Drinking Liberally

What started as a trickling idea has become a spewing keg of excitement. The political lushes of Drinking Liberally are going out on the town, at least the west side of the town, to sample the culture and hospitality of Haywood Road's intoxicating establishments.

Next Saturday, August 19th, the DL drinking army will gather at Cowboy's Nightlife at 6pm (NOTE: Changed to 6pm from 4pm) to begin the epic journey. Drinkers can park their cars at the defunct Rentway across the street from Cowboy's with the knowledge that they'll be getting taxi service as part of the crawl.

The campaign winds are blowing. Back in 2004, before the Swift Boat Vets emasculated John Kerry, we knew that the candidates we saw in June would be radically transmogrified by the Republican Noise Machine and the Democratic Party's complete misunderstanding of what they were up against. Without, in this space, getting into all the whys and wherefores of Kerry's narrow loss, know that the same winds are rising in the east.

Conservative pundits, bloggers, and representatives are saying that Bill Keller and the New York Times ought to be tried for treason. No, really. They're actually saying that. What's got these folks so atwitter?

George W. Bush is a busy bee. After inviting his Iraq War Team to Camp David to tell the decider about how steadfastly he must stay the course, Bush whisked the Press away to the Green Zone in Baghdad. Bush stalked and strutted, "the full jaunty" according to Joe Klein. Then he was back to tie 9/11 to Iraq to the War on Terror to Iran while Karl Rove and his hive of busy bees got the word out. Stay the course or surrender, the Republicans say. Which side are you on?

Fellow DL'ers:

We were initially thinking that tomorrow's topic would address hypocrisy - from The Hill to Pack Square and all points in between elsewhere, and how it seems to only help careers in public service - but that's for another Thursday. Today, we gotta talk about net neutrality.

In a nutshell, network neutrality is a basic principle that preserves a free (as in speech, not as in beer) and open Internet. A level playing field where everyone can access content or run any application or device they choose. All you need is imagination and know-how... and a little bit of venture capital couldn't hurt either. eBay, Google, Yahoo!, and Skype are but a few examples of this, and we have the principle of net neutrality to thank for it. What's at issue here is the desire of the big telecommunications companies - AT&T, BellSouth, Verizon, Charter, et al - to change all of that in their favor. The telcos, who already control the greater majority of Internet access, want the power to select who gets access to high-speed lines, essentially deciding whose content gets seen first and fastest. Anyone who can't (or won't) pay those fees will have their content relegated to slower, more congested lines.

Splits are nice things, right? We like to see limber gymnasts do them. We like the banana variety with nuts and fudge. We like to hear from the corporate media that the Republicans are splitting over the immigration issue. But the split that menaces, the split that may be emerging as the mule in the room, is the split in the Democratic Party.

What do you call a sharply divisive political issue, especially one that is raised by a candidate or party in hopes of attracting or disaffecting a portion of an opponent's customary supporters? The pundit class, drunk as they are on cocktail weenies and spritzers, call it a Wedge Issue. Drinking Liberally - that weekly amalgamation of gay liberals, immigrant progressives, abortionist greens, and hot button hotties - call them wedgies because they're a pain in our collective asses.

I've long been jealous of Screwy's Asheville Drinking Liberally posts. He always comes up with the best reasons to sit down for a beer—because Bush's numbers are down, or to escape the moronitude that is the Republican congress, etc. I've given up any hope that I can compete in style, skill, or straight up moxie, so I offer this: if this is your first Chapel Hill Drinking Liberally meeting, I want to buy you a beer. Seriously. Also, Rory Blake, candidate for the 6th Congressional District seat now occupied by Howard Coble is going to try to stop by, and Sally Green of the Chapel Hill Town Council is going to come if she can get away from a forum in time. So come! Tyler's Taproom, in the Speakeasy (in the back) at 7pm in Carrboro.

Baseball is more than a sport; it's an icon, very closely associated with all things "American". To that end it is often used by politicos as simple and effective base-strengthening jingoism. Many of these same lawmakers, quick to wrap themselves in any kind of American iconography they can get their hands on
in order to maintain their popularity, are responsible for the passage of H.R. 4437. This bill, also known as "The Sensenbrenner Bill", is one of the most draconian, xenophobic, and borderline racist legislative acts in this country's history. (For the record, our own Rep. Charles Taylor, who has served as a very reliable anti-immigration voice on Capitol Hill during his eight Congressional terms, voted "YEA" on this bill.)

Read it and weep. Or laugh. Crying won't help.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/61faabde-deb8-11da-acee-0000779e2340.html