South Tampa

You're invited!

This Thursday at 8:30 PM, Living/Drinking Liberally is hosting the Biden v Palin VP debate watch party at Rock-n-Sports in Ybor City. Drinking Liberally is a progressive social club that believes liberty is best served cold...and in a pint glass. This vice presidential debate is one of the most anticipated in recent elections and we would love it if you spent it with us!

Drinking Liberally has no membership dues, no formal meetings; just good drink and good conversation with other like minded individuals. If you're tired of the taboo of talking politics, this is the group for you! You can speak freely and easy about universal health care or the latest economic crisis. But you don't have to be a policy expert. Come learn from your peers, share jokes, frustrations and passions. We are non-partisan and get members from both major political parties, independents and those who have never before engaged in politics.

We will have the pleasure of having Joe and Shirley and other members the Brandon Drinking Liberally chapter in attendance. They have been a great inspiration to the South Tampa group in representing progressive politics in Brandon and East Hillsborough.

We also have slated to attend Omar Khan, deputy political director for the Campaign for Change. He will be speaking about the progress in the Obama campaign in Florida and what we can do next to help get aware and get involved.

Doug Tudor, candidate for Florida's 12th congressional district, will also be there. This is a great opportunity to meet and greet this great guy. Doug is a recent retired Navy Master Chief Petty Officer and is running against incumbent, Adam Putnam.

So come out for the great food, drink and friends. See you there at Rock-n-Sports (1600 E 8th Ave) from 8:30 PM until 11. You can park in the lot on the corner of 7th and Nuccio for free. Rock-n-Sports is located on the second floor of Cento Ybor, above the Starbucks, next to Adobe Guilas. Call South Tampa Moderator Tim Heberlein with questions at 813-532-9846.

That's right folks, Thursday nights are Liberal nights. Come out to New World Brewery for a drink with fellow progressives. Great pizza, beer selection and the free juke box. And the Tampa Bay chapter of the Sierra Club have agreed to come out and join us.

The Sierra Club's mission is to provide access, education and community support for citizens' concerns of the environment in the Tampa Bay area. They also host the Inner City Outings and canoe trips throughout Hillsborough's riverways.

There will also be more information about READING Liberally, which will be starting soon. So if you are interested in a progressive reading group, please attend.

And a reminder, Oct 2nd, we have a section at Rock 'n' Sports in Centro Ybor to watch the Vice Presidential debates. For more information see me Thursday or call me at 813-532-9846.

See you Thursday at New World (1313 E 8th Ave) at 7 PM.

Our friends with the University of Tampa Democrats have invited us to a free screening of Recount, a movie that chronicles the Florida Recount of the 2000 election. Starring Kevin Spacey, John Hurt, Denis Leary, and Tom Wilkinson, Recount brings viewers behind the scenes at the controversial Florida recount. The movie will be next Tuesday, the 23rd, from 8pm to 11 pm. It’s going to be held at the University of Tampa, at Plant Hall in the Grand Salon. If you’re interested in the young Democratic movement, be sure to check it out.

As for Drinking Liberally, same Bat time, same Bat channel. New World Brewery at 7. We might be expecting some folks from the Obama campaign to stop by, so if you want to ask questions about the campaign, be part of it, or wanna buy them a drink, come on down.

Also, the Vice Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin falls on the first Thursday of October (2nd). And there’s no way I can pass up what is sure to be (if a liberal can hope) a debasement of her conservatives credentials. That’s just my opinion though ;)

So the owner of Rock ‘n’ Sports (1600 E. 8th Avenue) has reserved us a section to watch the debate. If you’ve been there before, it’s a great atmosphere with great food. Rock ‘n’ Sports is above the Starbucks on the second floor in Centro Ybor. You can still park free in the back lot of Volunteers of America on the corner of Nuccio and 8th Ave. Debate starts at 9 PM.

This also falls on a day the USF Bulls play conference rivals Pittsburgh. So you will probably be able to catch that game if you’re interested.

So, see you tomorrow at 7 at New World (1313 E. 8th Ave.) Always remember to drink responsibly.

Here's a post from one of Drinking Liberally's founders, Justin Krebs. Thought you might want to read this from a New Yorker who's making a difference in that town. Come remember the day with a drink at New World with us. 1313 E 8th Ave at 7:30 PM. I hope to see you there.

Submitted by Justin Krebs on Thu, 09/11/2008 - 1:23pm.

It was Primary Day, or was supposed to be, seven years ago in New York City, when word came: first, a freak accident; then, clearly something more. By the time the 1010 WINS radio reporter sobbed "Oh my god, my god, it's gone, the tower is gone," we all knew that something new, frightening, unanticipated was happening.

We put the elections on hold, and New Yorkers sought out their loved ones, found their way home, and tuned into their televisions. Except for Lower Manhattan, it wasn't chaos on the streets. It was quiet, almost eerily so -- everyone found the people and places they loved the most and waited.

The next day, as New Yorkers emerged from their apartments, the cloud of smoke hanging above the city and a burning smell present miles from the site, we found our way to common ground, such as the vigils in Union Square. We found each other.

We had put our elections on hold, and engaged in our civic life in other ways -- checking on neighbors, lining up to give blood, sharing tears and looking at photos of missing people in the open churches our parks had become.

At the time, it was unthinkable that life would go on as normal. But 10 days later, a tearful Letterman returned to the air; within days, people returned to their offices; the subways never stopped running for long.

But our politics didn't get back to normal.

From the day of that postponed primary (which, of course, needed to be delayed), our country seemed to agree to postpone democracy. Giuliani's effort to delay New York's elections failed, but the politics of fear that 9/11 enabled the Bush administration to cultivate has been the driving force in our country since. And at first, in those moments of fear, many of us were happy for a commanding hand -- more security, less liberty, seemed an OK trade in those early days (those who warned from the start that such a trade is never worth it will never receive the credit they deserve for being right).

And now, seven years later, we're in a campaign where one side tells us we should still be very afraid. As though we would dishonor those who died in the attack if we dared to challenge the security state those in power wish to maintain.

"Never forget" may be a politicized slogan in the mouths of those who want to justify martial excess, but it's also a very real sentiment for those who lost loved ones, lost a sense of serenity in their beloved city or lost a little of their innocence on that day. I will "never forget" and never roll my eyes at others who keep this day sacred. There were real losses on September 11th that need to be marked.

But not forgetting doesn't equate with not evolving.

Every year on this day, I walk down Broadway from Times Square to Union Square. Every 8-10 blocks, the diagonal Broadway cuts out another public square as it crosses the uptown/downtown avenues: Times Square, then Herald, Madison Square Park, then Union Square. These were the spaces that made me feel safe to come out again seven years ago. And on September 11th, 2002 -- a year later -- Union Square was vibrant with the shared sorrow for what was remembered and hope for a city that was back on its feet.

Today, there were no public gatherings along Broadway. That's not to say there were no memorials today -- but most New Yorkers have returned to life as normal.

If a city can grow beyond a tragedy, so can a nation. One doesn't need to stand still to remember. Just as New Yorkers got their city moving again, we need to get our politics moving.

Enough postponements. The polls are open. We have fewer than 8 weeks to remember that democracy isn't our liability, it's our greatness.

Submitted by Justin Krebs on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 1:37pm.
For use and wide distribution...drink liberally:

McCain on the Rocks:
The Official Drinking Liberally
McCain Convention Speech Drinking Game

Take a Sip when
He Says:
- faith
- service
- experience
- Barack Obama
- global war on terror
or when:
- he makes reference to being a POW
- he compares himself to Ronald Reagan
- he calls Iraq a success
- he praises Sarah Palin by name

Take a Gulp when:
He Says:
- my friends
- George Bush
- maverick
- Joe Lieberman
- Vietnam
or when:
- he references his relationship to God
- he talks about Sarah Palin’s lovely family
- he compares himself to Teddy Roosevelt
- he claims not to like talking about being a POW

Take a Big Gulp when:
He Says:
- torture
- climate change
- straight-talk
- Cheney
- Iran
or when:
- he praises his own bi-partisan ways
- he questions a Democrat’s patriotism
- he gets real explicit about his POW experience
- he compares himself to General Patton

Chug when:
- he explicitly praises George W. Bush
- he makes allusions to Obama’s race

Celebratory Toast if:
- he forgets a line, pauses more than 3 seconds
- he forgets a line, curses at the audience
- he compares himself to Richard Nixon
- he tries an endearing joke about his age

Finish Your Drink if:
- He replaces Palin with a younger beauty queen
- He calls for Bush a lousy President
- He jokes about bombing Iran
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Wow, it's gonna be a long night...

Wow, what a crazy last few weeks. Embedded was great and thanks again to the Jobsite Theater company for putting it on and having us as a part of the show. For more information, check out www.jobsitetheater.org.

So Sarah Palin, huh? So what are the odds of McCain dropping her... For those of you who are the betting kind... http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080902/pl_bloomberg/azjwbcginwsg
I have issues with hypocracy...especially from the Republican party. But I have an even greater issue with Palin being a "strategic" choice as opposed to someone who is actually capable of holding the second highest office in the land.

And a long overdue release of Sami Al-Arian took place yesterday. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/02/022032/al-arian-released-custody...

So Oklahoma City has got a new name for its NBA team...The Thunder! Had to plug it. Sounds great.

And hopefully the Rays can keep from losing 2 in a row to the Yankees...

Anybody watching the convention? Yeah, me either. But I do have a reason for you tomorrow during McCain's speech. I've got a great drinking which I'll send to you in a following email.

So question of the week is: Does Bristol Palin's pregnancy make a difference in her mother's conservative campaign?

Answers can be submitted in person at the New World Brewery (1313 8th Ave) at 7 o'cock tomorrow night (Thursday). Look for the Drinking Liberally bottle and a bunch of people with drinks in hand. See you there!

Tim
813-532-9846