This is pretty old, but I hadn’t seen it before. While they don’t mention Drinking Liberally by name, it’s very clearly Katrina and Justin (wearing the bottle logo shirts), a couple of our national Living Liberally leaders.

We’re having problems sending out our weekly e-mail, so I figured I should at least post it here. Here it is:

Happy Pioneer Day Utah Liberals!

Yesterday Utah celebrated the migration of the Mormon Pioneers to this great state. Leaving Nauvoo, Illinois behind, the Mormon Pioneers set west in order to find a place to live free from persecution of their lifestyle. Here they worked hard to turn the barren desert into a garden. They formed a government that today would be considered socialist – the focus was on their fellow “brothers and sisters” rather than every man, woman and child for him or her self. Beer and liquor sales paid for the infrastructure of Salt Lake City, and their Valley Tan whisky was praised all across the country. Of course that last part never gets talked about, which leads to people who get offended by our logo.

Fast forward to today, where drinking alcohol is taboo and highly regulated, “brother and sister” is used only because it’s tradition, and where we as a state have elected some of the most persecutory bigots in the United States.

If you have ever felt persecuted – whether it be for race, religion, sexual orientation, political leanings, or for any other reason – then join us this Friday at Drinking Liberally where everybody is welcome! We’ll be raising our glass to some of the founding ideals of Utah. Same meeting time and place: 6:30 onward at the Piper Down (1492 So State St). See you there!

So horribly, horribly destructive.

Former soldier (and former Drinking Liberally guest speaker) Marshall Thompson walked across the state of Utah to protest the war in Iraq. There were talks about a documentary being made about his journey, and now this Tuesday at 7pm it finally premieres in Salt Lake (for free at the SL Main Library).  You can visit the SLC Film Center website for more info.

A Soldier’s Peace Website

Heather and I have attended Plan-B’s fundraiser for the last couple years now, and we have always had a good time. This is highly recommended by us:

Obama Flyer.pdf

I never posted about the FISA bill – but now I wish I had.  I guess I just thought that our leaders would make the right decision (how naive).  But they didn’t.  Today the “compromise” FISA bill passed the Senate, putting a nail in the coffin of a little thing we like the call the 4th amendment.  

I don’t know what to say here; I’m just seething.  I can only defer to other, better bloggers on this issue.

Actually, I will say I’m very disappointed in the presidential candidate I’ve heretofore supported, Barack Obama.  Some reports say he voted in favor of the bill, but the senate.gov website says he didn’t vote.  Whether he voted in favor or he didn’t vote at all is not so important.  This bill was important enough that the vote should not have been missed, and voted down.  There should be NO compromise – the fourth amendment is very clear and the fact that a former law professor would have supported such a breach in a document so integral to our nation’s democracy is beyond the pale.  

As our friends in Colorado point out, it’s not a time to wallow, it’s a time to exercise what we have left of the 1st Amendment.  

If you’re visiting after reading the feature article in the Tribune and want to know more about us, visit our “Frequently Asked Questions” page.

There are just a couple minor points of clarification:
* Through the summer months we’re meeting every second and fourth Friday. We’ll go back to every Friday night once winter rolls around.
* The quote from Heather about “We’re not Democrats” is just to say we don’t represent the Democratic party. Many of us are, in fact, Democrats, but not all – see our FAQ
* Ralph Becker has been to Drinking Liberally, just not as mayor – it was while he was campaigning for the spot. In fact, every candidate except Dave Buhler came to Drinking Liberally.

If you like our logo (which also says “Yep, I’m a Member”) you can still buy cork coasters (2 for $1) and glasses (pint are $8 each or 2 for $15 and rocks are $5 each) with the logo on them at any of our regular meet-ups, including this Friday (July 11th). The money goes toward buying our guest speakers drinks and dinner.

Also, don’t forget to visit the website of Living Liberally, at http://livingliberally.org/drinking/ where you can sign up for our weekly mailing and/or find out how to start a chapter near you. We’d love to have Eating, Screening, or any of the other ‘Liberallys’ in Salt Lake, and there’s always room for Drinking Liberally groups in other cities (hint, hint, Provo). We’ve already got a Reading Liberally in Salt Lake – you can visit their informative discussion board at http://drinkingliberallyslc.org/reading.