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Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottle Something on your mind these days? We’ll be raising the ceiling tonight at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. Stop by…you know you need to talk about it.

There are unsubstantiated rumors that one or two Seattle City Council challengers will be dropping by, as well.

So please joins us for drinks, conversation and politics under the influence. We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but a few folks show up earlier for dinner.


Can’t make it tonight? Drinking Liberally Tacoma meets this Thursday at the Hub Restaurant. Starting time is 7:00pm. And with 231 chapters of Living Liberally, including seven in Washington state and seven more in Oregon, chances are excellent there is a chapter near you.

Comments

  2. 2

    @1
    Clearly, the people that actually perform work don’t deserve to profit from it.

  3. 3

    This is so weird, I’m not used to harvesting rhubarb in August. I think this will be the last bunch of it for the year.

  5. 5

    How Senators Voted On Debt Deal

    Democrats voting yes:

    Akaka (D-HI), Yea
    Baucus (D-MT), Yea
    Begich (D-AK), Yea
    Bennet (D-CO), Yea
    Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
    Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea
    Boxer (D-CA), Yea
    Brown (D-OH), Yea
    Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
    Cardin (D-MD), Yea
    Carper (D-DE), Yea
    Casey (D-PA), Yea
    Conrad (D-ND), Yea
    Coons (D-DE), Yea
    Durbin (D-IL), Yea
    Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
    Franken (D-MN), Yea
    Hagan (D-NC), Yea
    Inouye (D-HI), Yea
    Johnson (D-SD), Yea
    Kerry (D-MA), Yea
    Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
    Kohl (D-WI), Yea
    Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
    Leahy (D-VT), Yea
    Levin (D-MI), Yea
    Manchin (D-WV), Yea
    McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
    Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
    Murray (D-WA), Yea
    Nelson (D-FL), Yea
    Pryor (D-AR), Yea
    Reed (D-RI), Yea
    Reid (D-NV), Yea
    Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
    Schumer (D-NY), Yea
    Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
    Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
    Tester (D-MT), Yea
    Udall (D-CO), Yea
    Udall (D-NM), Yea
    Warner (D-VA), Yea
    Webb (D-VA), Yea
    Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
    Wyden (D-OR), Yea

    Republicans voting yes:

    Alexander (R-TN), Yea
    Barrasso (R-WY), Yea
    Blunt (R-MO), Yea
    Boozman (R-AR), Yea
    Brown (R-MA), Yea
    Burr (R-NC), Yea
    Cochran (R-MS), Yea
    Collins (R-ME), Yea
    Corker (R-TN), Yea
    Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
    Crapo (R-ID), Yea
    Enzi (R-WY), Yea
    Hoeven (R-ND), Yea
    Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
    Isakson (R-GA), Yea
    Johanns (R-NE), Yea
    Kirk (R-IL), Yea
    Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
    Lugar (R-IN), Yea
    McCain (R-AZ), Yea
    McConnell (R-KY), Yea
    Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
    Portman (R-OH), Yea
    Risch (R-ID), Yea
    Roberts (R-KS), Yea
    Snowe (R-ME), Yea
    Thune (R-SD), Yea
    Wicker (R-MS), Yea

    Democrats voting no:

    Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay
    Harkin (D-IA), Nay
    Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay
    Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
    Merkley (D-OR), Nay
    Nelson (D-NE), Nay

    Republicans voting no:

    Ayotte (R-NH), Nay
    Chambliss (R-GA), Nay
    Coats (R-IN), Nay
    Coburn (R-OK), Nay
    DeMint (R-SC), Nay
    Graham (R-SC), Nay
    Grassley (R-IA), Nay
    Hatch (R-UT), Nay
    Heller (R-NV), Nay
    Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
    Johnson (R-WI), Nay
    Lee (R-UT), Nay
    Moran (R-KS), Nay
    Paul (R-KY), Nay
    Rubio (R-FL), Nay
    Sessions (R-AL), Nay
    Shelby (R-AL), Nay
    Toomey (R-PA), Nay
    Vitter (R-LA), Nay

    Independents

    Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
    Sanders (I-VT), Nay

    (Source: CNN)

  6. 6

    “The labor provision would overturn a National Mediation Board rule approved last year that allows airline and railroad employees to form a union by a simple majority of those voting. Under the old rule, workers who didn’t vote were treated as ‘no’ votes.”

    Republicans will do anything to continue counting workers who don’t vote in unionization elections as “no” votes — to make it harder for airline and railroad workers to organize unions.

    Airline and railroad workers have waited 75 years for fair elections. Republicans intend to make them wait another 75 years — or 75,000, or 75 million.

    Once again, minority-party Republicans are holding the nation hostage to impose their minority point of view on the majority.

    This impasse is costing the government $200 million a week.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....15854.html

  7. 7

    Michael @ 3
    I’ve never had rhubarb to harvest; it withers too soon. This year, I’ve got enough. How do you do it? What do you do with it aside from making pies?

  11. 11

    Thanks, Michael. I’ve heard that in harvesting, you don’t cut the stalks but pull them, and that you shouldn’t pull all the stalks off a plant, even if they’re mature. True?

  12. 12

    You pull and twist, if they come off easy they’re ready. I leave the stalks on once they get funky, but I’ve seen people cut them. Rhubarb’s pretty hard to kill.

    Speaking of rhubarb, there’s always been a lot of it grown in the and Orting valleys, but this year they’ve gone crazy with it. I went on a bike ride though there last weekend and saw a whole bunch of fields that used to be other things, and fallow ones as well, that had been converted to rhubarb. I tell you what, that’s a lot of work harvesting it.

    I’m sure we’ll see Puddy, Pudge, MOT, Max, and America First out working in those fields so that the farmers don’t have to illegals.

    One of my grandmother’s lived on rhubarb farm in the Orting valley. For all her family’s hard work they were awarded a vacation at Manzanar.

  13. 13

    Oops…

    Speaking of rhubarb, there’s always been a lot of it grown in the Puyallup and Orting valleys.

  16. 16

    Thanks again, Michael. Rhubarb is odd produce–I guess it’s a vegetable, but it seems to be used mostly in recipes calling for fruit. Stand tall, rhubarb. Be proud.

  17. 17

    Strawberry Rhubarb Pie proud leftist!

    Very good with a pinch of sugar and salt!

  18. 18

    Puddy,
    The earth’s spin just reversed itself. I agree with you on something.

  19. 19

    Yeah, my grandma used to make a raspberry rhubarb pie that people would yell at each other over.

    On another note, it looks like one of Tiny Timmmy’s patrons is going to the Federal Pen for a long time.

    Shit rolls downhill.

  20. 20

    19
    I thought capitalism polices itself and catches its own excesses, so governmental oversight and regulation is unnecessary. How did this man escape the Free Market Law Enforcement Agency, Inc. long enough to perpetrate these dastardly deeds?

  22. 22

    @20. proud leftist spews:
    I thought capitalism polices itself and catches its own excesses, so governmental oversight and regulation is unnecessary.
    ———————–
    You have much to be proud of, that is idiotic even for a leftist.

  23. 23

    On another note, it looks like one of Tiny Timmmy’s patrons is going to the Federal Pen for a long time.

    PROVE IT!

  24. 24

    http://thinkprogress.org/econo.....to-change/

    Herman Cain Defends Manufacturing Campaign T-Shirts In Honduras: ‘I Don’t See A Reason’ To Change

    By Scott Keyes on Aug 2, 2011 at 7:10 pm

    ThinkProgress filed this report from the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, CO.

    During a major policy address in June, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain laid out his three economic guiding principles. Cain’s first tenet: “Production drives the economy.” Yet looking at his campaign merchandise, Cain appears to be more interested in driving the economy of Honduras than the United States.

    An ABC investigation found that Cain’s t-shirts, which the campaign sells at $30 apiece, are manufactured in Honduras rather than the United States.

    ThinkProgress was in attendance when ABC’s Arlette Saenz confronted the former pizza executive about his campaign’s decision to manufacture t-shirts in Honduras rather than in the United States. Cain downplayed the concern, saying “I don’t have a political statement with respect to that.” When asked if he would consider producing his campaign’s t-shirts in the United States instead, Cain dismissed the idea out of hand, saying there was no “compelling reason” to do so:

    SAENZ: This is one of your t-shirts. If you look at the label, it says that it’s made in Honduras. Were you aware that that was going on?

    CAIN: No, I wasn’t aware that it was made in Honduras. I just was aware that it was Fruit of the Loom, which is an American company. So where they buy their t-shirts, no, we did not look at that. […] The fact that it was made in Honduras, I don’t have a political statement with respect to that.

    SAENZ: Would you consider changing your campaign gear that isn’t made in this country?

    CAIN: It depends on the reason why somebody would want me to change it. Changing it because someone says it was made outside the United States alone isn’t a reason. If I had a compelling reason, yes. But if I don’t have a compelling reason, no. You want to know why? We live in a global marketplace, and we’re not going to reignite the growth in this country with any sort of protectionism

    Now THAT’S a real American!

  25. 25

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/a.....?ref=fpblg

    They Say ‘Jobs, Jobs’ But There Are No Jobs

    Josh Marshall | August 3, 2011, 11:11AM

    Public Employees Back in the ’80s and ’90s the big argument I remember hearing on the fiscal policy front was that using fiscal policy (ie., spending) to dig the country out of a recession was inefficient since by the time you could get productive spending online (as opposed to the shock-absorber effect of unemployment insurance, etc.) the business-cycle would be pulling the country out of recession. So the spending would be unneeded, possibly inflationary and just add to the debt. With a normal cyclical downturn there may be some logic to that. After all, Keynes never figured you do away with the business cycle entirely.

    Now, I’m no economist. But the power of Keynes in the public sphere in the ’30s and ’40s was precisely the recognition that not all business cycle downturns are self-correcting. They can become self-perpetuating. Or drag on for years to no economically efficient purpose. In other words, something like the situation we face right now and probably have not faced for more than 70 years.

    So the Democrats are now saying they’re going to pivot to jobs. But the only tools we have available that have any credible hope of moving the needle is fiscal policy, i.e., spending. (That and whatever substitute the Fed can do in the form of ‘quantitative easing’.) But that’s off-limits with Republicans having a de facto veto on new laws coming out of Congress. And they’ve spent the last 7 or 8 months pushing policies to short-circuit job growth and lay off people in the public sector. (Why they’re doing that is another question — depending on the lawmaker, I’d say a mix of misplaced ideological zeal and cynical effort to cue up a Republican victory in 2012.)

    What’s also the case, as one of our readers pointed out to me a couple days ago, is that Democrats need to confront the fact that over the course of 2009 and 2010 the public turned against the idea that government spending had a role in resolving the crisis. After all, that’s why they lost the 2010 election. There are many reasons for that, some of which President Obama bears real responsibility for. And for my own part, I think the conclusion is wrong. But it’s something that President Obama’s critics on the left frequently take too little account of when they rail against him for not cranking up the WPA.

    So in practice, we can pivot to talking about jobs, hoping for the best and perhaps using it as a political cudgel (though that seems quite dubious under the current conditions). But in practice, in reality, we appear to have no plan to do anything on the jobs front that has any prospect of passage in the Congress until 2013 at the earliest.

    That’s a fact that seems worth absorbing.

    Where are the JOBS, assholes?

    puddybitch, richpeoplefirst, emperor max-minidick…the fucking JOBS all your precious tax cuts were going to create? Where the fuck ARE they?

  26. 26

    http://thinkprogress.org/econo.....time-high/

    GRAPH: U.S. Food Stamp Participation Is At An All-Time High

    Recently released data from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service finds that the U.S. once again reached an all-time high in food stamp recipients in May, with 45.8 million people receiving these benefits. The blog Zero Hedge illustrates this statistic, showing how many more Americans are relying on food stamps than during even the height of the recession:

    Will food stamps buy tea bags?

  27. 27

    http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/2...../index.htm

    Big Oil’s $38 billion defense

    NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The first three months of the year were good to the oil industry — although American drivers and their elected leaders are not offering congratulations.

    This week, the world’s six largest publicly traded oil companies reported a combined $38.1 billion in first-quarter profits. Of the so-called supermajors, only BP (BP)’s earnings declined from the year before.

    46121Email Print The windfall stems from a surge in the price of oil, which jumped 16% in the first quarter, rising firmly above $100 a barrel in March.

    But the spike in oil prices has been a blow to consumers, with gas prices rising near record highs across America.

    As a result, the oil industry has come under fire from lawmakers in Washington for reaping billions in profits while U.S. drivers get squeezed.

    Now, Big Oil is fighting back.

    Yeah…poor, poor babies.

  28. 28

    In other news: Man jumped the White House Fence:

    The man was identified as ex-president George W. Bush. When questioned, he said he missed living in the White House and was just going to lay on the porch for a little while

  29. 29

    http://crooksandliars.com/john.....un-preside

    August 02, 2011 04:00 PM

    Mike Huckabee Says He Didn’t Run for President Because Republicans are ‘Unrealistic’

    By John Amato

    Mike Huckabee told Pat Robertson the reason he didn’t run for Prez is because he didn’t want to deal with the toxicity Televangelists have caused.

    That’s my description of his words.

    OnThe 700 Club with Pat Robertson today, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said that he decided against running for president partly because the Republican base is too “unrealistic.” Robertson, who endorsed Rudy Giuliani in 2008, asked Huckabee if he passed on a second presidential campaign in order to pursue his new career as a Fox News commentator and the head of a line of conservative history videos, which he was promoting on the show.

    Huckabee responded, “I felt like the atmosphere right now is so toxic and part of it is that I think that many people in my party, the Republican Party, are unrealistic, and what they want is something that no one can deliver, and that’s a candidate who is going to solve every problem in an election cycle.”

    He had a very good chance to win the GOP primary of 2012, but chose his cushy studio gig for FOX because he didn’t want to have to deal with the hostage takers of his right-wing base. Interesting.

    Hahahahahaha…

  30. 30

    http://news.firedoglake.com/20.....agreement/

    Congress Officially Leaves Town Without FAA Agreement

    By: David Dayen Wednesday August 3, 2011 6:10 am

    I mentioned this in last night’s Roundup, but it’s just a testament to how the new Washington operates. Lawmakers in both houses of Congress have passed an FAA authorization bill. The particulars are in the range of 90% the same. While they work something out on the last 10%, they could pass an extension of the old authorization, the way they have 20 times since 2007. But House Republicans want to make it harder for Delta’s workers to unionize. They want to mandate that any absent voter in a union election is a vote against the union. They haven’t yet applied this to their own elections, but that’s how they want unions to operate. The NLRB passed regulations that would ban this practice, and Delta simply won’t allow votes for its workers under the new rules. And Republicans have hijacked the FAA on behalf of Delta.

    That’s the real battle behind the FAA authorization, and the main reason that agency is partially shut down right now. The House passed an extension that basically punished rural airports in the states of the main Senate negotiators on the bill. But Harry Reid was actually willing to accept them yesterday and pass the extension. Senate Republicans blocked it by denying unanimous consent. As a result, 4,000 employees remain out of work, safety inspectors are flying around on their own dime without pay, and up to 70,000 construction workers are sidelined as projects stall. This is in a country with a jobs crisis. And for you deficit fans, the country is unnecessarily foregoing $1 billion in federal revenue in the form of airline fees, almost all of which is being pocketed by the industry rather than rebated to the customer.

    Ignorant assholes. 4,000 real people have no money because Republicans hate workers.

  31. 31

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....16934.html

    Planned Layoffs At U.S. Firms Surges To Sixteen-Month High In July

    First Posted: 8/3/11 08:20 AM ET Updated: 8/3/11 08:20 AM ET

    NEW YORK – The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose to a 16-month high in July as sectors which had been seeing fairly few layoffs unexpectedly bled jobs, a report on Wednesday showed.

    Employers announced 66,414 planned job cuts last month, up 60.3 percent from 41,432 in June, according to a report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

    July’s job cuts also were up from the same time a year ago, rising 59.4 percent from the 41,676 job cuts announced in July 2010, and recording the largest monthly total since March, 2010.

    “What may be most worrisome about the July surge is that the heaviest layoffs occurred in industries that, until now, have enjoyed relatively low job-cut levels,” John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.

    Layoffs in the pharmaceutical and retail sectors overtook nonprofit and government job cuts last month, accounting for 20.32 percent and 16.93 percent of announcements respectively.

    Job cuts at Merck & Co., Borders, Cisco Systems, Lockheed Martin and Boston Scientific accounted for 57 percent of the July total, according to Challenger, making July the first month in seven when the government sector did not shed the most jobs.

    “A casual observer certainly might conclude that the wheels just fell off the recovery wagon,” said Challenger.

    Government and nonprofit profit job cuts still account for the largest share of planned layoffs in the first seven months of the year.

    For 2011 so far, employers have announced 312,220 cuts, down 8 percent from the first 7 months of 2010.

    The rise in job cuts comes two days ahead of the U.S. government’s key jobs report on Friday, which is forecast to show the pace of job creation accelerated last month. The economy is expected to have gained 85,000 jobs, not enough to push the unemployment rate below its current 9.2 percent.

    (Reporting by Alexandra Alper, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

    Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters

    Let’s see…ignorant assholes (puddybitch, richpeoplefirst, emperor max-minidick) say low (or no) taxes, low or no regulation and high profits equal JOBS!!!!

    Goody goody!!!!

    Where are the JOBS motherfuckers???

    J.O.B.S….”Bob”….

    …where the fuck are they?

  32. 32

    http://www.baconsrebellion.com.....rseas.html

    Bacon’s Rebellion
    Reinventing Virginia for the 21st Century

    U.S. Firms Send Jobs Overseas

    Posted on April 19, 2011 by James A. Bacon|

    Among journalists, there’s a tried and true expression: good stories just keep getting better.

    And that’s the case this morning with a Wall Street Journal story reporting that big, global U.S. corporations (the ones Republicans want to hand tax breaks to) have been hiring overseas while cutting U.S. workers. Firms such as General Electric, Caterpillar, Microsoft and Wal-Mart were among the firms that cut American workers by 2.9 million in the past decade while adding 2.4 million overseas.

    In the previous decade, the reverse was true — 4.4 million jobs added in the U.s. and 2.7 million created abroad.

    If you recall, yesterday I posted an item that as S&P was considering downgrading the U.S. government’s credit rating because of deficit fears, the IRS was reporting that something like 40 percent of Americans paid no income tax. The super rich got huge tax breaks. My point was if you are truly concerned about government spending, one needs to look at revenue coming in as well as cuts.

    The very same people who want to cut taxes, especially for the Citation jet crowd, are the same ones who want to give big corporations big tax and trade breaks. Incredibly, the New York Times reported that GE paid no income taxes in 2010, after taking advantage of tax breaks galore, including many overseas, although it apparently did pay some tax estimates.

    Ooooops!!!

    The JOBS! I FOUND ’em! In Bush’s back pocket???

    Nahhhhh…in Sri Lanka.

    Screw your countrymen assholes. Great Americans you are. Fuck all of ya.

  34. 34

    The stock market is off about 115 Dow points at this moment. One factor driving the selloff is people pulling money out of their 401(k)s and putting it in bond funds — as if they think bonds will rise along with interest rates. (Bond prices always move in the opposite direction of interest rates.) Looks like the masses, already burned in 2008-2009, are going to panic yet again, dragging financial markets down further.

    Remember how Republicans wanted to privatize Social Security and let people manage their own retirement funds because they don’t trust the government to do it?

    Yeah, well — Social Security has never missed a benefit payment … yet. Republicans are trying to change that, too.

  37. 37

    Ha, ha, Righties…

    WASHINGTON (AP) – A half-century after the advent of the pill, the Obama administration on Monday ushered in a change in women’s health care potentially as transformative: coverage of birth control as prevention, with no copays.

    Services ranging from breast pumps for new mothers to counseling on domestic violence were also included in the broad expansion of women’s preventive care under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

    WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – An incredulous federal judge on Monday rejected the state’s claim that a new Kansas statute that denied Planned Parenthood federal funding did not target the group, ruling that the law unconstitutionally intended to punish Planned Parenthood for advocating for abortion rights and would likely be overturned.

    U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten granted the request from Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri for a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the law, which would require the state to allocate federal family planning dollars first to public health departments and hospitals, and leave no money for Planned Parenthood or similar groups.

    Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said the state will appeal the ruling, which orders Kansas to continue providing the federal Title X grant funding to Planned Parenthood.

  38. 38

    @37 Yup, now watch righties complain that enjoining a state from punishing a private organization for advocating something that is already legal under federal law interferes with their free speech!

  39. 39

    37 – Heh. A judge committed by oath to uphold the law throws rotted right wing red meat into the dumpster.

    I love it.

  40. 40

    @34, Roger: They’re just a little slow on your uptake, so to speak. You just beat them by about 5-600 dow points.

    Our President and our senators and two of our D Reps (including Inslee) just shaved off about 2% of GNP and 500,000 jobs and are hell bent for more. All without a single hearing, Roger.

    I’d say more rational (less bad) than panicked.

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