Tonight as you ring in a newer, more optimistic year while drinking liberally, please remember to also drink responsibly.

Cheers!

The regular weekly e-mail is failing to send, so we’ll post it here instead. Just wanted to let everyone know that we will still be meeting tonight, so see you there!

About time:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-robert-wexler/the-case-for-impeachment-_b_76846.html
“Today, I was joined by two other members of the House Judiciary Committee, Reps. Luis Gutierrez and Tammy Baldwin, who penned an online editorial with me calling for these impeachment hearings. In support of this effort I am releasing a call to action on video and launched WexlerWantsHearings.com. The full op-ed from the three Judiciary Committee Members can be read at this site. If we can get 50,000 or even more people to sign up in support of this effort I will report back to each and every Democratic colleague of mine the true power that exists behind this movement.”
Please sign:
WexlerWantsHearings.com

I’m a little late posting this one, but the annual US Marine Corps Toys for Tots program needs volunteers.

Thanks to JM Bell, the Militant Progressive

Rocky Anderson has drawn a line in the sand. The line represents his moral breaking point; the point at which he will no longer tolerate the lack of leadership by the Democratic party. Many elected Democrats are not standing up for their moral and patriotic values, and it clearly angers Salt Lake City’s mayor to no end.

There were some notable Utah Democrats in the audience when Rocky spoke to Salt Lake City’s chapter of Drinking Liberally on a snowy Friday night, and even though his barbs were aimed mostly at national-level Democrats, his comments served as a good reminder to all Democrats just what it means to be a Democrat.

In typical Rocky fashion, his speech was incisive and searing. First he laid out the distinction between Democrats and Republicans: where Republicans see taxes as a burden, Democrats see them as an investment in our future. Democrats abhor kidnapping and human rights violations, while the Bush administration has approved of these things, ignoring fundamental religious values like peace and compassion.

The next part of Rocky’s speech outlined the instances where elected Democrats have appeased the right; things like authorizing the President to go to war with Iraq despite intelligence reports contrary to Bush’s justification for war, and dropping the ball on healthcare reform. Rocky minces no words when he talks about Utah’s only Democratic congressman, Jim Matheson. There were even boo’s and hisses from the crowd when Rocky mentioned Matheson’s support for the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Rocky goes on listing instances where Democrats have shown a real lack of leadership, where they’ve capitulated for political expediency, showing a disregard for the people who elected them. Citing quotes from Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama regarding the desire to table the issue of impeaching the Bush administration, Rocky asks “If impeachment is not appropriate now, then when in the world would it ever be appropriate?”

What a great night we had at Drinking Liberally this week!!! First and foremost I want to thank Jeremiah and Heather for inviting “We Love Our Soldiers” to participate, and giving us the opportunity to help raise awareness of the need for support, (moral and political) for our troops serving in harms way.

The turn out was fantastic, and I found myself wishing we could galvanize our citizenry to participate actively all the time….not only when rock stars like Rocky draw a crowd. Although, his words were inspiring, from the heart, and rang true to all of us in attendance…unfortunately, speaking truth to power, and having the courage to challenge this administration and it’s horrific record and policies has done little to date to steer us clear from disaster on so many levels. When I ponder why the entire nation isn’t on every mountain top screaming at the top of their lungs, I have to believe it isn’t because we don’t care….it’s because we don’t bother. We’re intellectually lazy, want our news in 30 second sound bites, and if it appears the issues at hand don’t or won’t affect us personally, the problem, and solutions belong to someone else. If your son or daughter bears no risk of being sent to Iraq, you’re likely to pay only passing attention, and are more apt to give Bush a pass, and all the time and money he asks for in order to “win” in Iraq.

I believe our challenge in 2008, and going forward is to energize every single citizen to actively participate in the democracy we send our sons and daughters to fight and die for. Our responsibility as citizens doesn’t end at the ballot box, it only begins there…

Remember, tonight Mayor Rocky Anderson joins us at the Piper Down for Drinking Liberally.  The whole bar will be open for this so there should be plenty of room, though you might want to still come early because Rocky always draws a crowd.

Drinking Liberally is held every Friday from 6:30 - 9:30 at the Piper Down Pub, 1492 S. State Street.

I’m a nerd, but I’m not nerdcore. I don’t play video games, I don’t read science fiction and I don’t get into Star Trek. I didn’t even start reading blogs until about 3 months ago. When we hosted Markos of DailyKos at Drinking Liberally, I understood he had a popular liberal blog, I just didn’t know how popular. About the only thing that makes me a nerd is the fact I spend so much time in front of a computer, and then of course my lack of social skills.

So what does any of this have to do with politics? Today I ran across a post on Open Left from one of Drinking Liberally’s sister groups, Laughing Liberally. Apparently, one of Laughing Liberally’s comics, Negin Farsad, is part of the Nerdcore Rising project. Here’s Negin’s video:

Watching the video, I noticed a few familiar faces - Markos, of course, but also Justin Krebs (the Drinking Liberally national founder, director, and all-around good guy), and David Dayen of Calitics.com (he’s the guy in the video who has his badge from last year). David is one of the hosts of the Hollywood Drinking Liberally chapter, whom I met at the DL national conference this year. I also met Mike Lux, a blogger for Open Left and former Special Assistant to President Clinton. Mike is another prominent blogger I had to sheepishly admit I didn’t know.

I’m getting closer to nerdcore every day though. Heather and I went to MC Frontalot’s show a few weeks ago. Frontalot started the whole Nerdcore Rising movement, and he puts on a hell of a show. I have to say Schaffer the Darklord stole the show though. If either of these guys ever come through Salt Lake again, and you’re a nerd, definitely check them out.

Today is Repeal Day, the day that United States repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and gave Americans the constitutional ability to consume alcohol. So run down to your favorite local bar and exercise your constitutional right to drink like an adult, prudes be damned. (Actually I like the Sterkworks blog, she just happened to post on the wrong day.)

UPDATE: Bob over at “The World, According to Me” (a teetotaler, btw) posts Utah’s importance in Repeal Day.