Search Results for: drinking liberally

There was an overflow crowd at the much anticipated Darcy Burner/Dave Reichert debate, and so most of us flowed over to Drinking Liberally to debate amongst ourselves.

Joining me in our unique brand of drunken debate were Mollie, Will, Carl, Sandeep and Seattle P-I political columnist Joel Connelly. Will gives us a first-hand account from the Burner/Reichert debate, Joel reports from his recent trip through the political wilds of Montana, and Sandeep fills us in on his futile existence begging editorial boards to oppose an initiative sponsored by the newspaper industry… and yet once again, I seem to do most of the talking. Go figure.

The show is 56:44, and is available here as a 40.9 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

My God was it busy at Drinking Liberally last night. So busy that we had to record the podcast in three separate segments. So busy, that Congressman Jim McDermott was in the house and we didn’t even manage to fit him in. So you’ll just have to settle for Congressman Jay Inslee talking about the Mark Foley scandal, and peace activist Cindy Sheehan living up to Podcasting Liberally’s high journalistic standards, and saying the word "fuck." And oh yeah, we talked about a couple statewide initiatives too.

Joining me in an inebriated, round-robin dialectic were Mollie, Lee, Carl, and Chad. In our first segment Rep. Inslee joined us to discuss the dramatic unraveling of the House Republican leadership in the wake of the Foley scandal. Then Sandeep Kaushik and 43rd LD shoe-in Jamie Pedersen sat down to argue against initiatives 920 and 933, respectively. And finally, Cindy sat down for an enlightenng and informal conversation about her accidental activism, and her new book "Peace Mom: a Mother’s Journey Through Heartache to Activism." And she said the word "fuck."

The show is 01:11:20, and is available here as a 53 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan will be speaking at Town Hall tomorrow night, and afterwards she’s going to stop by Drinking Liberally and join us on our weekly podcast. We’ll save her a seat next to Congressman Jay Inslee, who will also be joining us for the evening.

Wow. What a jam-packed evening. First, Cindy Sheehan at Town Hall (Tues., Oct. 3, 7:30 PM… tickets only $5 bucks,) then Sheehan and Inslee at Drinking Liberally (8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.) Hope to see you all there.

It was a night of thoughtful, post-primary analysis, intellectual dialog, and me yelling at people who disagree with me until they back down in fear. That’s okay. I’m told conflict makes for good radio.

Joining me in passionate loud debate were Nick, Darryl, Lee, Carl, and token righty Don. Topics of discussion included the Richard Pope Fiasco, the right-wing corporatist conspiracy to take over our court system, Darcy Burner‘s surging candidacy in WA’s 8th Congressional District, and the lefty netroots conspiracy to take over the Democratic Party.

The show is 54:46, and is available here as a 39.2 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

It was a primary election night edition of Podcasting Liberally, and like most elections there were mixed emotions. Us DL regulars were sharing a packed Montlake Alehouse with a couple other election night parties, and while we all cheered as BIAW-backed, winger-ringer Supreme Court candidate John Groen went down to defeat, the Yes on I-88 and Bill Sherman for Legislature folks were left crying in the beers.

Joining me in live coverage as the election results poured in were Mollie, Jon, Daniel, Carl, and Seattle P-I columnist Joel Connelly. A fascinating evening of breaking news, erudite commentary, brilliant analysis, and of course, penis jokes.

The show is 49:39, and is available here as a 45.5 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

Normally, I listen to the podcast before writing up these summaries, because… well… I was drinking at the time it was recorded and I want to make sure that I remember events accurately. But apparently, that’s just not the Mike?™ McGavick Way of doing things. So I’ll just write this post to the best of my recollection, and apologize in advance if I’m contradicted by the actual audio recording.

I’m pretty damn sure that joining me in an our sober discussion of the issues were Will, Mollie, Lynn, Nick, Seattle P-I columnist Joel Connelly and TV’s Soleil Moon Frye. At least I think. Topics of discussion may have included Mike?™ McGavick’s alcohol-hazed recollection of his DUI, Mike?™ McGavick’s money-crazed connection to VECO Corp. and their Corrupt Bastards Club of Alaska legislators, Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark spreading like wildfire through WA’s 5th Congressional District, and I think — though I’m not sure, ’cause I don’t really remember anything after I strapped the headset on — I think we talked at length about how Rep. Dave Reichert’s extensive use of steroids have swollen his testicles to the size of small grapefruit. But maybe not.

The show is 51:51, and is available here as a 38.9 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

Man, us lefties sure are a bunch of pussies. Sure, we’re liberal. And yeah, most of us drink. But last night not a single one of us managed to get what the kids these days call Mike!™ McGavick drunk. (Or the popular shorthand: Drunk!™)

Joining me in an all too sober discussion of the issues of the day were Will, Mollie, Geov and Carl. Topics of discussion included the relatively warlike tendencies of the various world religions, the Katherine Harris crazy comments of Katherine Harris, what the hell the Democrats are going to do if they actually take back Congress, the human, political and military disaster that is Iraq, the human, political and non-military disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, the Seattle Weekly’s transition from Mossback to Wetback… and Republican US Senate candidate Mike!™ McGavick’s curious revelation that he once got pulled over for driving Drunk!™

The show is 51:33, and is available here as a 38.7 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

I’m sure much of the discussion over Mike!™ McGavick’s surprise revelation yesterday afternoon that he had been arrested on a DUI thirteen years ago will probably focus on whether or not this was a shrewd political move. (The revelation, that is, not the DUI.)

But one thing that seems to have been glossed over in the media coverage thus far is how totally blotto Mike!™ admits to have been at the time:

He told The Associated Press that he registered 0.17 in a blood-alcohol test, well above the legal limit, after he was pulled over. He told the Seattle P-I that he wasn’t arrested and the charge never went on his driving record because it was ultimately dismissed.

“Well above the legal limit”…? Talk about an understatement. 0.17 is more than double the legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 percent, and more than halfway towards unconsciousness.

And what does it take to get this incredibly drunk? Well according to every blood-alcohol calculator and chart I checked online, an awful damn lot. For example, using the University of Oklahoma Police Department’s online calculator I plugged in 8 drinks over the course of an hour for a 200 pound man, and I only got up to 0.16 percent. (Perhaps it’s telling that OK’s calculator only goes up to 8 drinks an hour.)

A fluke? Check out charts and calculators here, here, here, and here. In fact, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation it takes over 9 drinks in an hour to hit 0.17 percent!

How drunk is this? HealthStatus.com provides the following helpful reference chart:

BAC Level Percentage	Effects
.03 to .12	Feeling of increased confidence, sense of daring. Look flushed or red in face. Trouble with fine actions, such writing.
.09 to .25	Trouble seeing or focusing, slow reactions, sleepy, stumble often or lose balance easily.
.18 to .30	Confusion, dizziness, slurred speech and lack of muscle coordination.
Above .25	Serious health issues, including death.

That’s pretty damn drunk.

I’m sure many of us have reached for our car keys wondering how close we might be to the legal limit; the thought has occurred to me leaving Drinking Liberally, where I typically consume two or three beers over the course of an evening. But 8 or 9 drinks? Since college, I don’t think I’ve had that much to drink in an entire day, and if I’d downed them in a single hour, my dorm mates would have found me face down, head in a toilet. (Okay… they did.)

This was no borderline lapse of judgement. Mike!™ was drunk. And it should have been damn clear to him, his wife and his friends that he was totally unfit to drive.

And while I’m guessing from his admission that this was the only time he got caught, it’s hard to believe that this was the first or only time he ever stumbled behind the wheel of a car. In any case, it certainly wasn’t the first time McGavick got totally shit-faced, as this type of serious drinking requires some serious training.

But then, we shouldn’t expect anything less from such a serious candidate.

UPDATE:
See, this is why we do what we do. The Seattle Times follows up:

But McGavick provided few details about the arrest, prompting Internet discussions about how much he had to drink.

Turns out it was mostly beer at a series of three parties, and the Times also cites the University of Oklahoma Police Department’s online blood-alcohol level calculator.

So let’s see. If it takes 8 or 9 beers an hour (1993 DC lobbyist crowd, I’m guessing Heineken or Becks) how many beers did he have over three or four hours to maintain a 0.17, and how much drunk driving did he do between the parties to get from one to the other? That must have been some evening of binge drinking.

Apparently, the whole blogging craze has pretty much run its course, because other than me there wasn’t a single active, political blogger on the panel last night. (Political bloggers are so July.)

Joining me were non-bloggers Sandeep and Laura, former bloggers Will and Carl, and non-political blogger Gavin. So of course we led off our conversation with the biggest political issue of the day: Snakes on a Plane! No really… tune in and listen to how we cleverly connect this seemingly unrelated topic to Ned Lamont’s victory over Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut primary. Other topics of discussion included Mike!™ McGavick’s career path through Washington D.C.’s lucrative revolving door, the Seattle Storm’s imminent move to Oklahoma City after their fan support collapses in the wake of their disappointing playoff loss, the John Bircher behind WA’s estate tax repeal initiative, Will’s manly love for John Edwards, replacing the Viaduct with nothin’, the GOP’s intentional non-grammatical use of the term "Democrat" Party instead of the proper "Democratic" Party, Kyle Taylor Lucas’s strong challenge to faux-Democratic Sen. Tim Sheldon in the primary, and the hypocritical, mean-spirited Rev. Joe Fuiten.

The show is 53:49, and is available here as a 41.1 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

It was a night of media navel gazing as former Seattle Weekly writer Geov Parrish and former Stranger writer Sandeep Kaushik joined us to ponder the fate of the post-purge Weekly in Seattle’s tech-savvy, blog-heavy media market. Oh yeah… me , Will, Carl and Mollie also chimed in from time to time, and just for good measure we also talked a little politics, including al-Qaeda’s stunning victory in last week’s Connecticut Democratic senate primary.

The show is 50:12, and is available here as a 34.6 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

It was a battle so big only four of us could fit around the table. Will and Mollie teamed up with me to take on Seattle P-I bruiser Joel Connelly in a no-holds-barred, steel cage match debate over political civility. I thought we held the upper hand until Joel blindsided me with a broken bottle of Maker’s Mark, but my logical analysis and impressive command of the facts eventually won the day when I knocked the old curmudgeon to the ground and beat him senseless with his own cane. In between blows we civily discussed the McGavick shareholder lawsuit, my role in it, the pros and cons of negative campaigning, and how all this relates to Sen. Joe Lieberman’s defeat last night in the CT Democratic primary.

The show is 46:25, and is available here as a 31.9 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

I missed this week’s Drinking Liberally, and in my absence Lynn from Evergreen Politics took over the reigns and led a “Boomer Edition” of Podcasting Liberally, featuring political and social activists from the Vietnam War era who are still active on the local scene. Guests included Alice Woldt, Don Hopps, Michael Hood and Howie Martin. I’ve been without broadband so I haven’t listened to it yet, but I’ve heard some really good buzz.

The show is 53:43, and is available here as a 33.4 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

In the great tradition of patriot Sam Adams, we came back from our Fourth of July hiatus all boozed up and ready to foment revolution.

Joining me in patriotic desecration of the American political system were Will, Carl, Nick, Sandeep and Ray. Topics of discussion included whether former challenger Mark Wilson’s endorsement of Sen. Maria Cantwell would mollify the "anti-war" wing of the Democrat party, President Bush pathetically pointing to a $296 billion deficit as evidence that his economic policies are working, and Rep. Dave Reichert’s "moderate" vote against raising the minimum wage. Meanwhile, young bucks Will and Nick debated the tension between Belltown residents and Belltown bars, while the rest of us old folk fondly reminisced about the days when noisey street revelers were a greater threat to our sleep than apnea.

The show is 52:55, and is available here as a 33.8 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

It was hot. It was muggy. It was the end of a very long day. So what better way to cool down than to dive into the politics of personal destruction? Both freshman King County Councilman Raymond Shaw Reagan Dunn (who Seattle P-I columnist Joel Connelly referred to as "the Dunn Dauphin") and freshman Rep. Dave Reichert provided amusing fodder for our sodden antics.

Joining me and Joel in reasoned, objective political discourse were Mollie, Will, Carl and Daniel. Topics of discussion included Shaw’s Dunn’s self-published King County Guide to Do-It-Yourself Identity Theft, the empty head underneath Reichert’s impressive hair and how that impacts the race for the 8th CD, the impressive cowboy hat atop the equally impressive head of Peter Goldmark and how that could help Democrats win in Eastern Washington… and the need for a Democratic blogger out in Eastern WA to help make that happen.

The show is 55:49, and is available here as a 36.3 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]

Nothing says "fun" like a bunch of drunken bloggers sitting around a table discussing tax policy. No, really… nothing does say "fun" like that. In fact, I think we’re going to have to invent a whole new word.

Joining me in a wonkishly entertaining and surprisingly passionate discussion of tax restructuring were Mollie, Will, Carl, Sandeep, Lee and newbie Ray. Topics of discussion included Washington state’s incredibly regressive tax structure and creative proposals to fix it, plus Eastern Washington secession (the great state of Martha?), Eastern King County secession (wouldn’t it be great to have two Democratic counties in the region?), the partisan battle over vote-by-mail, and Congressional Republicans’ refusal to prohibit spending on illegal surveillance.

The show is 53:09, and is available here as a 34.2 MB MP3. Please visit PodcastingLiberally.com for complete archives and RSS feeds.

[Recorded live at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Special thanks to Confab creators Gavin and Richard for producing the show.]