Yes. I busted my ass for Obama the first time around.
Opened my checkbook, campaigned, knocked on doors. Did everything I could to see that he carried Florida in the Presidential election.
Not easy in a place where Fred Thompson signs were as common as plastic pink flamingos at the time during the primary and right wing nuts carried Soviet flags outside of local Obama campaign headquarters. Where women thought Palin was the essence of true feminism. I had the lone Obama sign on my lawn in a sea of McCain - Palin cardboard.
But I got the last laugh. At least I thought so at the time.
We had elected a Democratic President and controlled the two Houses of Congress. And we carried Florida.
Maybe something would get done.
Maybe universal healthcare. Maybe peace would come. Maybe a society which would leave behind racism. Maybe repeal of the Bush tax giveaways to billionaires. Maybe we would spend money on people rather than aircraft carriers. Maybe we would stop torturing people. Maybe Gitmo would close.
Maybe. Read more
Is Obama's fatal scandal whether the President called Benghazi an "act of terror" or "terrorist act" or are Republicans reaching for any reason to deploy weapons of mass distraction?
Is the new Watergate whether the IRS scrutinized political groups seeking tax breaks, unfairly denying none of them tax-free status? We're irritated & irate -- but not quite IRS-gate.
Or is the biggest scandal of this administration drone attacks or whistle-blower-crackdowns, record deportations or the Keystone Pipeline? Where are those Congressional hearings?
While the right-wing rustles up an Obamagate, the real scandal's that he never got out of the gate on climate change bills or stronger gun laws, reversing the sequester or closing Guantanamo.
The IRS & Benghazi business can't hold a candle to losing its way: the real Obamagate scandal.
Vent, laugh and share, debate if you date and have a drink while you say what you think at your local progressive social club
DRINKING LIBERALLY Find - or start - a chapter near you.
"Few probably recall the name Dwight Elliott Stone. But even if his name has faded from the national memory, the man remains historically significant. That’s because on June 30, 1973, the 24-year-old plumber’s apprentice became the last American forced into the armed services before the military draft expired.
Though next month’s 40-year anniversary of the end of conscription will likely be as forgotten as Stone, it shouldn’t be. In operations across the globe, the all-volunteer military has been employed by policymakers to birth what Gen. George Casey recently called the “era of persistent conflict.” Four decades later, we therefore have an obligation to ask: How much of the public’s complicity in that epochal shift is a result of the end of the draft? "
Thus wrote David Sirota last week in Salon.com.
"There is, of course, no definitive answer to such a complex question. However, a look back at some lost history shows that today’s public acquiescence to militarism was exactly what the government wanted when it ended the draft. Read more
Banks behind foreclosure fraud & the mortgage crisis are failing to comply with the meager settlement, underpaying homeowners, facing no real enforcement. They continue to pass go and collect $200.
While Lauryn Hill serves time for tax evasion, Enron's Jeffrey Skilling gets a reduced sentence & Wall Street's criminals evade repercussions. Some folks have a Get Out of Jail Free card.
Student debt has now surpassed credit card debt, both of which are at an all-time high. And since bankruptcy can't discharge that debt, Americans are force to keep rolling the dice.
It can feel like 99% of us are on the losing side of a big game of high-stakes Monopoly. Yet in Monopoly, we all start with the same cash & the same rules apply to everyone.
Maybe Monopoly is fairer than what we're seeing now.
Take a Chance on a night of pints & politics, like a Community Chest for like-minded liberals at your local progressive social club.
DRINKING LIBERALLY Find - or start - a chapter near you.
Its Wednesday May 8th! Do you know where your Podcast is? On this day in history back in 1858 John Brown held a secret anti-slavery convention in Canada where he and around 50 like-minded individuals adopted an anti slavery constitution. Brown is one of the most polarizing figures of the chaotic period leading up to the civil war. Hated by supporters of the southern way of exploiting human beings for their own personal gain and glory - I mean advocates of states’ rights; revered by the growing population of civil rights warriors who believed that change would not come without a fight; shunned and shamed by peace loving, meek abolitionists who preferred to sing songs, publish articles, and peacefully assemble to end slavery. Read more
The President got in bed with Republicans to help him pass gun control legislation, but it was no love-match, they screwed him over & the morning after has left us with no new laws.
He continues to court conservatives on immigration reform & budget deals, and he's willing to make big compromises that the morning after look more like mistakes.
Now to do extend a hand to the Christian Right to appeal to those who won't ever be appeased, his administration is opposing access for young women to the morning after pill.
Just because there's no pill to fix the bad political mistakes Obama has made doesn't mean he should deny Americans a legal course out of a bad situation.
Whether a pill or some political will, we could all use a way to make things right -- it's better than mourning after the morning after.
Join a night that you won't regret with conversation, comrades, discussion & drinks at your local progressive social club.
DRINKING LIBERALLY Find - or start - a chapter near you.
This weekend in D.C. – it’s the “un-conference” of the year for #opengov heads & civic engagement developers. That would be Transparency Camp, organized by the Sunlight Foundation. By “un-conference”, it’s a straightforward-yet-refreshing take on usual conference get-togethers – panels are generally organized bottom-up, so actual tech developers can get-together in the same room and look at actual code & actual features & actual data & actual UIs & actual needs & actual opportunities. Well maybe not as much as would be ideal, but it’s still rather refreshing if you’ve spent months looking at a project management system like Pivotal Tracker or whatever & writing grant proposals in Google Docs.
David from OC & PPF will be there to demo our new major project: Read more
Its Sunday April 28th! Do you know where your podcast is? On this day in history back in 1967, Muhammad Ali refused induction into the U.S. military. The self-proclaimed "Greatest Fighter of All Time" cited religious reasons for staging his most important fight; a fight against institutionalized, senseless killing. Take a moment to process these statements - yes, a fighter by profession and religious person (Ali converted to Islam in 1964) refused to go to war! Ali was fined $10,000, sentenced to 5 years in prison, and was stripped of the world title he had won by beating Sonny Liston. He avoided prison while appealing all the way to the highest court, and lost his heavyweight title the first time the same year he won his case in 1971. Muhammad Ali is the only three-time boxing world champion, and is still one of the most intriguing figures in American history. His reason for refusing conscription was because "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong." Amazing that the government of a "Christian nation" would seek to take everything from a person who was acting exactly in the manner that Jesus would have prescribed. Read more
Rush Limbaugh is in deep trouble.
14 months after his attacks on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, pressure on Limbaugh's advertisers by groups like the Flush Rush Facebook community and #stoprush Twitter has cost the right wing radio host more than 2,600 sponsors.
Rush Limbaugh's long career in radio has been defined by mean-spirited attacks on women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and the poor.
For many years that approach was his bread and butter--so much so that Clear Channel-owned Premiere Radio Networks gave him a lucrative 8 year, $400 million contract in 2008.
But this is no longer the United States that Limbaugh started his career in back in 1967. Each year our nation grows more diverse and tolerant. Notions of women or ethnic minorities as inferior to white males, of the poor as victims of their own laziness, and of homosexuals as sick people who don't deserve the right to marry are on their way out. Read more
As we try to make sense of the Boston bombing, some say it should make us fear Islam, distrust immigrants & be suspicious of our neighbors.
Some set off alarms & say the rules don't apply invoking WMDs, seeking military tribunals, arguing against Miranda rights & defense attorneys.
We're scared so we consider desperate steps: more surveillance, monitor Muslims, cancel public events, limit individual rights.
But it's also a moment of extraordinary generosity, as people open homes, hearts & wallets; of communities pulling together in caring; of respect for our public first responders.
And tempered voices call for patience, speak against stereotypes & frenzied reactions & affirm that a stronger civic space will keep us all safer in the end.
The last Boston Massacre was part of a Revolution. Maybe this one will be part of our Evolution and the Massacre can turn Mass Scare into Mass Care.
We'll think of Boston as we share a drink together, sharing public space & public space in a pub at your local progressive social club.
DRINKING LIBERALLY Find - or start - a chapter near you.
Last week was a tough week. Moments after the marathon bombings, first responders and ordinary citizens rushed in to provide help to the injured, not knowing whether or not they were putting their own lives at risk.
After those exemplary moments, the week went down hill as the nation went into freak-out mode. Pundits, politicians, news outlets and self-appointed sleuths on the internet heaped disgrace on themselves.
The talking heads went on interminably as if in filibuster; the news outlets got the basic facts wrong and the internet geeks identified an innocent guy as a suspect while never identifying the actual suspects. A New York tabloid ran a picture of the innocent guy on the front page. Wonder how his family feels.
Right wing media immediately picked on a “Saudi national” as a suspect (he apparently had nothing to do with Boston) and accused the “gummit” of suppressing the “story”.
We prayed that the bombers were “foreign” rather than white-bread Americans - turned out they were a little of both.
All the powers that be were doing their level best to shade the story for short term advantage, either in the ratings or politically. Read more
It seem like the media is too busy building a narrative that these terrorist are Muslim than searching for the truth. Currently there's no evidence that either man is Muslim but for some reason the media keep trying to tie this terrorist attack to Islam. Why? There are other explanations for their horrifying actions. Maybe they fell the U.S. hasn't been tough enough against Russian aggression. Chechen (where they was born) has been fighting against Russia for over 300 years.
Now, it may be true that these terrorist were radicalize by Muslim extremist, but a good reporter should look at all angles and not just the one they think is obvious. For example, one reporter mentioned on air; incorrectly mind you that the bombers sister's husband who lives in NJ is Muslim. Why would he even mentioned that. Does he think her husband radicalize them from NJ. Should we go visit that man and integrate him? Read more
We demand answers to Monday's horror, but aside from consoling the injured & showing support to the city of Boston, there isn't a quick way to assign blame, exact revenge or salve our grief.
We seek just action in response to Newtown but foolish Senate "traditions" halt progress, allowing the conservative mindset of a minority to prevent a majority from passing gun laws.
For many immigrants, it's been a long road, sometimes painful, frightening, exhausting, yet it seems that there may be a finish line if we all have the stamina to continue.
A Marathon is a democratic event: the terrain is equal, it's free to watch, the public is there every step of the way. And it's long. Painful. Yet achievable.
In American democracy, right now we're running a marathon, not a sprint. Let's hope we have the training, focus, courage, will-power & endurance of those Marathon runners we all admire.
Our hearts are in Boston, Newton & with all our fellow Americans. Come share your thoughts with friends as we share a drink & share the night at your local progressive social club.
DRINKING LIBERALLY Find - or start - a chapter near you.
Gun rights purists can’t believe their luck. One lunatic on a Texas college campus has proven their point: it’s not the guns that kill people. If someone wants to wage deadly mayhem, he’ll find a means to do it. Gun control liberals can finally STFU now.
Except, a lunatic with a knife differs pretty distinctly from a lunatic with a semi-automatic assault rifle. Where Newtown saw thirty children shot multiple times, funerals spanning a month, and a nation in perpetual mourning, in Houston, Texas every single victim lives. Two are in critical condition, the rest are stable. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, as is any human who has suffered the trauma of a physical attack.
Every attack on multiple people is different. Every one is isolated and born from unique reasons – the failure of the mental health structure here being the basis of some. To lump them together as an anecdotal instance to prove a political point is to compound that failure. No one wins here. Read more
More Social. More Security. We can reform immigration in a way that builds community with people & families who are contributing to America -- or we can keep criminalizing our neighbors.
We can pass sensible gun regulations to create a sense of trust, safety & relief -- or we can succumb to the paranoia calling for more guns, danger and distrust.
Our budget can strengthen our country, invest in infrastructure, provide a safety net -- or can cut successful social programs that support the most vulnerable among us.
So why is Obama out to cut Social Security, when on issue after issue, we need policies that are More Social for More Security?
You can be secure in the social scene where you share views, and sip some booze at your local progressive social club.
DRINKING LIBERALLY Find - or start - a chapter near you.
