation's blog:

Pelosi Plan Would Give Health Czar Super Powers

I'm thinking, "Telepathy, that's what that official needs! No, not telepathy -- a superhuman capacity to put up with bullshit." Because it turns out there are no mutant powers, it's just Heritage being total whackjobs again. Anyone who has even read the smallest part about what they're referring to will understand they're nuts. Or lying. Or both.

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.)

A Small Change for the Better

Bush never went to Dover.

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.

Imagine The Scene If They Win It All Again

I took this the night the Phillies won the pennant and forgot to post it (because I was drunk), but it serves pretty well to illustrate how the fans feel tonight.

I Hope That Made You Feel Better

A Yankees fan reacts as Chase Utley's second home run of the night lands in the bleachers:

Screengrab from TV.

Another South Carolina Politician Resigns

Caught in a cemetery with a stripper, sex toys and Viagra:

[Police officer Mike Wines] stopped [state Assistant Attorney General Roland] Corning Monday after witnessing his car pull into a secluded spot in Elmwood Cemetery in downtown Columbia.

Corning was in the car with an 18-year-old employee of Platinum Plus Gentlemen’s Club, Wines reported. After receiving conflicting stories from Corning and the woman, Wines searched Corning’s car and found some sex toys and sex enhancement drug.

No laws were broken, so that's a plus. Corning resigned from the Attorney General's office anyway.

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.

Happy St. Crispin's Day

Déjà vu All Over Again

I don't know what's up with that one kid's mouth. It's green.

That's my champagne! How did she get it? Oh, that's right. I handed it to her.

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

Scientist Arrested for Attempted Espionage

People are stupid:

In early September, [Stewart David] Nozette was contacted by phone by an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer, but who really was an FBI undercover agent, the document says.

They met in downtown Washington in front of a hotel, and over lunch, Nozette "demonstrated his willingness to work for Israeli intelligence," it says.

The undercover agent engaged in a series of meetings with Nozette, and eventually Nozette allegedly provided "secret" information in a "dead drop" post office box. Some of the information, the affidavit says, was classified as secret.

Selling secrets is just plain dumb. I mean, even if it had been the Israelis he was dealing with, turning over classified information puts you at their mercy. They can make you deliver more and more material, and if you refuse they'll just burn you to the Americans. 

So what was Nozette's problem?

The FBI document, signed by Special Agent Leslie G. Martell, says Nozette in January 2009 told a colleague "that if the United States government tried to put him in jail" on an unrelated matter, Nozette would move to Israel or another unidentified foreign country and "tell them everything" he knows.

What the hell is that about? Taxes? Drugs? Child porn? I have no idea. Whatever it was, telling someone with a clearance you're thinking of betraying your country if you get prosecuted for it is just stupid squared.

What did Nozette know?

Nozette had a "top secret" clearance, and served at the White House on the National Space Council for President George H.W. Bush, the affidavit says. Later, from early 2000 to early 2006, he did research and development for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Naval Research Laboratory, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, it says.

Lovely.

The Israelis are not accused of doing anything wrong here. However:

The document says Nozette also acted as a technical consultant from 1998 until early 2008 "for an aerospace company that was wholly owned by the government of the state of Israel." The company consulted with Nozette monthly, getting answers to questions, and he received regular payments of $225,000, Martell's affidavit says.

Well, if he was an independent contractor receiving "regular payments" of almost a quarter million dollars, I would guess the tax angle sounds likelier.

Age Ranges

Mobile phone usage types by age, from youngest to oldest:

1. Not permitted to own a mobile by their parents (<13).
2. Use mobile phones for internet and to text and talk but don't leave voicemail messages (13-21).
3. Use mobile phones for internet, to text and talk and use voicemail (21-35).
4. Use mobiles to talk and use voicemail (36-55).
5. Use mobiles to talk (55-65).
6. Own a mobile phone but rarely uses it (65-70).
7. Own a mobile phone because a family member gave it to them but don't know how to use it (70-75).
8. Don't own a mobile phone (75+).

Categories overlap at the margins.

Source: Me.

NFL Political Contributions

Via Roy, a chart at the bottom of the page here showing how the owners, employees, coaches and players make their political donations. The vast majority of it comes from owners, of course. and since they're wealthy they overwhelmingly prefer Republicans, with notable exceptions: Of the major givers, the Rams, the Eagles, the Pats, the 49ers and the Dolphins are all heavily Dem. The Steelers are basically 50/50. The NFL itself is 70/30 Democratic, which surprised me.

In the furor over Limbaugh trying to buy the Rams, I didn't notice anyone discussing his sexism, only his racist remarks. Did I miss it? I mean, the NFL is trying to lure women to become fans, so it would seem to me to be just as important that he's a flaming pig.

Urban Legends

How stupid do you have to be to believe this shit?

A drug dealer marks his spot by tying the shoe strings of sneakers together and hanging them over a line, he said: Look for those shoes. Near them is an alleged drug house his group is targeting.

Following Phillips’ directions, a reporter and photographer drive up 25th Avenue with a video camera aimed out the passenger’s side window.

Sure enough, shoes hang there on a line. Beyond them, men stand in a front yard. Noticing the camera, one yells, “What the f--k is goin’ on!”

That’s the kind of confrontation drug fighters like Phillips face regularly, in their marches, night watches and camp-outs, as they try to drive the dealers out.

People throw shoes over power lines for all sorts of stupid reasons. Who knows, maybe some drug dealers have heard the urban legend and did it. But most dealers don't hang up signs - their customers know where to find them.

But yeah, in any tough city neighborhood aiming a video camera out a car window will at least earn you "What the fuck is goin' on!" It could also get you killed, which would be your own foolish fault for brandishing something that could be mistaken for a gun out a window.

Bad Time of Year to Kill Yourself

No one believes you:

The body of a 75-year-old man sat decomposing on his Marina del Rey balcony for days because neighbors thought the lifeless figure was part of a Halloween display and didn't call police.

Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed had apparently been dead since Monday with a single gunshot wound to one eye. He was slumped over a chair on the third-floor balcony of his apartment ... .

Neighbors ... noticed the body Monday "but didn't bother calling authorities because it looked like a Halloween dummy." ...

"The body was in plain view of the entire apartment complex [and] they all didn't do anything," [a witness] said. "It's very strange. It did look unreal, to be honest."

Good time of year to be a zombie, though. Same reason.

Guy Claims He Was Fired Because He Voted For Obama

Right before the election, the CEO of a Kansas company sends out this email:

A week before the November 2008 election, Brandt sent a “Notice to All Employees” outlining “new policies” if Obama was elected. It concluded with: “If for any reason you are not happy with the new policies, you may want to rethink your vote on November 4th.” ...

Exhibit A in the lawsuit is the e-mailed memo, which said, in part: “The last few people who were hired should clean out their desks. Don’t feel bad though, because President Obama will give you free healthcare, free handouts, free oil for heating your home, free food stamps, and he’ll let you stay in your home for a long as you want even if you can’t pay your mortgage.”

A week after the election, salesman Elliot Snell was fired. He describes himself as "a vocal Obama supporter". Now he's suing.

Assuming for the moment that Snell was fired for voting for Obama, I agree it sucks but it's probably legal. I'm not a Kansas lawyer, but if this is accurate, Kansas is an at-will employment state. The general rule is, you can be fired for any reason or no reason, so long as it's not one of an enumerated list of bad reasons (such as racial or gender discrimination.) So long as Snell had no contract (and the employee handbook didn't imply one), then he's out of luck.

Fundamentally Dishonest

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway:

When anti-abortion activist James Pouillon was shot and killed in Michigan last month, the mainstream media response was significantly more muted [than when Dr. Tiller was assassinated]. While there could be different explanations or excuses for the insignificant coverage … .

To which I responded in comments:

Oh, I wish there had been more coverage of Mr. Pouillon and why he was outside that specific school:

It will be impossible for some to believe, but my dad really didn’t care about aborton.

He did this to stalk, harass, terrorize, scream at, threaten, frighten, and verbally abuse women. He had a pathologic hatred of women: his mom, my mom, everyone.

After my mom finally left him and he lost his favorite punching bag the violence and abuse that was always contained within our 4 walls was unleased on the people of Owosso. …

He was at the high shool because my niece was there, and female family members were always his favorite targets.

Of course, the fact that the murderer also killed a gravel company owner and was after a real estate broker when he was caught, neither of whom had anything to do with abortion, might be a fairly decent “excuse” for not giving the story more play.

Which she deleted. Because that's just how Get Religion rolls.

Just to See What Happens

This is funny. From a story on the (apparently not-totally-crazy) theory that trying to create a Higgs boson using the Large Hadron Collider somehow results in the future particle preventing the collider from operating now, explaining all the trouble they've been having with it:

Dr. Nielsen admits that he and Dr. Ninomiya’s new theory smacks of time travel, a longtime interest, which has become a respectable research subject in recent years. While it is a paradox to go back in time and kill your grandfather, physicists agree there is no paradox if you go back in time and save him from being hit by a bus. In the case of the Higgs and the collider, it is as if something is going back in time to keep the universe from being hit by a bus. Although just why the Higgs would be a catastrophe is not clear. If we knew, presumably, we wouldn’t be trying to make one.

Sure Sign A Trend Is Passé

I've become the last person in Philly to walk around wearing a pair of white earbuds.

Transported

Track 2, Section A:

 

ShopRite parking lot, Wilmington, Delaware:

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.

Rightwing Whackjobs Make News

Washington Post:

Carney-Nunes looked at the time stamp -- 6:47 a.m. -- and closed the file without replying. She knew Malkin had driven criticism of President Obama's back-to-school speech, streamed nationwide, as an attempt to indoctrinate students. Now Malkin was asking about a YouTube video of New Jersey public school children singing and enthusiastically chanting about Obama from a Black History Month presentation.

By nightfall, Carney-Nunes's name was playing on Fox News and voice mails on her home phone and cellphone were clogged with the furious voices of strangers. The e-mails kept pouring in, by the hundreds, crammed with words spam filters try to catch: She was a "nappy-headed" traitor; she would lose her job and go to jail; she was Leni Riefenstahl, the filmmaker who glorified Hitler. ...

Carney-Nunes, who writes children's books and was a year behind Obama at Harvard Law School, watched as strangers posted her personal information on the Internet. She read, "You're a dirtbag commie propagandist trying to infect children with your failed Marxist ideology." And "your Obama chant is right out of Africa." And "get ready for a massive attack!!!" And "my friend GLENN BECK will also shove this in your face until justice is served." She made copies (which she shared with The Washington Post) and then deleted the messages, hoping the tornado would set her back down.

"I was fearful," she said. "I was looking over my shoulder." The disrespect for the office of the presidency disturbed her. "I won a contest in college and President Reagan gave me an award, and that signed letter is still hanging in its frame in the foyer of my mother's home. We are very proud of that letter, even though my mother didn't vote for him." ...

An e-mail to Malkin Saturday seeking comment was not answered.

Carney-Nunes spends a lot of her free time teaching children how to bridge divides, but she has no idea how to build a dialogue with those who attacked her.

"How can I talk to those people?" she said. "These are people who persist in believing that Barack Obama is a Muslim, that he isn't a citizen of this country. You tell me: Where is the beginning of that conversation?"

That's the meat of the story, the rest is false-equivalence and it's-always-been-bad history, which makes Father Coughlin sound like just some scamp nipping at FDR's heels. How colorful!

The nation's political discourse seems sour, angry, even dangerous; "uglier than it's ever been" is a phrase often volunteered -- as if President George W. Bush had never been depicted as Hitler, declared a dunce and heckled by Code Pink during his second inaugural address.

I swear, that MoveOn ad contest entry is getting to be for political vitriol what that woman who was burned by McDonald's coffee is for tort law. Tell me, though, which Congressional Democrats likened Bush to Hitler? Which major cable news network coordinated Code Pink's protests? I'm having trouble remembering, because it didn't happen. But yeah, Bush was a dunce.

Lies Make Baby Jesus Cry

Over at rightwing godshop Get Religion, frontpager E.E. Evans says:

It’s no secret that President Barack Obama has been viewed in quasi-Messianic terms by some on the left….

[T]he Messianic language comes from the left ….

To which I replied:

“It’s no secret” is one of those weasel phrases people use when they don’t have any evidence to cite.

She deleted the comment, but also responded to it! Which, I suppose, is novel. By way of providing evidence, she says:

Davis/Mithras, here’s a sampling of perspectives —

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7281.html

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=42227

http://www.foliomag.com/files/images/rolling_stone_obama.jpg

By the way “Mithras” if you want to make a point, try making it politely. Otherwise, the next time, your comment will surely as the sun comes out tomorrow be deleted again.

Ooooh, I'm in troubbbbllllle. E.E. Evans, professional religious person, thinks I am not polite. Oh well. But what I said was:

Evans-
Of your three links: It’s interesting that 2 of them are primarily about the comments of African-Americans (the third, Rolling Stone, has to be taken as a tongue-in-cheek Star Wars reference), but you identify these people as the left generally. (Also, citing Politico is a bit tendentious, don’t you think?) I believe there is a bit of a racial/religion ghost in your characterization.

Meaning, you're a fucking liar. Shockingly, she deleted that comment, too.

You know, I give the biblethumpers at GR credit for at least having comments, unlike most rightwing bloggers, but it's hard for them to maintain their mental rigidity and still let other people talk. So they make copious use of the spike. (That's journalism lingo, kids. Isn't the internet wonderful?) I don't do that, myself. I mean, if you allow opposing comments, then you have to read them but no one else probably will. But when you delete comments, then someone like me goes back to their own blog and calls you a fucking liar for everyone to see.

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.

More Is Thy Due Than More Than All Can Pay

Some guy named Chiscolm sued Bank of America for $1.784 septillion dollars. That's $1,784,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.  Or $1.784 trillion trillion. Any way you say it, he won't get it:

The gross domestic product of the entire world in 2008 was only $60 trillion, so even if Chiscolm won it might be a little hard to collect.

Also, or rather to reiterate, he's not going to win because he's nuts:

In a ruling issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin called Chiscolm's claim "incomprehensible," having something to do with incomplete routing numbers and inconsistent information given to him over the phone by a "Spanish womn [sic]."  Chiscolm now has a month to come up with a better explanation of his claims, so we can all look forward to that.

Damn Spanish womn. Get you every time.

(Via via.)