Drinking Liberally Louisville Chapter Blog

Best advise for Dems on the clip is from The Nation's John Nichols:

The truth of the matter is the American people don't care what a filibuster is. They don't care what cloture is. There's a new Pew Center poll that says they don't even know what those things are. What they care about is whether their kids, whether their parents, whether they have health care.

And if the Democrats don't get this, and I'd start with Barack Obama, nobody gets off the hook here, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the whole Democratic Party, if they don't get that the issue is health care, not Senate rules, they are going to be beaten awfully badly this fall.

Both parties have become so swamped with beltway "insider" strategists and political hacks that they no longer recognize the harsh realities actual people face. Fresh blood is vastly needed. Dems should hit the GOP over the head, daily, for allowing insurance companies to KILL people by denying them coverage. Demand that Republicans explain how they can condone the current system and refuse to stop it from breaking our budgets and bankrupting our citizens. It's not that farkin' hard!

They always go too far, don't they? I'm talking about the GOP of course. Every time they get a whiff of power they exceed all bounds. Examples: Shutting down government, Terri Shiavo, terra, terra, terra!, just say NO, and now Dick Shelby and his 70+ holds just to grab some selfish pork for Alabama at the expense of the deficit

Have Republicans simply become the party of "NO"? In fairness, I went to the GOP.com and looked with amazement at the Republican's list of accomplishments. The first is the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, something today's Republicans would dismiss as "waste and pork-barrel spending" as they have with high-speed rail funding in the stimulus bill. Similarly, the site touts the creation of the Federal Highway System, but the party has done little since then as the system has fallen into disrepair.

The Republicans also include a list of civil rights achievements, including calling for integration of the military and supporting civil rights legislation. The list abruptly ends in 1957 since Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush both opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and almost all Republicans in today's Congress get an "F" on the NAACP report card.

The party that first called for integration of the military is now using the same arguments made by those opposing integration to block elimination of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The website also takes credit for the fact that Republican Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion in Brown v. Board of Education, despite the fact that for half a century Republicans have railed against him as the poster child of "judicial activism."

Yes, there was a time when the Republicans stood for something and made difficult decisions that only history would fully reward but which were necessary to move this country forward. The biggest takeaway from the website, however, is that was 50 years ago. When was the last time the Republicans made a difficult decision that truly benefited the nation?

*Crickets* These punks are the ones who LOVE wasteful weapons, the Military Industrial Complex and waste fraud and abuse at NASA and corporations. That's just the beginning. Why won't the Dems call them on it? They have ammo galore to lob at the GOP, so why won't they use it?

Is shutting down government by filibuster, putting "holds" on qualified administration officials and playing games with much needed policy reform and just saying "NO!" all the time a winning strategy for the GOP? Ditch Mitch and the Dick think so

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary "blanket hold" on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, CongressDaily (sub. req.) reports. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.

"While holds are frequent," CongressDaily reports, "Senate aides said a blanket hold represents a far more aggressive use of the power than is normal."

Really, is this the way to fix the massive problems facing our country? I think not. Are the DEMS stupid enough to let them get away with this strategy, or will they at last escape their Stockholm Syndrome and hit the GOP hard for for trying to kill off reforming our broken government? Jeebus!

Let's face it, all branches of our "Democracy" are owned by corporate special interests. The Supreme Court made no bones about their fealty to corporate masters in their latest abomination of a ruling in favor of said masters. Chris Dodd is a fine example of a Dem Senator being on the take and the entire GOP operates solely for the advancement of corporate interests. The real fiction here is that we elect representatives of "we the people." The Nation makes a strong case for changing Congress, once and for all.

We should remember what it felt like one year ago, as the ability to recall it emotionally will pass and it is an emotional memory as much as anything else. It was a moment rare in a democracy's history. The feeling was palpable--to supporters and opponents alike--that something important had happened. America had elected, the young candidate promised, a transformational president. And wrapped in a campaign that had produced the biggest influx of new voters and small-dollar contributions in a generation, the claim seemed credible, almost intoxicating, and just in time. . .

Then reality set in.

The game as played by both parties seems more about the parties than about the common good.

But it is this part of the current crisis that the dark soul in me admires most. There is a brilliance to how the current fraud is sustained. Everyone inside this game recognizes that if the public saw too clearly that the driving force in Washington is campaign cash, the public might actually do something to change that. So every issue gets reframed as if it were really a question touching some deep (or not so deep) ideological question. Drug companies fund members, for example, to stop reforms that might actually test whether "me too" drugs are worth the money they cost. But the reforms get stopped by being framed as debates about "death panels" or "denying doctor choice" rather than the simple argument of cost-effectiveness that motivates the original reform. A very effective campaign succeeds in obscuring the source of conflict over major issues of reform with the pretense that it is ideology rather than campaign cash that divides us.

Each of these causes is a symptom of a more fundamental disease. That disease is improper dependency. Remove the dependency, and these symptoms become--if not perfectly then at least much more--benign.

Until citizens personally fund political campaigns, nothing will change and the corruption will continue. Our country would be rolling in money if all the special interest money were stripped from the system.

Morning, Liberals!

Is it too early to think about Drinking Liberally tonight at 7:00 at the BBC? Nawwww. If it's Thursday, we're Drinking Liberally! Can't wait to see you peeps. So, set your alarms for 7:00 PM and we'll Promote Democracy, One Pint At A Time very soon.

Peace out,
Vicki

President Obama delivered a powerful SOTU address tonight--boldly smacking our horrid Supremes, obstructionist ReThugs and propagandists on the right--and seemingly re-set the clock on what responsible governing means. Let's hope it resounds with sane Americans. I like this Joan Walsh column in Salon

In case he wasn't fully aware Republicans are impervious to his political charm, President Obama saw it early in his first State of the Union address. After ticking off a list of taxes he'd lowered, the chamber was in cheers -- except for the GOP side of the aisle, where traditionally tax-cutters have clustered. Obama smiled and ad-libbed, "I expected some applause for that one."

Just like he expected some GOP cooperation when he became president a year ago – but he got neither. In this State of the Union speech Obama showed more spine and fire than he has of late, mainly using humor to turn the GOP's dourness back on itself. It was a strong address, but it will take more than words for Obama to get his agenda back on track.

The best of the speech: In terms of policy, I was glad to see him demand that Congress continue to work on health care reform – though I was a little disturbed he offered no specifics.

Sorry, Joan, but that's damned near impossible given the level of empty-headedness of the electorate.

When citizens and states take principled stands against corporate America and the preening, self-entitled wealth class in America, we get a little closer to social and economic justice in our country of haves and have-nots

As states around the country face budget crises, “deficit peacocks” continue to demand cutting social spending while ruling out tax increases on those who have benefited immensely from years of conservative policies. Oregon is one of the states that is faced with a budget crisis on the horizon. With a projected shortfall of $2.5 billion between 2009 and 2011, the state is on the verge of having to freeze salaries for public employees, end forest protection rules, and make deep cuts to education spending. Oregon’s deficit peacocks, of course, argued vigorously against considering any new taxes, arguing that harmful cuts to social spending were inevitable.

Oregon progressives, however, had a different idea. Pointing out that Oregon has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the nation — the corporate minimum income tax is a paltry $10 a year — and that Oregon’s wealthy have benefited enormously from years of conservative policies — they organized around two ballot initiatives, Measures 66 and 67, that would raise taxes on the upper-income tax bracket and corporations, which would protect $1 billion in services while not raising taxes on 97.5% of taxpayers and 93% of small business owners.

Corporate leaders formed front groups like Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes and flooded the airwaves with fear mongering ads about how small tax increases on the wealthiest Oregonians would harm the state.

Brava, Oregon! For once the people shot down the powerful self-interests. Now, what are the odds that the MSM will spend breathless hours and days dissecting what the Oregon vote means for the next election and the rejection of corporatists' judges and conservatives? *Crickets*

I'm of the opinion that hacks like (former) Treasury Sec. Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke helped create our current recession from hell and turned a blind eye to the evils of Wall St. up til the very days before the whole thing nearly crashed. Paulson is gone and Bernanke should be next and Tim Geithner with them. The Nation has some replacements in mind

Below are some of the names being floated by various Democratic, progressive and labor sources--in no particular order. They are an impressive group--worth passing along to your Senators with a message that Bernanke simply isn't the right person for the job in these times.

Elizabeth Warren: Harvard law professor, chair of the Bank Bailout oversight panel. A Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect consumers against predatory lenders and other toxic financial products was her idea.

Paul Volcker: Chairman of the Federal Reserve under Carter and Reagan from 1979-1987. Chairman of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Has been fighting to regulate the scale and scope of TBTF financial firms while Geithner, Summers, and Bernanke have taken a passive approach.

Brooksley Born: Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under Clinton. Fought for regulation of derivatives but was ignored, setting stage for the economic meltdown. Born is currently a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Joseph Stiglitz: Chairman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers from 1995-1997, former Chief Economist of the World Bank, 2001 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics

All are excellent choices, but my gold standard is Elizabeth Warren. She is by far the only choice who actually seems to consider how policy effects real people.

Evening, Liberals!

Today, Obama told reporters (paraphrasing) "Let's get Brown seated and then we'll take care of health care reform." WTF? One day he's mad as hell at the banks (yippie!) and the next he's working to get Bernake a second term and telling us Geithner is not going away. Huh? Will the real Obama please stand up? Cause I'm really confused, which leads to Drinking Liberally! at the BBC at 7:00 this and every Thursday night!

There's no confusion about what we stand for! Join us as we promote Democracy, one pint at a time each Thursday night.

DL Louisville Blog

Your Dear Leaders in Peace,
Vicki, Ron and Maria

Here's the modern day GOP for you: It's packed with sleazy, hateful, dirty dealing actors who are totally lacking in ethics. They listen to hate filled righty radio, watch factually challenged Fox News and find no tactic too low if it means scoring points against the left. TPM

James O'Keefe, the conservative filmmaker who was behind the undercover operations that led to the ACORN scandal last year, has been arrested with three others for allegedly trying to bug the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) yesterday, the Times-Picayune is reporting.

From the paper:

FBI Special Agent Steven Rayes alleges that O'Keefe aided and abetted two others, Joseph Basel and Robert Flanagan, who dressed up as employees of a telephone company and attempted to interfere with the office's telephone system. ...

A witness from Landrieu's staff said O'Keefe was present in the office and claimed to be "waiting for someone to arrive."

The fourth person is Stan Dai, accused of aiding Basel and Flanagan. The AP is reporting that Flanagan is the son of acting U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan in Shreveport.

Amazing! These slugs deserve to be severely punished. Who spawned these awful children, anyway?