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Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottlePlease join us tonight for another evening of electoral politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. Tonight’s primaries are in Wisconsin, Maryland, and DC.

Seattle DL meets every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Our regular starting time is 8:00pm, but feel free to show up before then to catch the earliest election returns.

Naturally, we’ll be doing a bit of live blogging of the results.

Can’t make it to Seattle? There is also a meeting tonight of the Tri-Cities chapter, and the Tacoma chapter meets this Thursday.

With 233 chapters of Living Liberally, including twelve in Washington state and six more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s one near you.

Comments

  3. 3

    Republicans Try To Make Deficit Worse

    “The Government Accountability Office, which audits federal spending, has concluded that the national debt would rise precipitously if President Obama’s health care legislation doesn’t go into effect.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....99895.html

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Why do Rob McKenne and other Republicans want to bankrupt America? So they can buy it for a few cents on the dollar?

  6. 6

    Don’t Go Away Mad, Just Go Away, Dep’t

    “While the story behind Trayvon Martin’s shooting death continues to grab headlines, interest in the case is sharply divided along partisan and racial lines, according to a new study by Pew Research Center.

    “Far more Republicans (56%) than Democrats (25%) say there has been too much coverage of Martin’s death, according to Pew …. In addition, 43% of whites said the story has garnered too much coverage, compared with just 16% of blacks, Pew said.”

    http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/04/.....?hpt=hp_t3

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Typical. They expect Trayvon’s parents to lower their son into a hole, shovel dirt in, and walk away. Bullshit! The kid was walking home from a 7-11 minding his own business when a vigilante with a propensity for violent confrontation hassled him and then shot him. No way should the vigilante get to walk away from this killing, even if he got scuffed up a bit. I don’t give a damn if the wingers are tired of the outrage, protests, and media. Let ’em shove it.

  7. 7

    # 5: Supposedly a USC economics exam asked students to choose which lane travels the fastest from two points in and near L.A. – the outside lane, the center lane, or the inside lane. They were then supposed to give their reasoning.

    The correct answer, based on Milton Friedman economics: It doesn’t matter which lane you choose, because all drivers are presumed to act rationally with the same information, and therefore all will arrive at the destination at exactly the same time.

  8. 8

    Continuation re: # 5: I liked the article, which deconstructed the Republican economics theory quite well. Unfortunately, it will be lost on most Americans. Heck, even the Republicans don’t believe in their own economic theories. If they did, then their inherent advantages of wealth (big-name colleges, careers arranged at the country club, mentoring from fellow Republicans, financing of business ventures, etc.) would be gone in the interest of a level playing field so all could compete on the same basis, with the highest GPA winning.

    So while Republican economic theorists spout their doctrine, what they want their base to really hear is that Republicans will protect their advantages – even the most humble among them – against the Democrats. They want their base to hear that Democrats are “foolishly” trying to meddle with Adam Smith’s invisible hand by trying to take away their base’s position on the bottom rung on the economic ladder, and give it to the black fellow instead. They want to hear that the black/brown/red fellow is inherently unworthy of getting his foot on that bottom rung, due to cultural or “work ethic” situations, which is why that bottom run “properly” belongs to the Republican base. In the course of things this has been extended to Union and government workers, because the Republican financial elite has a vested interest in destroying the fair wages they earn.

    So while Republican economic theorists cry out that the Democrats are trying to interfere with the proper course of capitalism, they are really saying that such interference works in the best interests of the working classes, not the money classes, so therefore it can’t be tolerated.

  9. 9

    The parallels between the child labor issue and the health care issue are remarkable. In both cases, the legislation in question was the product of a decades-long struggle. Universal health care has famously been a goal of American liberals since Theodore Roosevelt proposed it in 1912. The movement to abolish child labor, for its part, stretches back to the first years after the Civil War: When the Knights of Labor was founded in 1869, its constitution included a provision calling for abolition of child labor, and a similar position was adopted by the American Federation of Labor when it was created in 1886. The National Child Labor Committee was organized in 1904, and the first federal law was introduced in 1906. For his part, Roosevelt supported a national study of the problem.

    Only the federal government could address the issue, since no state would act on its own. Even states that did not want child labor could not afford to get rid of it if their competitors still had it. Health care presents a similar problem: Any state that provides good medical care risks attracting sick people from other states. In both cases, unless Congress took action, the problem was going to stay unsolved. And so in 1916, Congress, using its power to regulate interstate commerce, banned the interstate shipment of the products of child labor. When it defended the law in Court, the government explained that this was an interstate problem: “The shipment of child-made goods outside of one State directly induces similar employment of children in competing states.”

    http://www.tnr.com/article/pol.....e-care-act

  10. 10

    This totally makes me throw up:

    The prevailing claim in Hammer was made by a father whose sons had been working sixty hours per week in a North Carolina factory. He claimed that the law violated his rights by depriving him of his children’s earnings. Several years later, Reuben Dagenhart, one of those boys, reflected on the constitutional rights that the Supreme Court had given him. “We got some automobile rides” from the wealthy businessmen’s committee that had financed the litigation. “They bought both of us a Coca-Cola. That’s what we got out of it.”

    The insurance industry will win with both outcomes but especially if the right wingers have their way. The “alternative” of competition across state lines just means it becomes easier for the insurance companies to cherry pick the healthiest consumers and keep out people who really need health care. Those people, if they’re not rich, are relegated to the medicaid system which the right wing is doing everything they can to cut and gut. An insurance company domiciled in a bought and paid for state is regulated by the laws of that state and any federal level regulation is lobbied into toothlessness. Obama made a smelly compromise with the insurance companies and big Pharma but their power is too great in Washington. We’re in a world of hurt if the SCOTUS legislates from the bench and sinks Obama’s modest reforms based on Romneycare.

  11. 11

    Whiny 1-Percenters

    Financial markets are having a cow for the second day in a row because the Federal Reserve won’t promise to print more money.

    Shit. What can I say? W-E-L-F-A-R-E

    That’s what quantitative easing is — welfare for the rich — at the expense of workers, consumers, savers, retirees, and the middle class. Probably 70% of the runup in stocks since last summer is due to the Fed’s money supply manipulations, which benefit bankers and investors, but virtually no one else.

    Let ’em whine.

    (Full disclosure: Roger Rabbit, who owns hundreds of thousands of dollars of stocks, directly benefits from Federal Reserve policies that artificially inflate stock prices. Screw Roger Rabbit! Forget that greedy old long-eared stock flipper and do what’s right for Americans!)

  13. 13

    Vigilante Cops Get Long Prison Terms

    Four New Orleans cops convicted under federal civil rights laws for mowing down unarmed Hurricane Katrina victims were given prison sentences ranging from 38 years to 65 years today. In addition, a police investigator who helped cover up the crimes got 6 years.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46.....nd_courts/

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Next up for federal civil rights prosecution: One neighborhood vigilante who shot an unarmed black kid in Florida.

  14. 14

    @12 Any on-air personality in the so-called “lamestream” media who pulled this kind of shit would be summarily fired; but Fox doesn’t give a damn about its credibility.

  15. 15

    @13

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Next up for federal civil rights prosecution: One neighborhood vigilante who shot an unarmed black kid in Florida.

    And daddies buddies in the prosecutors office that helped him get off, at least at first.

    I’m still wondering how someone makes 40 or so, mostly bogus, calls to 911 and doesn’t get a visit from police telling them to knock it off. I volunteered with a community policing and justice program for a while and we had a couple of sit down chats with people over similar situations.

  16. 16

    Rick Santorum, speaking in Pa., vows to stay in GOP race

    That headline should read Rick Santorum fails at basic math.

  18. 18

    It’s been 38 days since the uncharged and never arrested George Zimmerman shot and killed an unarmed Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, but
    the state of Florida has not forgotten about safety.

    Permitted handguns will be allowed in RNC’s ‘clean zone’    , but

    Hoping to head off violent protesters during the Republican National Convention, Mayor Bob Buckhorn has proposed a litany of items that will be considered security threats during the week-long event.

    The list runs from air pistols to water pistols and also includes items such as masks, plastic or metal pipe and string more than six inches long.

    Conspicuously absent from the list of potential weapons: Firearms.

    Florida, the fun state!

  19. 19

    The right wing vote suppressors just can’t stop even when their ugly laws are ruled unconstitutional:

    the law already disenfranchised voters during the short time it is in effect — including a Marine veteran and a 84 year-old former elected official. Yesterday, it also appears to have disenfranchised one more elderly voter, despite the fact that the law is supposed to be suspended due to the multiple court decisions against it.

    http://thinkprogress.org/justi.....g-it-down/

  21. 21

    @18: Perfect! A bunch of drunk crackers with guns! What could go wrong?

  22. 22

    A bit of good news for once:

    Prompted by a petition campaign by the progressive advocacy group Color of Change, Coca-Cola has pulled its support from ALEC, a right-wing corporate-funded front group which has been pushing voter restriction efforts around the country.

    http://thinkprogress.org/justi.....n-efforts/

    Good on “Color of Change”!

  23. 23

    @18 A whole convention hall full of gun-toting Republicans, with no Democrats within 2,500 yards, so they’ll have to settle for shooting each other. Is that the Democrats’ secret plan to carry Florida for Obama?

  24. 24

    Random Ruminations On Investing

    1. Try to hit a lot of singles instead of a few home runs.
    2. You’re better off buying expensive quality than cheap junk.
    3. If you’re doing what everyone else is doing, it’s too late to make money from it.
    4. What goes down won’t necessarily come back up, and what goes up won’t necessarily stay up.
    5. If you’re tempted to buy a stock selling for 50 or 100 times current earnings, just make the check out to me, because I’ll invest that money better than you will.
    6. Debt is bad and lots of debt is even worse.
    7. A company’s inability to make a profit is a compelling reason for not owning its stock.
    8. Don’t buy what Warren Buffett is buying. You don’t have his cash flow or bargaining power.
    9. Don’t buy anything you don’t understand.
    10. No one ever got rich by spending. Understand the difference between “needs” and “wants.” This understanding begins with the realization that most of the former are actually the latter. The best place to get money to invest is the money you’re wasting. Free up that money by reforming your bad spending habits and then invest every cent of it; merely spending it on something else doesn’t get you anywhere.

    There’s more, but that’s what I can think of right now.

  25. 25

    Roger Rabbit Promises Gas Price Relief Before Election!

    I sure hope Republicans stake their campaign on $4 gas! Why? Because gas will get a lot cheaper before Nov. 6. This expert says so:

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/46957469

    As for me, I’m not loading up oil stocks right now. Here’s why:

    1. The Saudi oil minister said market fundamentals cannot explain the current price of oil.

    2. Speculators currently own $65 billion of oil futures, an all-time high that exceeds even the speculative bubble of 2008.

    3. As #2 above indicates, global oil inventories are very high.

    4. U.S. domestic oil inventories are so high the industry is running out of storage capacity.

    5. Speculators have been encouraged to hoard oil by tanker day rates that are so low some companies are paying oil hoarders to use their ships for storage so they won’t rust at the dock.

    6. The number of miles driven by U.S. motorists is going down even as the mileage efficiency of the U.S. vehicle fleet goes up.

    7. U.S. oil consumption is declining in absolute terms even as U.S. oil production is going up so much that imports have fallen from 60% of the U.S. supply just a few years ago to 45% today.

    8. The high prices you see at the pump are due to refinery shutdowns, not a squeeze on crude supplies, and when those refineries come back on line there will be a surplus of gas.

    Folks, the world is awash in oil! And demand is still weak. Supply-demand will work the same as it always has. Gas prices will come down in the coming months! And when pump prices slide back under $3 the Republicans who banked on using $4 gas to beat Obama will have the rug pulled out from under them.

    Seasoned GOP strategists know this. That’s why you see them shaking their heads at the stump rhetoric of Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, and the other idiots comprising the 2012 field of GOP presidential contenders. You don’t hear the GOP party professionals talking about gas prices! Those people, who have spent a lifetime in politics, aren’t stupid. Unfortunately for them, their party’s candidates are.

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