Salt Lake City

Scary liberals,

This Friday you're bound to see witches, skeletons, ghouls and goblins - and that's just the Republican candidates. Join us at the Piper Down (1492 S. State) for a Drinking Liberally Halloween, from 6:30 - 9:30 and bring your best political costume. If you don't have a costume, no problemo - you can always come as a whiny American, as Phil Gramm says.

Friday is also the last day to vote early. We'd tell you to vote early just to avoid the long lines on election day, but from what we hear even the early voting has a line. But please please don't let the lines dissuade you. At this point it probably doesn't need to be said, but this election is an important one. Oh, and remember that liquor stores are closed on election day, so hit the DABC early.

Heather and Jeremiah would like to thank Laura for running the show while we were gone, and setting up a guest speaker to boot. We're sorry we missed it, but we're sure that it was informative. Thanks to Sheena McFarland of the Trib for coming out and sharing the pros and cons of the state constitutional amendments with DL.

Drinking Liberally isn't doing anything for election night, but the Young Democrats of Utah are holding a party that sounds fun:

Where: The Downtown Radisson 215 W. South Temple
When: Election Night, November 4th - 8:00 PM until we are done celebrating
What: Cash bar, live DJ, free food, a ton of fun

Also there's this:
The Utah Democratic Lawyers Council will present a forum on "The Fallout of One-Party Rule in Utah State Government"

October 28 5:30 - 6:30 PM

Speakers include State Senator Ross Romero, State Senator Scott McCoy, Patrice Arent, and County Mayor Peter Corroon

And you can also join Utah for Obama at In the Venue at Club Sound @ 579 W 200 S from 4pm - midnight. This will be an event for all ages, though there will be an area where people over 21 can get alcoholic beverages. There will be non-alcoholic refreshments for others as well.

Suggested donation for admission is $2.70 - a penny for every electoral college vote needed to win the presidency. This will help to reimburse grassroots organizers of the event.

See you Friday!
Jeremiah, Heather and Laura

Drinking Liberally SLC meets from 6:30-9:30 every Friday in the back room of the Piper Down (1492 S. State Street).
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Countdown Liberals,

THIS Friday, October 24th, we are fortunate to have Salt Lake Tribune Government Reporter Sheena McFarland, (with that name, she'll fit right in at our pub!), join us and provide the pros & cons of each of the 5 Utah Constitutional Amendments that we will be voting on in less than 2 weeks!

Again, that's THIS Friday, Piper Down, 1495 S. State St, 6:30.
(I got feedback, in the nicest way, that my email last week may have left question as to whether we were meeting or not, so I just want to be clear so that we have a good showing for Sheena!).

Now NEXT Friday, not only will Heather and Jeremiah be back and the website all updated (hoorah!), but we are anxious to see you in your finest ALL THINGS POLITICAL COSTUME!
No doubt Sarah, and a few Joe's and a Maverick or two will be there, and hopefully we see some pork barrels, red lipstick and bailouts as well!
Costume not required, but highly encouraged and rewarded!

Cheers,
Laura, Jeremiah and Heather

Drinking Liberally SLC meets from 6:30-9:30 every Friday in the back room of the Piper Down (1492 S. State Street).

Debate Dizzy Liberals,
(I’m just not as clever as Jeremiah!)

As you may know, the cute hosts - Jeremiah and Heather - are out of the country, no doubt drinking Red Horse Beer. Liberally of course. I’m filling in on the meet-up reminders until they return at the end of the month, and in the meantime, DL will not only carry on, but we have some FUN events planned, including a speaker and costume party! Details later in this message.

BUT FIRST, this weekly DL message is being sent out a day early to alert you of TONIGHT’s Debate Watch party being hosted by favorite DL members Misty Fowler and Becky Isais:

“Start at 6 pm to offer our candidates running for office in 2008 a moment to preach to the choir. Candidates will have lawn signs & email sign-up forms. (If you are a candidate who would like to participate, please call Misty Fowler at 801.755.3974 or Becky Isais at 702.354.2984 and we’ll get it set up!)
The debate begins at 7 pm, and ends at 8:30.
OUR FRIENDS AT SAINTS & SINNERS ARE OFFERING………
*5 T.V.s to enjoy the debate*
(1 flat screen & 1 HUGE screen)
FREE ADMISSION & DONATED FREE MEMBERSHIPS!
FREE PIZZA!
Remember, this is a Private Club for Members, which means you must be 21 or older to attend!”
OK, details on events:
Last week we did our own spin on the popular “Obama Is Your New Bicycle” website (http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/) called “Sarah Palin Has A Flat Tire.”
We had some great submissions and Dave & Cherish (owner and serving goddess) judged their favorites for prizes. Can’t recall much (I favor the Manhattans you know), but I do know that Alyson’s “Sarah Palin stomped on the mixed tape that Obama made for you” was one of the winners!

This week we will have another casual meet up, perhaps an activity, but mostly debriefing the debate.

Next week, Oct 24th, we will have Salt Lake Tribune State Government Reporter Sheena McFarland give us the lowdown on the five new Constitutional Amendments we’re to vote on next month. They may not be sexy issues, but those seem to be the type that bite us later if we don’t pay attention. Come get informed!

The following Friday, Oct 31st is our All Things Political Costume Party! Rumor has it Sarah Palin will be there (perhaps more than one even!), and I am hoping to see a clever “Rescue Plan”!
Mark your calendar and start your DI shopping early!

Cheers,
Laura, Jeremiah and Heather

Liberal debate watchers,

This week we're sending out the weekly e-mail early because we want to let you know about some of the watch parties going on in Salt Lake. Just because Drinking Liberally isn't holding a debate watch party doesn't mean you have to sit at home and scream at the screen.

There's a watch party at Saints And Sinners, hosted by Misty Fowler and Becky Isais:

Come on out to a debate watch party!!

WHERE: Saints & Sinners, 3040 S. State St.
WHEN: Tuesday October, 7th @ 6 pm
WHY: To show our support in turning Utah BLUE!

We will start at 6 pm to offer our candidates running for office in 2008 a moment to preach to the choir. Candidates will have lawn signs & email sign-up forms.

Fred Ash, Roger Harding, Paul Pugmire, and possibly Randy Horiuchi will be there, as well as representatives from the Valdez/Springmeyer, Mike Lee, and Jim Gonzales campaigns.

For additional info please call Becky Isais @ 702 354 2984.

OUR FRIENDS AT SAINTS & SINNERS ARE OFFERING.........
*5 T.V.s to enjoy the debate*
(1 flat screen & 1 HUGE screen)
FREE ADMISSION & DONATED FREE MEMBERSHIPS!
FREE PIZZA!

And there's a debate party at a house in the Marmalade Gayborhood district:

Debate party tonight! Just a reminder that this is an outdoor event so bring your jackets.

Special guest appearances from House Representative Rebecca Chavez-Houck (District 24), House Representative Jennifer Seelig (District 23), City Councilman Luke Garrott (District 4) and other local Public Servants.

Please donate to their campaigns! We'll have a very large jar available. Intermittent speeches are a viable possibility. Party convention-esque dancing encouraged! Arm wrestle dispute settling also encouraged!

*********************************

Debate Party!
Join us for a soiree of Presidential Proportions as we watch McCain in the Membrane battle (i.e. "debate") the Stalwart Captain of the New World Order, Barack Obama on the big screen and under the stars at 514 N. Main Street (84103) in the ever-friendly Marmalade Gayborhood District on Tuesday, October 7 from 6-10 PM (unless McCain actually cancels this time!).
Come one, come all - we're never "too far left" to reach over the aisle - and enjoy a little Fall BBQ. Bring your local spirits (support Uinta/Wasatch Brewers!), cocktails, and wine, but no one has permission to throw tomatoes at the screen if things turn ugly!

Political Debate Parties are the New Black, you don't want to miss this one.

DETAILS
October 7, 2008
6-10 PM
@ Matt Aune & Derek Jones Residence
514 N. Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
B.Y.O.B or W. BBQ'd hot dogs provided. Bring anything else you'd like to throw on the grill.
712-6797 - matt mobile
824-2373 - derek mobile

And the last one we know of is at Club Try-Angles:

Here we go again!!
We've had a great turn out at our debate watch parties. I hope that you will join us for this one. This debate will have a Town Hall format. Which means that the candidates will be answering questions presented by the audience or online viewers. And, as I've said before, it should be interesting. See you there.

This event will be held in conjunction with a social for Human Rights Campaign.
Time: Tuesday, October 7 at 7:00 PM
Duration: 2 hours
Host: Patrick Hutchings
Contact Phone: 801-673-6997
Location:
Club Try-Angles (Salt Lake City, UT)
251 W 900 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84101

In case you missed the press coverage of our VP debate watch party, check it out on our website here.

Thanks to the Young Democrats of Utah for organizing and inviting us on the bar crawl in Park City. It was fun to get out of Salt Lake for a night and see what the Park City bar scene is like. Also, thanks to Sarah Nielson who was kind enough to put on pants to join us. Watch for the column in the upcoming issue of "In Utah This Week".

This Friday we'll be back in our usual spot at the Piper Down (1492 S. State), most likely still talking about the debate, so please join us. Laura will be running the whole show by herself for the next three weeks, so I'm sure she'd appreciate it if you bought her a beer :)

See you at a debate watch party tonight (and Piper Down Friday)!

Jeremiah, Heather, and Laura

Drinking Liberally SLC meets from 6:30-9:30 every Friday in the back room of the Piper Down (1492 S. State Street).
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Twice a year the Mormons swarm Salt Lake City to attend a conference, complete with talks, breakout sessions; everything but the canvas tote. Salt Lake has a lot of conferences throughout the year, some of them quite large, but only one gets called simply "conference" or sometimes "general conference". And this last weekend was one of those conference weekends.

It also happened to be opening weekend for Religulous, the new Bill Maher documentary about religion. So while the faithful all headed to Temple Square, the faithless swarmed the Broadway Theater a few blocks away. And by swarmed, I mean the theater was full for the showing I attended, and the previous showing was full too, judging from the crowd leaving the theater. Not bad for an art-house theater on a Sunday night in Salt Lake.

Being Utah, the crowd got a kick out of the Mormon references and Utah scenes. One of the best Mormon jokes came when the Vatican's astronomer said something along the lines of "We're not doing this just so we can baptize the extra-terrestrials before the Mormons get to them".

Despite my adulation for Bill Maher's television show and comedy, I wasn't impressed with the film. Sure it was funny, how could it not be? But to be a film that I would buy it needs to be a little more coherent and cohesive. It jumped around quite a bit, not just from religion to religion, but there were also inserted scenes that were a little jarring in their placement, even if they were to add comedic effect. And many of the on-screen word gags seemed to fill in the weak spots where Bill wasn't quick enough with the joke at the time.

The film also had no nuance - it is almost unabashedly preaching to the choir, so to speak. This isn't a film to which you'd take your friends who are just beginning to question religion. Maher is not well-versed enough in scripture to be able to fully argue the contradictions and hypocrisy found in the Bible. Give Stephen Colbert the same job and that's going to be a smart movie. But Maher simply alludes to stories and verses he's read about, which even I could do - just without the funny.

Maher is also a little too antagonistic for his own good. He beats us over the head with the view that you'd have to be a simple-minded, backwoods hillbilly to believe these fairy tales, despite the interview with the head scientist of the Human Genome Project. Then at the end of the film he tells the audience that the world cannot survive with religion as it now stands, and that we need to end our timidity toward speaking against it. I don't disagree with that last point, however when we do, we need to remember that religion and God are deeply seated in the belief systems of many people. To challenge a person's belief system is to challenge the very core of the person, more often than not. Many people will get offended even if you ridicule the hat their wearing, let alone ridicule something as innately personal to them as their religion.

And that's what makes Religulous a film of limited audience - the filmmakers use emotion to counter emotion and beliefs, where reasoned facts would have done a better job. What disappoints me is that Bill Maher is smart enough to have done this and still make it funny, but he chose the easy, simple-minded path.

We know you've all been wondering, "will the Drinking Liberally watch party have Palin Bingo?" And the answer is yes.

Grab your Palin bingo card here and your dauber and join us at Saints & Sinners (3040 S. State) tonight at 6:30.

We have a feeling there will be a lot of people at this watch party but don't let that keep you away, there should be plenty of room for everyone. Just tell them you're with Drinking Liberally at the door and then head up stairs.

There's also rumor that some media will be there, like maybe KSL.

Oh, and we've got pictures of Biden preparing for the debate: Watch
And who Homer Simpson is going to vote for: Watch

One more thing: We want to clarify our last e-mail that said the Bar Crawl in Park City tomorrow with the Young Dems was all ages. It's not - you have to be at least 21. But that said, there's no maximum age limit, so we hope you all join us for that too.

See you tonight at Saints and Sinners and tomorrow in Park City!

Jeremiah, Heather, Laura

Drinking Liberally SLC meets from 6:30-9:30 every Friday (except this one) in the back room of the Piper Down (1492 S. State Street).
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Liberals and master debaters,

This week you have two chances to Drink Liberally at two special events! First we have the Biden-Palin VP debate on Thursday and Drinking Liberally is holding a watch party at Saints & Sinners (3040 S. State St). This is the same place we watched the McCain acceptance speech with a fun and somewhat raucous crowd. Saints & Sinners will be opening early for us and they tell us they'll even have some free food. Tell them you're with Drinking Liberally at the door, and meet us upstairs around 6:30 - there's plenty of chairs up there for everyone, and multiple TV's. You know that watching Palin will drive you to drink anyway, so why not do it with some liberal friends?

After the huge crowd at the Piper Down for the first Presidential debate, we have no doubt that the VP debate will be another kick-ass event. Thanks to the Piper Down for opening up their main bar seating area to accommodate all the liberal drinkers (and Morgan Bowen who doesn't drink, but did give us a short and sweet rundown of why he should be our next representative in district 1).

On Friday we'll be joining forces with the Young Democrats of Utah for a bar crawl in Park City. Like all the things we do with the Young Dems, it's open to all ages. The last time we did a bar crawl with them Drinking Liberally was under-represented, so let's show them how it's done this time.

Sarah Nielson, a popular blogger and "In Utah This Week" columnist will be joining us and plans to write about it. No word on RLO yet.

The plan is to meet outside Mulligans (800 Main St in Park City) at 9pm, but if you'd like a designated driver, at least two of us will be at the K-Mart parking lot near the mouth of Parley's canyon. If you're interested in a DD or in being a DD, just reply to this e-mail by noon on Friday and we'll try and work it out. Otherwise we'll see you in front of Mulligans at 9.

What we're reading and watching (follow DrinkLibSLC on twitter for more):

• Top 10 Reasons Sarah Palin Cancels the Debate Read
• DL'er and Trib columnist Barb Guy got a lot of viscious comments about this column on Palin, but we thought it was spot-on Read
• Who benefits most from the bailout? Watch
• Maybe we shouldn't underestimate Palin in a debate Read
• The Laughing Liberally comedian who put us all in stitches at our DL Fundraiser, Lee Camp, found McCain's debate notes Read
• Now you can interview Sarah Palin Read

See you at Saints and Sinners on Thursday and Park City on Friday!
Jeremiah, Laura, Heather

Drinking Liberally SLC meets from 6:30-9:30 every Friday in the back room of the Piper Down (1492 S. State Street).
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