Brian Sonenstein's blog

BY KATIE HALPER, cross-posted from AlterNet.

Before the State Of The Union

• kthalps: guys, the only way obama can repeal dont ask dont tell is if we dont ask dont tell. so shut up abt it. duh!

State Of The Union Starts

kthalps: I guess we’ll have accept third-place “I do not accept second-place for the United States of America.” -Barack Obama.#SOTU #Union address

• kthalps: joe biden blinks a lot. Nancy Pelosi barely blinks. Between the two of them, they blink at an average rate. #SOTU
• kthalps: did Joe Biden & Nancy Pelosi coordinate wearing purple (tie and suit, respectively)? And was that a reference 2 shades of blue/red = purple
• kthalps: looks like America is united by collective desire to punish banks!
• kthalps: u know Sandra Sotomayor had 2 use all self control 2 not slap Alito for saying “not true” #SOTU
• kthalps: I wrote Sandra Sotomayor intentionally. I was honoring O’Conner 4 opening door for female judges like Sonia. DUH!

After SOTU

• kthalps: Chris Matthews’ comments about forgetting Obama was black was so Matthewsian. #sotu

McDonnell Response

• kthalps: Where did the Republicans find the three black people to stand behind Bob McConnell? #SOTU
• kthalps: why does the asian guy in glasses behind mcconnell keep nodding? It’s like he’s a bobble head #SOTU
• kthalps: sorry, make that mcdonnel. all white names look the same to me
• kthalps:i think “we welcome ur ideas on facebook and twitter” was not a joke. But audience laughed. Awks
• kthalps: oh snap! McConnel’s daughter was in the army. Can’t say that about Sasha or Malia, can you Barack Obama! Boooyakashah! #SOTU response
• kthalps: oh nice! McDonnel is advocating torture! “foreign terror suspect given same rights as U.S. citizen” I love it when Republicans get rt to the point #SOTU response
• kthalps: did they build this set especially for McDonnel’s speech? #SOTU response

Commentary after SOTU & response

• kthalps: my mom on Anthony Weiner: “He was never married b4? Katie, find me a picture of his girlfriend online” #SOTU #thingsmymomsays
• kthalps: david Axelrod needs to brush his eyebrows. They got all hot & bothered during #SOTU

BY KATIE HALPER, http://www.katiehalper.com

The Supreme Court recently determined that corporations are entitled to freedom of speech because they are legally persons. The ramifications of this decision, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, cannot be overstated: it introduces an entirely new and untapped population into the dating pool.

Chances are you’ve never dated a corporation before. But don’t be intimidated. This can be a fun and exciting opportunity… as long as you follow the corporation-dating rules.

1. Consider your options. There are a lot of corporations out there. Is this really the best corporation out there? Is this corporation “the one?” Or should you keep looking?
2. Don’t seem too eager to get involved. Remember, corporations are predatory by nature and enjoy a chase.
3. Do a background check. What kind of relationships has this corporation had in the past? What is the corporation’s history
4. Investigate the company the corporation keeps. Who is on its board of directors? Have any been indicted?
5. Check out the corporation’s assets and figures. How do they look? Are they appealing to you?
6. Say that you’re fiscally conservative but socially liberal. Corporations find this very sexy.
7. Make sure you wait before you give up any of your assets. Corporations lose interest when you give it up right away.
8. Don’t over invest. Nothing hurts more than giving without getting.
9. Resist the “urge to merge.” Mergers often look appealing but they tend to be messy and almost always hurt party.
10. Assume the worst. Corporations have a one track mind and they can’t wait to get their hands on your goods.
11. And last but not least…Protect yourself. Corporations can be very reckless and you never really know how many people this corporation has screwed.

We got this funny story in from our chapter in Idaho Falls and thought we'd share it with all of you.

Dan writes:

For those of you who miss our meetings, let this be a lesson for you.

I arrived about 15 minutes late to our latest Drinking Liberally meeting, and was pleased to see that we had two new visitors. An older, retired couple who had recently relocated to Idaho Falls was already exchanging small talk with our regulars. After talking a bit about the area in Oregon they had come from, and their reasons for moving, the conversation slowly drifted to our Teabagger Governor, Butch Otter, and his recent State of the State address. It was a fairly insane speech, and provided quite a bit of fodder for discussion. In particular, he is proposing the elimination of many social services provided by the state.

We discussed the question of how to provide care for people in need, and eventually came around to Rush Limbaugh’s recent comments about how his listeners should not contribute to relief for Haiti. One of our members ranted for a bit about the content of Rush Limbaugh’s character.

At that point, our newest male member stood up and proclaimed, “I’m in the wrong meeting!” and proceeded to gather his coat and walk out with his wife.

I assumed he was being playful, and said that we’d like to have them join us again. The woman answered with a brusk “I don’t think so.” As they headed out, the man turned and said angrily, “Rush was right, you know! And the terrorists don’t have to destroy America – Obama’s doing it for them!”

Needless to say, we were all briefly stunned. Then we began to talk about it, and realized how funny it was. The couple had arrived around 7pm, when just a few people were there. They asked, “Is this the Tea Party meeting?” Kym, who was dipping her teabag at the moment, assumed it was a joke – typical of our level of humor – and sarcastically responded “Sure is!” They were asked how they had heard of our group, and they said that they’d been getting our emails since the mid-summer. So we all assumed that they were on the same page.

They must have realized their error at some point in the first 20 minutes. They must have wondered why we were being so social, rather than planning for the big strike. I noticed them having a side conversation with Kitty, who was describing to them the philosophy behind Drinking Liberally. So they listened for awhile before the insult to Limbaugh was just too much for them to take.

[Later, we saw one of the local teabag leaders leave the restaurant, and realized that perhaps there was a teabagger meeting going on in the conference rooms, and our visitors had unwittingly joined the wrong meeting.]

Obviously, this was a wake-up call for us. We have some changes to make. At this point, we’ve decided to institute a new policy that will be strictly enforced. From now on, if someone has to leave the meeting early, he or she must stand up and declare indignantly, “I’m in the wrong meeting!” and storm out. [Thanks to Chuck for being the first person to impliment the new policy!]

Back in July, we profiled our very own Drinking Liberally Spartanburg, SC chapter. They just sent us this video about their group, and we liked it so much we thought we'd share it with everyone else!

Got video or pictures of your local DL chapter? Let us know!

From the Huffington Post

Halloween is on Saturday and many (including myself) are scrambling to get the right costume put together at the last minute. Something simple. Edgy. Topical. Something people will really get.

Well Katie Halper has come to the rescue with some easy costume ideas that will not only make a statement, but earn you lots of candy as well. Click through to check out the list!

Check out Lee Camp's latest Moment of Clarity on Net Neutrality:

Preserve internet freedom and keep the net out of the hands of corporate interests! Visit www.savetheinternet.com for more information on what you can do to make sure this important legislation passes.

MP Bradford speaking to DL Dunedin, 9/29/2009
Not even a month after losing a leadership battle in New Zealand's Green Party, former MP Sue Bradford's resignation from parliament has hardly proven to be a sign of personal defeat. Instead, Ms. Bradford has gone back to what she loves most-- taking part in grassroots activism and working for real, bottom-up change.

With the November elections fast approaching, more and more of our Drinking Liberally chapters have been active in bringing candidates out from the ether of television and radio ads, newspaper columns and blog posts, down to the sticky floors of their local bars to speak directly with their constituents in an informal, personal setting.

Here we have a video of Matt Entenza, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Candidate for Governor of Minnesota, speaking to the Minneapolis chapter about his run for office this fall. Check it out, and keep an eye on the work of our other chapters providing voters with greater access to their candidates.

Thank you DL Minneapolis for sharing this with all of us!

We just got word from our brothers and sisters at DL Providence that the three 2010 gubernatorial candidates, Lincoln Chaffee, Frank Caprio and Patrick Lynch will be joining chapter leaders to co-host events from October through December. If you're an RI resident and can get to Providence, we highly recommend checking these events out.

Here's the schedule:

• Senator Lincoln Chafee will co-host the October event on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.
• Treasurer Frank Caprio will co-host the November event on Wednesday, November 25, 2009.
• Attorney General Patrick Lynch will co-host the December event on a date to be announced.

Stay tuned to our blog and the chapter page for DL Providence for more updates!

These things just keep getting better and better.

Check out the latest ads from the Healthy Americans Against Reform and ask yourself, "do I really want more accessible, affordable health care?"

Just aching for more propaganda? First, check and make sure it's not a pre-existing condition, and then click here and here.