Well, it’s official.  Drinking Liberally now has a chapter in all 50 states, just in time for the 5th birthday festivities.

Five years is a big milestone, and Drinking Liberally (and Living Liberally) have gotten a fair amount of media attention for it.  

Our very own chapter here in Salt Lake has even been mentioned in two national publications!

On Politico

And in the New York Times Sunday edition.  I didn’t talk to the reporter, Courtney, but Heather did and said they had a wonderful conversation.  Even though it was a brief mention in both, it’s still very cool.  We hope that you’ll join us on June 6th at our party/fundraiser for a toast to our media mentions!

Here’s the text of the NY Times article:

Nationally, Drinking Liberally has been around for 5 years, and our national leaders are celebrating in NYC, just as we’ll be celebrating on June 6th.  Since they hired a full time employee (Justin Krebs, co-founder of Drinking Librerally), Drinking Liberally and the parent organization Living Liberally has become a force with which to be reckoned.  You can read regular posts on the influential blog Open Left; Living Liberally will be providing the fun and entertainment at the Netroots Nation convention (formerly called YearlyKos), which isthe convention for progressive activists; and we’re coming up on having chapters in all 50 states.  

It’s this 50-state strategy of theirs that grabbed the attention of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.  You might recall Gov. Dean had a 50-state strategy of his own.  For Living Liberally’s birthday celebration, Howard Dean created a congratulations video, noting that Living Liberally now plays a national part in the progressive movement and that we’re part of a change that is taking over the Democratic party and our country.  Check it out:

From Mother Jones Magazine and Brave New Films

No thanks, I don’t like Parsley.

Can you tell them apart?

http://www.bush-mccainchallenge.com/index.html

I scored 3 out of 5 on the Bush-McCain challenge. Thanks to DL’er Sean.

I have a feeling that if more political videos were as clever as this one, people would pay a little more attention:

Care You Keep | www.careyoukeep.com

Esquire magazine has a magnificent article by Chris Jones chronicling the return of a soldier’s remains. I’m not finished with the article yet, but I wanted to share it soon in case it gets pulled from Esquire’s site when the next issue comes out.

An excerpt:

You can read the full article here: Esquire.com

Simple Answers to Simple Questions
possibly the greatest single blog post of all time.
(Add a rave about it in the comments; I did.)

I just received this from MoveOn; sounds like an event worth attending.
Anybody who has Thursday noon free could go, and so could anyone who works downtown and can visit for lunch:
“Dear MoveOn Member,
On Thursday, we’re making major news at events in Salt Lake City and around the country. We’re unveiling a new poll showing that local voters want to stop wasting billions in Iraq, and want to help the economy by investing those resources here at home.
In Salt Lake City, we can make an even bigger splash if there’s a crowd at the press conference—ten or twelve folks to show that voters in your community care about this issue.
This event is short—likely less than 45 minutes—and all you have to do is be there. Can you come?
Host: Richard L—fellow MoveOn member
Where: Federal Building Plaza (in Salt Lake City)
When: Thursday, Apr. 24, 2008, at 12:00 PM
Here’s the link to RSVP:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/recessionreport/46351?id=12488-6296802-ZIbxLp&t=4
These press conferences are key part of our larger “Iraq/Recession” campaign to highlight the links between the war and the struggling economy—and put heavy pressure on pro-war Republican senators who keep voting to continue this costly war.
MoveOn members have already stepped up to host events nationwide…”

Joe Trippi and Lawrence Lessig have started a website called Change Congress that aims to, well, change congress. The idea is to allow candidates to pick which congressional reforms they support and display a badge on their webpage that gives you the information to make an informed decision. Citizens can also choose which changes are important to them and display it as a web badge.There is much more to it, and if you’re interested in learning more you can go to http://change-congress.org and also watch the video below (it’s long but actually quite engaging).Also, I found this via Lessig’s blog; a call for MoveOn’s newest campaign - Obama in 30 seconds (think Bush in 30 Seconds):

A conservative friend of mine caught Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment last night, and was so impressed he had make sure I saw it.

The first place I turn, of course, is One Good Move. Sure, Crooks and Liars probably has it, but I like to keep it local.